Design collaborative or individual learning experiences
based on learning principles and theories;

Introduction

The core of the information science discipline is to provide for the information needs of a client population. To accomplish this, library personnel need to be well-versed in relaying knowledge to their patrons. This process is closely linked with teaching, therefore a professional within the field of information science must have a thorough grounding in learning theory and be knowledgeable on the principles of education. While these theories are applicable in the spontaneous day-to-day interactions of my current position as a library assistant of the Fresno County Public Library (FCPL), I also have applied theories on the early development of children when hosting half-hour storytelling sessions for infants and toddlers. When planning lap sit storytelling sessions at the Woodward Park Regional Library, I incorporated stories and repetitions of music and fingerplay to foster early literacy of toddlers and infants.

During my education to obtain a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science through the San Jose State University, I honed my knowledge of current learning theories. In INFO 250-10 Design and Implementation of Instructional Design for Information Professionals [K-12], I also assembled a solid foundation on the principles of collaborative instructional design and devised and planned for the implementation of multiple collaborative units of instruction.

It is critical for librarians and other practitioners of information science to understand the principles of learning theory and to keep abreast of developments in the field of education and psychology on the process of learning so that they may put such developments to use when conveying information to their clients.

Explication

Learning Theories

Learning theories provide theoretical models of how humans learn. For those seeking to deliver or impart information to others, these theories provide a direction on how to curate instances of informal instruction or how to adapt their teachings into formal lessons. The three largest schools of thoughts that model how humans learn are behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Not one school of thought is universally superior to another. In practice, different types of information are better suited to being taught by a specific model of learning than through other learning models. Instructors—including information science professionals—must hone their ability to select the optimum teaching strategy for any giving situation.

Behaviorism

The main premise of behaviorism holds that behavior can be shaped through reward and punishment through operant conditioning (Nebel, 2017). Behaviors can be encouraged through reinforcement (i.e., reward). Reinforcement can be accomplished either by adding a pleasant impetus (i.e., positive reinforcement) or through subtraction by removing an unpleasant determent (i.e., negative reinforcement). Behaviors can also be deterred through punishment. Punishment can be accomplished though the addition of a negative stimulus (i.e., positive punishment) or through the removal of a positive stimulus (i.e., negative punishment).

Instructors who follow the Behaviorist Learning Theory use compliments or extra credit as reinforcement to encourage positive academic habits (Feder, 2022). The trick is to directly link the resultant reinforcement to the presentation of the desired conduct or the acquisition of applicable knowledge. In behaviorist education, both reinforcing feedback and punishing feedback should be given immediately. When it comes to influencing a person’s behavior or accumulated knowledge, pupils respond best to direct feedback.

Cognitivism

Cognitivism postulates that a person assimilates information through the creation of mental constructs when moving information from short-term to long-term memory. Therefore, new information should be explained in terms of a person’s prior knowledge. Cognitivism stresses the different speeds at which individuals commit information to memory. With this in mind, instruction should be organized into digestible chunks. The emphasis of lessons is to facilitate the efficient transfer of information into long-term memory.

The associated Cognitive Load Theory recognizes that short-term “memory has a limited capacity and that overloading it reduces the effectiveness of teaching” (Loveless, 2022). To decrease the likelihood of information overload, instructions should be simplified—especially for novice learners.

Constructivism

In constructivism, learning occurs independently through social cultural interaction, experience, and context. A constructivist approach is great for both collaborative learning and problem-based learning. Constructivism is discovery-centric. In a constructivist environment, a teacher acts as a project manager while learners build their knowledge from either independent or collaborative exploration. Instructors that take their cues from constructivism seek to create an authentic learning environment by bringing as many elements as possible from outside their classroom into their teachings.

Andragogy is a branch of constructivism that has implications for the interactions between public library personnel and the elderly. Andragogy theorizes that adults base their learning around problem-solving (Andragogy, 2017). In the elderly, this often manifests with their refusal to accept knowledge to resolve the issue that they are facing until they are told why they are learning what they are learning. According to andragogy, adults also desire a greater say in the content of any instruction being provided to them and the manner in which that information is provided (Andragogy, 2017). Because of this, librarians need to exercise greater flexibility when assisting persons of advanced age.

