The Journal of the Canadian Health Libraries Association (JCHLA/JABSC) is running part II of the teaching and learning series that I agreed to write in four installments. Part I has already been published in the fall of 2008; part II will be published soon.
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Here are key messages (and introduction) in Part II to whet your appetite:
Key messages
• By drawing on a basic understanding of adult learning theory, and instructional design principles, health librarians can develop even more successful, learner-centred library programs 
• Some useful starting points in designing health library workshops include: 1) gathering information about your learners, 2) examining their preferred learning styles and, most importantly, 3) considering their context and professional practice
• To find your own starting point in developing health library workshops, consider structured approaches such as Sork’s planning model or Young and Harmony’s “how-to” framework
• UBC’s Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG) provides further ideas for the design of instructional sessions using the BOPPPS model
Introduction
“This is the second column in the JCHLA/JABSC series about teaching and learning in health libraries. In the first column, I introduced health librarians to the major learning theories in educational planning and hinted at their application in instructional design [1].
In column II, I focus on the practical elements of library workshop design, one of the five teaching skills identified as starting points in my first column. Throughout this discussion I am asking some straightforward but persistent questions about teaching in academic health and hospital contexts. Given the rise of web 2.0 tools and evidence-based practice, how can health librarians design more learner-centred, interactive workshops? What principles of instructional design are applicable to the classroom to ensure that library teaching is relevant, grounded theoretically and ultimately successful in imparting new skills?
In the digital age, library teaching requires a deeper level of understanding of the motivations, needs and search habits of our learners. To accommodate them, teachers can now select from more than 50 learning theories [2], with newer digital theories such as connectivism gaining in popularity [3]. As stated in column I, how we teach may be as important as what we teach in the digital age. Since many new library users are tech-savvy and grow up ‘digital’, they bring a certain set of pedagogical challenges to library workshops – and we should try to meet them [4].
The three major adult learning theories that have been discussed so far – behaviourism, constructivism/ cognitivism and situated-learning (see appendix I) – illustrate a wide range of learning theories available to the health librarian. While representing just the tip of the iceberg, these major theories should be seen as the foundation for further analysis and study. Over time, understanding can be deepened by evaluating these theories rigorously within the context of our users’ learning needs and professional practice.”
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References
1. Giustini D. Utilizing learning theories in the digital age: an introduction for health librarians. JCHLA/JABSC 2008; 29:109-115.
2. Kearsley G. Exploration in learning and instruction: the theory into practice (TIP) database. 1994-2008. http://tip.psychology.org/index.html
3. Siemens G. Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. 2005; 2(1), 3–10.
4. Naslund J, Giustini. Towards school library 2.0: an introduction to social software tools for teacher-librarians. School Libraries Worldwide, July 2008.
5. Sork TJ. Planning educational programs. From Wilson, A.L. & Hayes, E.R. (Eds.). Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
6. UBC Health Library wiki. 2007 Sabbatical – Dean Giustini [wiki article] http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php?title=2007_Sabbatical_-_Dean_Giustini
7. Sork TJ. The workshop as a unique instructional format. In: Thomas J. Sork (Ed.), Designing and implementing effective workshops. New Directions for Continuing Education 22. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1984. pp. 3-10.