Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators

by Char Booth

Overview

Whether or not instruction appears in their job titles, librarians are often in the position of educating their users, colleagues, and peers to 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838910528
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	02/22/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Char Booth advocates for the integration of pedagogical training in library education, informing user services through local research, creating library cultures of experimentation and assessment, and exploring open, accessible, and collaborative solutions to library sustainability. She is the Instruction Services Manager and E-Learning Librarian at the Claremont Colleges, and is on the faculty of the ACRL Information Literacy Immersion Institute. An ALA Emerging Leader and Library Journal Mover & Shaker, she blogs at info-mational and tweets @charbooth. Her publications include Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators and Informing Innovation: Tracking Student Interest in Emerging Library Technologies.

Editorial Reviews

Booth (e-learning librarian, Univ. of California, Berkeley; Informing Innovation) has developed an instructional design framework, USER (Understand, Structure, Engage, Reflect), for library educators. First she offers an overview of the components of instructional literacy, including teaching effectiveness, metacognition, reflective practice, learning and instructional theory, teaching technology, creating learning objects, and instructional design. Next comes a detailed presentation of an instructional design framework based on the USER method. In contrast to having to learn "in the trenches" how to teach, as Booth did, her USER method is an action-oriented, reflective practice for improving your teaching during the planning, teaching, and outcomes assessment process. Booth has put together an impressive body of knowledge on learning and instructional theory and practice. This book is packed with practical tips for teaching library instruction, with just enough of an overview of learning and instructional theory to provide an underpinning for instructional design. She provides references for a deeper exploration of instructional design and theory and templates for instructional planning, a glossary of terms, and a categorized "recommended reading" section. VERDICT Recommended for academic librarian educators but also useful for school and public librarians who teach or train.—Robert L. Battenfeld, Long Island Univ. Lib., Brookville, NY

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