PART 3: INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

MODELS FOR
In part 1 of this series I talked about instructional design models
(IDM) and how they can be a useful pedagogical strategy for
librarians designing teaching sessions. Then, in part 2 I gave an
overview of one of ADDIE a prescriptive IDM that is meant to be
used in preparation for delivering a workshop. Today I will be talking
about Gagnes Nine Events of Instruction; I happen to like this model
quite a bit because its used to structure your actual teaching
delivery as opposed to a rigorous systematic process leading up to
it. In that sense its practical and can be modified to suit your needs.
For this post I will again give a brief overview of Gagnes Events, and
then give my opinion on how useful I think it could be for librarians.
THE NINE EVENTS
Robert Gagne is a behaviorist and cognitivist theorist who believed
strongly in the idea of a cumulative model of learning (Gagne,
1985). This cumulative model is characterized by the idea
that learning new concepts and skills is built upon those already
learned. For Gagne, using real-world learning experiences and
examples when teaching is necessary for learners to engage with
learning material. I strongly believe in this as well. What is the point
of teaching a library session and giving examples that work for
giving nice clean examples of how to search, but have absolutely no
appeal to the audience? In the ideal teaching scenario, Gagne
comments that instructional designers lessons would be geared
towards enhancing prerequisite knowledge; providing content
organization and cues for information retrieval; assuring student
participation; and using informative and corrective feedback. For
Gagne, providing learning guidance throughout each of the Nine
Events is the most important step towards developing an effective
teaching session. Take a look at the Nine Events below:
 Image from UNT Health Science
Center http://www.hsc.unt.edu/departments/cld/CourseDesign-
TeachingStrategies.cfm

Just by looking at the Nine Events, Gagnes idea of the cumulative

learning model is evident in Event 3: build and trigger the learners
prior knowledge to create a relevant learning session. You can also
notice that the Nine Events are designed like stepping stones that
lead towards building new knowledge and skills. I do think that Nine
steps is a bit over the top for designing a teaching session, and
many of these Events can be integrated into one another (the colour
codes in the image do a great job of this. That being said, I would
like to talk about a few of these events that I think are absolutely
vital when teaching as a librarian.
GAINING ATTENTION
As far as Im concerned the most important step when teaching,
gaining the attention of your audience is so important because if
you dont have their attention right off the bat, then you wont have
it for the rest of the session. I always like to start with something
that will interest learners or a question that I know they can answer.
For example, when Ive taught undergraduate students I always ask
them first where they go to find information the answer is ALWAYS
Google. Then I tell them that I will show them that using library
resources can be just as easy as using Google, and will get them
better grades on their assignments. Going through the process of
showing them that searching for an assignment topic in Google
retrieves 1,000,000s of results while searching in a discipline-
specific database retrieves a nice and tidy number of relevant
results this grabs their attention right away. For medical residents,
I show them evidence of the fact that residents are poor searchers,
and are not acquiring the best information through literature that
proves this fact. I like to use this article: Can Emergency Medicine
Residents Reliably Use the Internet to Answer Clinical
Questions? This article shows that the Internet has given residents a
false sense of security with searching. Once you show them an
article like this they almost always perk up!
Of course, when I want to get everyones attention I always tell my
audience that Im here to help them, I want to help them, and
that I LOVE helping them. Letting your students know that you
are approachable and excited to help them is probably the best
thing you can possibly do while teaching because it lets them
know youre there!
PROVIDING GUIDANCE & FEEDBACK
I strongly believe that when youre teaching a lengthy library
session you have to let the learners practice on their own. I really
like an article that David Jonassen wrote in 1999 in it he discussed
the importance of the teacher playing the role of monitor and
observer. It is always important to teach the content, but at some
point I think you have to place the responsibility back on your
learners. As an observer, you can survey the room and be there for
anyone who needs help while at the same time giving them the
space to try out things on their own. While working with theCollege
of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, we used this
approach often when teaching. The freedom the physicians felt
throughout the session was much appreciated in the workshop
evaluations.
After youve given them the freedom to discuss and practice
searching and working through various search topics, you then have
the ability to bring it back to the group. At this point you can have a
good discussion about the challenges each person faced when using
library resources, and provide the appropriate feedback. Guidance
and feedback are so important, and Gagnes Events really
encourages this type of approach.
ENHANCING RETENTION AND
TRANSFER
This is the stage that Gagnes cumulative model really shows itself.
As a librarian, it is important to do your research and make sure
search examples will be useful for the students before you walk into
a teaching session. Speaking with physicians, faculty, or even some
of the students before hand can be a great way to get an idea what
your learners will be interested in. I dont think it is useful to go into
a workshop setting for internal medicine residents and using climate
change or global warming as an example of using Boolean. This is
where a pre-evaluation can come in handy. Sending off a quick email
survey to see what audience might be interested in learning about
makes a world of difference. Regardless, making your examples
applicable to your learners will help enhance their retention of the
material and provide a better avenue for applying the new skills to
real world situations (Gagne, 1985, Carder et al., 2001).
Another great way to enhance retention and transfer is to provide
the students with something to take away; whether its a handout or
a link to a handout (which, lets be honest is probably more useful
these days than a piece of paper they might recycle on their way
out out of a session)
Retention and transfer should also reflect the retention and transfer
of the librarians skills and expertise. While it is important for the
audience to remember some of the skills we have taught, I would
argue that it is more important that they remember were available
to help them and that we want to help them if they get stuck.
I think that if anyone takes anything away from this post it should be
that the steps discussed above are useful when we teach. It is
crucial that we care about being effective teachers, and that we
show that passion to our audience when we teach the content. This
passion an excitement rubs off on our leaners, and can make them
more excited to use the library and our services. Every time
someone visits me from a class I taught and feel comfortable asking
me for help I get a huge sense of satisfaction. Just knowing that they
saw my enthusiasm, and felt like they could approach me with their
issues is such an amazing feeling and proves that I must be doing
something right.
In part 4 (the final part) I will discuss what my goals are for teaching
in a library setting.
REFERENCES
Carder, L., Willingham, Bibb, D., (2001). Case-based, problem-based
learning: Information literacy for the real world. Research Issues,
18(3), 181-190.
Gagne, RM.(1985). The conditions of learning and theory of
instruction (4th edition). Orlando, FLA: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.
(Original published in 1916).
Jonassen, D. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments.
In C.M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional Design Theories and Models: A
New Paradigm of Instructional Theory (Vol. II) (pp. 215239).
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Krause, R., Moscati, R., Halpern, S., Schwartz, DG., et al. (2011). Can
emergency medicine residents reliably use the internet to answer
clinical questions? Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 12(4),
442-447.