Blackboard and the Library

This week and last week I hosted another set of "Conversations on Information Literacy" sessions. As Faculty Development and Instruction Librarian, I host a series of events throughout each semester highlighting library resources and how the library can help support faculty teaching and student learning. Thus far I have been following a template of what has been done in the past, for several reasons. I am new to this community and understand it takes time for everyone to get used to "the new girl's approach." I also understand that too much change too soon can be a plan for disaster. I want to approach this first year as an opportunity to learn from those around me. That doesn't mean I don't have ideas (and it doesn't mean I don't keep a running list of said ideas); what it does mean is that I am listening, observing, and working to learn more about the community I serve, which will help me craft my faculty development sessions around user needs.

For this pair of sessions we discussed how the library can help support faculty and students through having a presence on Blackboard. (Blackboard, Your Courses, and the Library) We recently migrated to Blackboard 9.1, and with technology change comes some anxiety from faculty. In this session we discussed the different levels of embedded librarianship, types of resources we can link to from Blackboard, and larger lesson-oriented concepts. Though we would like to believe all students come to us with a strong background in technology, that is not necessarily the case. Also, those students who do have background using technologies don't necessarily transfer those skills to other mediums, such as Blackboard. It is up to us to introduce those concepts and build those connections, just as we had to learn these new tools. One thing that I cannot emphasize enough is the inclusion of a lesson (or even just a part of a lesson) that concentrates on the professor's expectations for using Blackboard. Showing students the tools you expect them to use, having in-class activities where students demonstrate proficiency with using Blackboard (prior to looming, important, and intimidating deadlines) will help ease student anxiety when it comes to assignment or discussion post submission. For more information on the Blackboard session, click the link above.