Comments on: Teaching Towards Your Blind Side

By: Amelia

Amelia — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 18:13:39 +0000

Since I do one on ones I can talk to each patron I’m helping and find out where their comfort level is and what specifically they are looking for. I find with a lot of my senior patrons if I do the steps first and talk them through it they have a bit more confidence themselves.

I find they also apologize for getting things wrong, like mistyping or clicking on the wrong thing. I always tell them it’s nothing that, I’m used it and I do things wrong all the time myself. Most of the time I do something wrong when helping them.

I did a one on one yesterday with a patron who just got a new Nook Glow and wanted help setting it up and downloading her first book. She got so excited when she downloaded the book herself, it was a great feeling to know she came in unsure of herself and within a half hour she knew she could do it.

By: Amy C. Nickless

Amy C. Nickless — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 04:43:00 +0000

I’m a recent library science graduate. As a student and graduate reference assistant in an academic library, I have seen many examples of technology assisted instruction. Some classes I took were taught in computer labs so we could follow along online or used special programs (like OCLC Connexion). In others we used a device called a clicker to answer questions. One professor used a website (sorry I can’t remember the name) that allowed us to text in answers instead of buying clickers. Plus in non-computer lab classes, we were allowed to reference topics on our laptops, tablets, and/or smartphones.

In the workshops and one-shot instruction classes I taught, I had the students follow along in the computer lab. I would ask them questions about how they thought searches could be improved or if they could see another way to search the database or catalog to ensure active learning. I would also teach them to use things like discovery services, link resolvers, and LibGuides. Overall, I found I spent less time explaining how to use the technology and more on search skills and determining reliable sources. However, I worked mostly with people who, like me, are digital natives. I realize this may not be the case for everyone.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 03:15:53 +0000

Oof … just read the link on expert blind spots. I could count the number of computer-savvy library school profs I had on, oh, one finger. While I think OLI stands a great chance of changing the way instruction works, I truly can’t imagine the current generation of humanities grad school profs gathering and managing the skills needed to teach in that way. For myself, I’m just not finding the time, between teaching and writing and managing to build those skills into my coursework.

Mind, I’m positive there are some who could stand easily in that kind of environment, but not in almost any cases of the ones I know.

Agree with you on the confidence, though. Best recent comment was that a student felt like she’d just been given the 64-crayon box with the sharpener!

By: ann

ann — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 02:20:22 +0000

Makes me think of every math teacher I ever had….and not in a happy way.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:46:09 +0000

I find that sometimes my job isn’t so much teaching people how to use the computer, but to instill confidence that they can learn and use the computer. Enough people over the years have told me that they are afraid to break it that I start off by telling them how they can kill their computer so that it never works again (pour a bucket of salt water through it while it’s on). Short of that, I tell them, you’d have to try real hard to kill it. Then I point out there is a difference between breaking the computer and opening a window or screen that they don’t recognize while focusing on problem solving skills.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:20:54 +0000

Yes! Exactly! I, too teach computers daily, and have been using them for (mumble, mumble) years. Some of the things that seem completely evident to me are simply invisible to my students. I’m in the process now of redesigning our basic skills instruction, and I have trouble thinking of what to teach people unless I look at what someone else has already done. I finally developed a set of “advanced” classes so I could gather a small group of students to whom I can say things like, “Let’s close that file and go on to the file named (whatever)” without painstakingly detailing every navigational step. One advantage I have is that, although I look young, I am 51. When people tell me they can’t learn computers because they are over 50, I point out my age. That seems to give them a little more confidence.