Library:TLAC Forums Engaging First Years

From UBC Wiki

Engaging First Year Students in the Classroom: Tips and Techniques from the Trenches

Tuesday, June 29th from 3-4pm in the B.C. Gas Conference Room (RM 742, Koerner Library, 604-822-8677)


The library instruction sessions we teach to first year students are often the first experience they’ve had in a post-secondary library, and the first time they’ve used the library catalogue and licensed databases, and talked with a library staff member directly. These classes offer us a unique opportunity to capture the interest and attention of these students, show them how the library is relevant to their needs, and help to build their confidence in navigating the range of resources available to them as they begin research assignments and projects. However, engaging first year students can also be challenging as some may hesitate to speak up and participate in class and/or may be multi-tasking as you speak. So, what to do?


This one hour forum will begin with a brief presentation by Susan Henderson. Susan is currently a graduate student in the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, a Chapman Learning Commons Assistant here in the Library, as well as a veteran high school teacher. Susan not only knows where our first year students have been before arriving here at UBC, but also has great ideas to share about the kinds of activities that are more likely to encourage them to engage.


After Susan’s 15-minutes presentation, we’ll all have an opportunity to informally share some of our own successes and challenges engaging first year students.


  • What has been the most successful learning activity you’ve used to engage students in the classroom? What do you think made it work so well?
  • What new learning activity or teaching strategy or teaching tool have you tried recently that didn’t work as well as you’d expected? How did students respond?
  • What 1 or 2 key resources [e.g. great article, web site, workshop, etc.] would you recommend to others that have inspired you to try new things in the classroom?


Key Messages

Lots of great ideas came out of this session. Some key insights from Susan:

  • "Delivering curriculum is no longer about giving information," and "it's about what you can do with them rather than what you can cover."
  • Shift from covering what to how and why you're covering it
  • Research indicates that any learner's attention will wane after about 10 minutes of listening to a lecture/presentation. Recommendation: Try a new learning approach every 10 minutes to mix things up and keep the attention of your learners.


Resources

Below are some of the resources, strategies, approached we discussed, along with who at UBC is using them so you can follow up!

APSC 201 Slide6 Barb Sobol.JPG

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