Collaborative Units K-12

Collaborative Units

The transformation of grade school libraries into school media centers has been reflected in the expanded range of subjects that they can provide lessons on. As part of this expanded role, school librarians should partner with teachers to co-teach collaborative units. “When the teacher librarian and classroom teacher design and co-teach a unit, they combine their expertise to ensure that the learning journey reaches the desired outcomes for both content and process” (Loertscher, Koechlin, & C. Zwann, 2009, p. 25). School librarians are eager to partner with teachers to enhance existing instructional units by co-teaching subjects such as English literacy, the critical evaluation of research resource credibility, the proper citation of research, and plagiarism and academic integrity.

School librarians can leverage the resources of the school media center to enhance the learning experience. Technologies that school media centers can incorporate into student education are Internet skills such as Boolean logic search query construction, spreadsheets and databases (through the creation, modification, and analysis of data sets), file formats (and their comparative advantages and disadvantages), video (recording, editing, and uploading), presentation software, and the various other ways to leverage technology to enhance collaboration and group productivity.

For instance, instead of having students complete a reading assignment and listening to a lecture on the Continental Congress and the Declaration of Independence, a lesson plan could call for students to research historical interpretations of the Declaration of Independence. In such a unit, a school librarian would focus on providing instruction to hone critical thinking skills to differentiate between false statements and credible information and how to properly indicate authorship through citation to avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism.

How the lesson plan directs students to present their findings is another opportunity for collaboration between a school librarian and a teacher. Depending on the culminating assignment, students could have the opportunity to work with datasets in a spreadsheet, leverage technology to enhance the group productivity of a collaboration, gain experience in video recording, editing, and posting to either YouTube or another social media platform. If the capstone activity takes the form of a presentation, pupils could have the opportunity to practice their public speaking. If the culminating project calls for students to engage each other in debate, they will be tested on their argumentation prowess.

The last phase in this instructional unit is self-reflective. Acknowledgment of one’s own accomplishments and skills (in research), but also identifying their shortcomings is crucial for continued advancement. This is why a reflection essay or another self-evaluative assignment is a critical part of the learning process. In essence—instead of merely studying the Declaration of Independence—the hypothetical Declaration of Independence lesson plan has students simultaneously studying technology, and the fundamentals of research. This maximizes student time while preparing them for life outside of the classroom. The signs of a successful collaborative academic unit include having a learner attain a sense of mastery upon completion of the unit. This boosts self-confidence and endows pupils with a sense of ownership over the final product.

Long Lasting Partnerships

There are different levels of collaboration between teachers and school libraries. Some will be fully fleshed out units of instruction. Other collaborative efforts could be small such as in a skills lab or a single collaborative assignment (Gerwitz, 2014, p. 45).

To forge a lasting relationship, both the librarian and the teacher should focus on the positive aspects of what each member brings to the co-teaching experience. One common pitfall in co-teaching is the failure to designate a time to meet. The partnership can make adjustments to incorporate incremental improvements with each annual iteration of the collaboration for the benefit of future students (Stein, 2017).

Evidence

Evidence 1: Dinosaur Lap Sit Lyrics Sheet Summer 2017

As evidence of my insight of early child development for the subject of teaching within a library setting, I offer this Dinosaur Lap Sit Lyrics Sheet that I used to direct a group of infants and their parents in a variety of activities designed to nurture the development of children with a particular aim toward fostering early literacy.

When planning lap sit storytelling sessions for the next season of programming, I sought to foster early literacy and social development. I incorporated stories and repetitions of music and fingerplay. I was lucky to be staffing a large library, which could host multiple storytelling sessions. They allowed each session of storytime to be tailored toward a specific age group. The age group my lap sit sessions were designed for an audience of infants and toddlers from zero to two years of age.

A key characteristic my target audience was their short attention span. This necessitated that session be quickly paced with a variety of activities as is reflected in my proffered lyrics sheet. My secret weapon to maintaining control of my audience was an infectious enthusiasm used to draw the attention of otherwise wandering eyes.

