"7 Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" & how it applies to me...

The article written by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson highlights some important thought on good practices in education. Working in a small technical school, many of the challenges I face personally include surprisingly unmotivated students (especially considering the cost of tuition), students with little to no technological background, and diverse styles of learning, experience, age, and education levels. When considering my goal of producing information literate students, I have found it helpful to use the 7 principles outlined by Chickering and Gamson as a guide for designing effective instruction. Today, I’ve decided to take a look at the first principle: Encouraging Contact between Students and Faculty.

As the solo librarian on campus, I am the one shot students have for learning the “tenets of information literacy.” That means if the students fail to trust me, or develop some sort of relationship with me, I will have failed to give them the tools they need. In my position, I must encourage as much contact as possible with students and become a source of trusted information before I can do anything else. As students build a relationship with me, I am better able to serve them by coming in to their classrooms and teaching, as well as answering their questions at the reference desk.

In developing instruction, whether it be provided online, in instructional handouts, or in-person, it is important to remember to use every opportunity to encourage interaction. In every handout or instructional session, I give students my contact information and remind them to call, drop by or email if they need any extra help or additional instruction. A point of contact is especially important in online learning to keep students feeling connected to what they are doing.

I’ve also found that going the extra mile for a student, especially on the first point of contact, can do wonders for developing faculty-student relationships. By showing students that I care, they can immediately begin to ask questions more freely. For example, when classes first begin on our campus, students go through the very daunting process of orientation. As I mentioned earlier, many students have little to no technological background – some have never even touched a computer before. For many, just the process of logging on to a computer can be scary, frustrating and confusing.

Orientation, just like regular classroom activities, is a great opportunity for developing a relationship through teaching. In order to help ease their frustrations and nerves, I designed easy-to-read instructional handouts with Microsoft Publisher, which allow students to visually see what they need to do. Instead of just giving them the handouts and leaving it up to them, I also am sure to guide them through it personally and encourage questions. With a large group of students, this can be more difficult than it might seem. Each student might work at a very different pace. By taking the time to walk around the classroom, assess their progress and allowing extra time for students who need individual help, students gain trust in me as their librarian. After gaining trust or credibility as a source of help and information, information literacy objectives can then be addressed much more easily.