Trends and Issues in Various Settings

I am very close to finishing my coursework in order to be a Certified Librarian.  I actually work right now in a Junior High library and so much of what I have learned in all my classes has helped me with my job. I believe school libraries provide information and ideas that are critical to working in today's knowledge and technology based society and study after study can make a connection between student achievement and school libraries.  I love helping students pick out books and suggesting books to others who are unsure.  I feel there is a book out there for everyone from graphic novels, biographies to any type of fiction.

Chapter 18 dealt with instructional designs in Business and Industry.  Addressing all the changes that occur in the corporate world is not easy task and quite a challenge to instructional designers. Today they are expected to work with less time in designing, yet deliver the training quicker plus insure that the stakeholders will make a profit.  One technology tool that stood out as a big help in the corporate world would be Rapid Prototyping. Specifically Rapid Prototyping involves developing “a working model of an instructional product that is used early in a project to assist in the analysis, design, development and evaluation of an instructional innovation”.  At the beginning of the year I removed two bookcases and weeded a tremendous amount of outdated books.  I then rearranged the furniture and this really opened up the library. Soon after that the principal came to me with the idea of putting in a media center.  I am not sure how much room he needs exactly but I believe it would fit in the back part of the room.  If this idea becomes reality I think a Rapid Prototyping tool like Google Sketchup would be a great asset in the beginning.  We would be able to create a quick fabrication of a physical model using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. We could place windows, doors, furniture, locate flaws, while checking for form, fit and flexibility in the plan.

Chapter 19 dealt with challenges instructional designers have in working with the military.  Our servicemen are so dedicated to our country, putting the needs of others before their own.  To help insure their survival, proper training of these men and women is critical.  I found the Full-Spectrum design serves as a good guide when preparing our troops.  Instructional designers  work to create “train-the-trainer” materials for the delivery of their product.  In addition to making sure the materials are effective and efficient, researchers also study the various ways ethnic groups learn best  when preparing material for various jobs.  The design takes trainers  through the classroom training, garrison/base then on to deployment.  The instructional material also discusses the theories underlying the design and why they were chosen. The instruction is accomplished using technology and other forms of available resources such as guides that can be printed when deployed to the field. According to the design the more skills you possess the higher your rank and the more capabilities you develop.  Once finished these Trainers are then prepared to train the troops below them. 

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The Full-Spectrum design training would work very well for me since I am the only librarian in our library.  I only have student aids and I must train them very well at the beginning of the year in order for library to run smoothly.  Many of my student aids know very little about the library at the beginning of the year.  I give them a short introduction to the Dewey System, explain how the system works and how books are organized in the library.  I then let them practice with a computer program called Order in the Library.  This is a simulation type of learning where individuals sort books based on their spine labels.  Once they feel confident we practice putting books on the shelves.  I also show them our cataloging system Destiny for checking out books on the computer.  This usually does not take very long.  I let them watch me a few times then I let them work with supervision at first.  I have been very blessed this year the students who work with me catch on quickly and we have very few errors checking out material. Just as in the army once these students are trained they hold the knowledge to train any new students aids who come to work in the library. One area I could improve in would be to prepare a folder with all the information I teach them at the beginning of the year, then they could refer back to it if needed.  This would be like the printed guides the army uses when men have been deployed to the field.

One other area I read about was the medical field.  It is so interesting to read about especially today because of all the changes in the healthcare area and new laws.  Although technology and instruction are a very important part of this field, the one approach I found most interesting deals with an area we try to present in our schools today.  This is applying learning in a problem-solving context rather than applying knowledge to solve problems just as they do in constructivist classroom.  In the field of medicine, it is known as the Post-Flexner Phase in Medical Education. It focuses on “problem solving and cognition in addition to science”. (p.198). The reasoning behind this phase of medical school was to enables students to synthesize information from several areas and “develop transferable problem solving competence while also learning self-study skills for lifelong learning” (textbook, p.199).  Cases are presented to a group of medical students who study the problems of the patient, come up with hypothesis, gather data and discuss information directly related to the case. The only issue the textbook discussed with using problem based learning were proposed differences between what the curriculum teaches what the exam measures. Research is looking into ways now to better assess clinical solving on licensure exams.

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This year I have worked with different classes which come in to the library to help them incorporate more technology into their classes.  The first project we worked on together dealt with a science activity.  Students worked in groups of three on a vocabulary project for force and motion. I constructed an Animoto video to explain to students what their teacher expected. My video was just 30 seconds and I went through step by step explaining how to set up pictures and slides and create the video.  Working in their groups they defined the words, found pictures which demonstrated meaning of the word and then used the work in a sentence.  The students would explain to each other how they thought the word would look in a picture and using knowledge they had gained from each other use this word in a sentence.  They were able to use the internet site Sweet Search which is just for students.  The sources here are reliable and helps them find sources quicker.  Their teacher was present to offer guidance and advice.  

Instructional designers in Higher Education are very close to other faculty and staff members at the school.  From reading the chapter I noted the instructional designer must be a leader, possess critical thinking skills and be experts at problem solving.  Many worked with other faculty members with varying backgrounds in education.  They collaborated together to analyze learners and come up with an environment which would engage learners in the learning process.  Some universities in Australia were still focusing on teacher led lesson which instructional designers worked to turn around into more student centered learning models. Others worked to introduce the faculty to distance learning production process. Overall in these institutions of higher education the use of instructional designers became “critical to the success of organizations where faculty members are trained in content but not pedagogy”. (p.218) This is just what librarians try to achieve today, training teachers to engage students with the latest type of technology to include in instruction.