Parents are expected to participate and assist their children to engage in the activity. In fact, this assistance is at the very core of a lap sit session. In Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development, the zone of an infant’s capability ranges from what he or she is able to accomplish independently and for what he or she will need the support of an adult. Repetition of tasks that require support will eventually enable the child to do such tasks independently and there by expanding the child’s zone of proximal development. The lyric sheet helps parent to follow the activities either assist their children or interact with them depending on what the activity calls for. Activities are repeated in subsequent sessions for familiarity and to grant a sense of mastery.

Evidence 2: Sacramento Homeless Lesson Plan

The lesson plan is hosted at: https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/project4jasonsueandmichellekhe/home

I am including this lesson plan (from INFO 250-10 Design and Implementation of Instructional Design for Information Professionals [K-12]) as evidence of my ability to collaborate with a teacher to co-teach a unit of instruction within a school library setting) of Competency K [Teaching]. In this assignment, my partner Michelle Khera and I were directed to create a lesson plan involving a collaboration between a school librarian and a teacher and to post this lesson plan online in the form of a website. This submission is hosted at the URL https://sites.google.com/sjsu.edu/project4jasonsueandmichellekhe/home and was constructed using the Google Sites CMS.

The constructivist lesson plan is a self-directed project on the subject of homelessness in the local community of Sacramento, California. This project seeks to inspire students to develop a course of action to help meet a need of Sacramento’s homeless population and then implement the proposed course of action by the end of the trimester term. As part of the research process, two experts on helping the homeless population will speak to the class and the class will go on a field trip to the community foodbank. This will hone their ability to extract information from experts and raise awareness of the infrastructure it takes to operate programs such as a community food bank. The students would then take these findings and develop a solution. Then two classes of fourth graders will provide feedback and exchange criticism. Finally, pupils will showcase their solution through a video.

This is important because the lesson plan demonstrates how school librarians partner with teachers to leverage technology to enhance the learning experience. During the initial phase of the project, librarians will teach pupils how to use scholarly databases and search engines to search for sources of information and challenging them to determine the credibility of those information sources. In a later phase, the librarian will assist the class by introducing technological tools in the form of free websites that allow for video production.

This lesson plan was created through a collaboration between myself and my partner Michelle Khera and demonstrates my capability to work with others which is vital to grade school librarianship specifically and the field of information science as a whole. This assignment also demonstrates my ability to create webpages with the Google Sites CMS.

Evidence 3: Educational Online Resources

As evidence of my knowledge Online Education Resources (OER) and my ability to create such a resource I submit my webinar titled Educational Online Resources (from INFO 230 Issues in Academic Libraries)

The strength of Online Education Resources is the flexibility they grant to students (allowing them to learn and study at any time and anywhere) and the small cost to post and the moderate expenditure to create for faculty and librarians. Learners can progress through the material at their own pace. One shortcoming of the OER is the genre’s lack of interactivity.

References

Andragogy – Adult learning theory (Knowles). (2017, September 30). Learning Theories. https://learning-theories.com/andragogy-adult-learning-theory-knowles.html

Feder, J. (2022, June 8). What is behaviorist learning theory? Phoenix University. https://www.phoenix.edu/blog/what-is-behaviorist-theory.html

Gerwitz, S. (2015, December). The many faces of collaboration [PDF]. The School Library Connection, 45-46.

Loertscher, D. V., Koechlin., & C. Zwaan, S. (2009). The big think: 9 metacognative strategies that make the unit end just the beginning of learning. Learning Commons Press.

Loveless, B. (2022, March 17) Cognitive load theory – The definitive guide. Education Corner. https://www.educationcorner.com/cognitive-load-theory/

Nebel, C., (2017, August 10). Behaviorism in the classroom: For teachers, learning scientists posts. The Learning Scientists. http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2017/8/10-1

Stein, E. (2017, January 30.) Co-teaching without boxes or boundaries. The Learning Scientists. http://www.learningscientists.org/blog/1017/8/10-1