Introduction

Libraries and archives are inherently places of learning. Just as LIS material offerings and programs have evolved over the years, so have their instructional services. These services can include larger sets of instruction on information and digital literacy, or focus on building specific skills. Being able to design engaging and impactful learning experiences is a vital tool for LIS professionals today. 

Instructional Design

Instructional design is a “thoughtful and systematic approach to teaching” (Kaplowitz, 2014, p.2). This works through identifying learners needs, establishing learning goals and outcomes (or ELOs), planning instruction and educational materials, and evaluating learning (Saunders & Wong, 2020). Kovacs (n.d.) provides an effective system for planning instruction via the 7-step process:

• Step 1- Needs Assessment and Instructional Goals
• Step 2- Instructional Analysis
• Step 3- Entry Behavior and Learner Characteristics 
• Step 4- Learning Outcomes and Motivating Learners
• Step 5- Pre-instructional Activities: Planning Instructional Strategies
• Step 6- Planning Instructional Materials
• Step 7- Formative Evaluation

To effectively engage in instruction, LIS professionals should also understand the core concepts behind different learning theories and instructional models.

Learning Theories

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is a traditional learning theory with ties to psychological research that emphasizes the influence of environmental factors on behavior. According to Saunders and Wong (2020), this learning theory dictates that learning occurs through conditioning, a process where immediate feedback, whether positive or negative, shapes desired behaviors. Over time, through repetition, these behaviors become automatic. Ertmer & Newby (2013) further explain that, in behaviorist terms, learning is demonstrated when a student consistently produces the correct response to a given stimulus.

To apply behaviorism in an educational environment involves the use of instructional cues, repetition and positive reinforcement. A common example is offering small rewards for completed tasks, this can include verbal praise or stickers. Additionally, environmental cues can condition certain responses; for example, a designated quiet zone, paired with signage, may encourage silence, and visiting that location multiple times reinforces that behavior.

Social Constructivism

Social constructivism builds on cognitivism and constructivism learning theories. It takes the reflective thinking process from cognitivism, where learners are encouraged to think critically about their thoughts and the focus on how individuals construct their own understanding from constructivism (Saunders & Wong, 2020). Bringing these two ideas together builds the framework that the learning process is an active creation of knowledge, and learners’ interactions with others through social context is integral to the process of knowledge creation (Saunders & Wong, 2020).

In order to apply social constructivism theory in a learning environment Pritchard & Woollard (2010) advocate for learner engagement through cognitive, kinaesthetic and social situations while building on the learners own experiences and understanding of the material. This process can be enhanced through dialogue, questions, and reflection on real-life examples or personal experiences. This can take the form of group work followed by personal reflection or hands on experiments followed by breakout group discussions.

Universal Design

Universal design for learning (UDL) is an educational framework that seeks to build learner agency via multiple forms of engagement, representation, and actions and expressions (McMullin & Skaggs, 2024). Unlike traditional teaching methods that rely on a single approach, UDL emphasizes variation and flexibility. It prioritizes student choice and autonomy, recognizing that each learner has diverse needs, abilities and preferences.

An example of UDL could be providing students with multiple ways to connect with the learning material; while some students prefer to read about a subject, others may want to listen or watch a video, and still others may need to experiment with the concepts first hand. In a library environment this could look like providing pamphlets at a presentation then having a hands on demonstration afterwards.

Evidence

INFO 250: Instructional Design – Instructional Design Planning Worksheets

The first pieces of evidence to showcase my mastery of competency K are my instructional design planning worksheets written for INFO 250 (compK_IDWorksheets.pdf). These planning documents work through the first few steps of the 7-step design process described above in the “Instructional Design Stages” section of the competency. This plan outlines an online zoom event that introduces Adobe Photoshop workflows to archival masters students. The plan includes exploration of the target audience, instructional goals, content online, implementation plan, and evaluation methods.

This item showcases my ability to consider an audience and create an event using instructional design principles. I went a step further and implemented the event for the iSchool students as well, with 27 attendees at the main zoom event and 5 students at the Discord “Open Studio” hour.

