Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators

by Char Booth

Recipient of the 2012 ACRL Instruction Section Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year AwardForeword by Sarah Houghton-JanWhether or not "instruction" appears in their job titles, librarians are often in the position of educating their users, colleagues, and peers to successfully locate and evaluate information. Because MLIS education tends to offer less-than-comprehensive preparation in pedagogy and instructional design, this much-needed book tackles the challenge of effective teaching and training head-on. Char Booth, an avid library education and technology advocate, introduces a series of concepts that will empower readers at any level of experience to become better designers and presenters, as well as building their confidence and satisfaction as library educators. Laying the foundation for effective teaching, Booth outlines a four-part framework of Instructional Literacy, which includesReflective tools for improving learning in the moment and developing a teacher identity, as well as approaches to collaboration and creating communities of practiceEducational evidence-based strategies in learning and instructional researchTeaching evaluating and integrating technology in learning using a practical "toolkit" approachInstructional a systematic and outcomes-based strategy for developing and assessing learning experiencesThis foundation is supplemented by the USER Method, a step-by-step approach to creating learner-focused instruction. Tailored to library contexts, USER walks readers through understanding an instructional scenario, structuring content, engaging learners, and reflecting on outcomes. Also included are templates for instructional planning and technology evaluation, as well as practical advice and scenarios from those working in the field. Entailing a methodical approach to educating oneself about this emerging field, Booth's work helps librarians become better learners and teachers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Professional Development, Library Science, Librarianship, Education, Teaching, School

180 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Paul Signorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Char Booth's "Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning" looks to be another great resource for trainer-teacher-learners well beyond its primary target audience of library staff members. The book is an engaging, concise, and welcome guide to creating engaging learning experiences for learners of all ages; includes brief surveys of key instructional design techniques and learning styles; and introduces Booth's own variation on the familiar ADDIE--Analysis, Development Design, Implementation, and Evaluation--model through her four-step USER--Understand, Structure, Engage, and Reflect--model that, through its name, continually reminds us who we are working to reach through formal and informal learning opportunities. Booth's approach never loses sight of the fact that we are well served both by having formal learning models from which we can draw and also by remembering that not every learning opportunity requires that we engage in every step of an instructional design assessment, development, delivery, and evaluation process. "More than anything, it should remind you to teach simply, reflectively, and with the learner at the center," she reminds us (p. 94). The overall message she delivers is that "reflective and design-minded teaching leads to effective, learner-centered instruction. Librarians are redefining our value in a changing information paradigm, and it is essential that we perceive the role of education in this process" (p. 151)--a goal that any teacher-trainer-learner is likely to embrace.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read parts of it, as you do. For someone will next to no teaching experience, this was both a useful primer and frustratingly confusing. The book makes some assumptions about your background knowledge that I didn't have, and so it was sometimes a struggle to get through it. I found the organization of the book confusing, and didn't particularly like the methodology she suggests. Sill, in combination with my class I learned quite a lot in a short amount of time about teaching strategies.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book on mindful instruction in library setting. Don't assume learners know what you know!
USER method of creating materials : Understand, Structure, Engage, Reflect.

[Emi えみ Takami 鷹見 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a supplement to my Information Literacy Instruction textbook. It was much more clear and straightforward, as well as several years more current.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super basic, good for a new teaching librarian.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a crash course in instruction for librarians who haven't taught before or who need to brush up on their instructional skills. It was a recommended title in my User Instruction course, but I'm glad I only checked it out from the library. We only read a few chapters and I skimmed the rest. It came up empty for me somehow; reading this book made me miss my teaching English days and the powerful ways I learned to become a teacher at UIC. It also increased my awareness that too many in the library field do not have any or much exposure to instructional methods and theories and practice before they hit the ground running. Anyway, I'm glad Char Booth is on my radar now.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like what I know about the work Char Booth is doing, and I hope to get to the end of this book before too long. I was reading this mostly on my iPhone Kindle app and the formatting was terrible and the typos were distracting. So, I do hope to lay my hands on another version to give her charts a look when I can actually read them. I was reading it under deadline, and perhaps I missed some tips in there, but there wasn't as much practical instruction material as I was hoping for. But, again, maybe it was the deadline and the formatting. Still there's lots to think about and do in this and I'm glad someone as reflective as Ms. Booth has put this all together.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for work, as I get deeper into doing library instruction, and I found it incredibly useful. In fact, it's exactly what I needed. Booth provides not just a how-to on designing instruction sessions, but also an overview on educational theory and methods. She puts all of this into the right context and framework for people who will only have a session or two with any given group of students instead of a whole semester or year with them. Best of all, the methods and systems Booth describes for designing instruction sessions are very flexible and scalable, so that they are equally useful whether you have a few weeks or a few days to get your session together.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoughtful, well-written, with good practical advice for a very specific audience: instruction librarians (that is, college/university librarians who do classroom teaching on what's now called "information literacy": how to find stuff out). I'm not that kind of librarian anymore, but I used to be, and there's very little support out there for a rather difficult job. Char Booth fills the gap with this book.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed many parts of this one. I browsed through and skipped all of the definition, terminology, and theory (zzzzz) material. The rest contained lots of helpful reminders, websites to check out, (especially for instructional tutorials which I want to beef up on my School's LibGuides' pages), and a wonderful list of Web 2.0 and Emerging Technologies and Applications (including one dedicated to free, open source software--a nice, little goldmine!)

[Tyff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew the content would be great but I was especially struck by the tone of the writing. Very accessible and entertaining, especially for a book about teaching:-) The USER method will be the basis of a course we are teaching called Teaching with Technology for the ACRL Immersion Program in 2013. The practical application of the method will be a great and hopefully earth shattering experience!

[Miss Kitty]

I mainly want to read this because I can say to folks (that care) "I know Char! I know her!" even though I know her from applying for a paraprofessional library job that I didn't get. But aside from that, Char is just smokin' hot and who doesn't want to read a librarian book by a smokin' hot librarian?

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, solid introduction to library instruction, with a lot of advice that is obvious once you think about it but that you would forget to consider otherwise, and a good template for creating new programs and objects for learning.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous teaching guide and aid in lesson planning.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful, methodical overview of instructional design and practice.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview of instruction for librarians. The author spoke in one of our classes and she is very cool, too.

[ACRL]

Read by ACRL Member of the Week Sara Arnold-Garza. Learn more about Sara on the ACRL Insider blog.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest, insightful, and practical. A great guide to instructional design, teaching information literacy, and being yourself.

[Sinistmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good model for best practices for preparing and presenting library instruction. I like the additional resources at the back.

[John]

Thorough, thoughtful, and concise look at teaching practices. A must have for every library educator.

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is good, practical approach to designing instruction.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you wanted to study library instruction, this is the book I would recommend.