INFO 230: Issues in Academic Librarianship – Information Literacy Presentation

The next piece of evidence that demonstrates my exploration of learning theories is my final presentation for INFO 230: Issues in Academic Libraries, which serves as a brief overview of current models and theories used in academic libraries during information literacy instruction (ILI) (InformationLiteracyInstruction.mp4). For this assignment students were asked to present on a relevant and timely topic tied to a specific job posting, as it’s common practice for potential candidates to be asked to present on a topic related to the jobs they apply for in academic settings. I ended up looking into information literacy and instruction for undergraduate populations. As I hadn’t had any classes on ILI yet, I needed to understand the topic generally before getting too deep into instructional design or learning theories.

The presentation covers a definition of ILI, how they can be set up in an academic library, the framework for ILI constructed by ACRL, and a brief exploration of different models and pedagogues that might be used to inform instruction practices. The model and pedagogues that I looked at include the relational model, critical information literacy and universal design for learning. While this is a brief presentation, it required me to do a significant amount of research in order to understand and explain a topic that was totally new to me. This work demonstrates my exploration of creating learning experiences through the topic of information literacy instruction in an academic context.

Student Leadership: ASIS&T SC Events – Transcribe-A-Thon

The last piece of evidence that illustrates my experience with designing learning experiences is an event I coordinated with ASIS&T SC, SAASC and the Smithsonian Transcription Center (Transcribe-A-Thon pt 1.mp4 & Transcribe-A-Thon Resources.docx). This series of events spanned a week from and consisted of two zoom events that book ended three co-working session via Discord.

In the first event, me another student present information about the Smithsonian Transcription Center and walk through how to use the website to preform transcription. During the three 1-hr long co-working sessions on Discord, me and three other students from student leadership worked along side our peers, practicing transcription; while I was able to help students with the basics of setting up their accounts and finding easy to transcribe materials on the website; collectively, we were able to help each other out by looking at difficult words and thinking through the context of the historical documents we were working on. The last zoom event I hosted and chatted with two members from the TC team about their work giving deeper insight to how the TC center works and what happened to the transcriptions that we as students had been working on throughout the week.

Through these sessions we engaged students in both collaborative and individual learning experiences. I tried to provide multiple ways for students to interact with the material (lecture, discussion, writing, and hands on experiences). The most popular option was coming to the zoom events, I think because those are easy to understand and low commitment, however the social learning experience (i.e. the Discord co-working events) had a number of students join in. Additionally, I created reflective materials that so students could use metacongative learning about what they done during the week; these options are in the resources doc and include instructions for writing a blog post and creating an info-graphic. While no one submitted any materials to either of the groups from these materials, UDL stipulates that providing the options is imperative.

For this video I do a site tour of the Transcription Center website starting at 17:15 and do some example transcription till 44:03. (I don’t think you’ll need to see all of that, but I am leading the meeting for that whole time.)

Conclusion

This competency may be particularly useful for me if I end up in an academic setting; even for non-instruction librarians understanding how to design engaging events, one-on-one instruction, or even just educational materials can be important. Furthermore, it’s common for librarians and archivists to work with student workers, interns or community volunteers; in these instances understanding how different individuals learn new tasks will lead to better outcomes. 

Out of all the skills showcased in my ePortfolio, I believe I need the most practice with intentional instructional design. Going forward I plan to continue learning about different learning theories and seek opportunities to apply my instructional design skills.

References

Ertmer, P.A., & Newby, T.J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43-71. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21143 

Kovacs, D. K. (n.d.). The 7 Step Instructional Design Model. https://www.kovacs.com/info250/lectures/7steps3.html

McMullin R. M. & Skaggs D. (2024). An overview of UDL theory and scholarship in higher education In R. M. McMullin & D. Skaggs (Eds.), Universal design for learning in academic libraries: Theory into practice (1st ed., pp. 3-17). Association of College and Research Libraries.

Pritchard, A., & Woollard, J. (2010). Psychology for the Classroom: Constructivism and Social Learning. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203855171-9

Saunders, L. & Wong, M. A. (2020). Instruction in libraries and information centers: an introduction. Windsor & Downs Press. https://doi.org/10.21900/we.12