Help Me, Help You

Finished reading a couple of articles about underserved populations and information literacy (See here for full summaries and citations on all three of the readings). I was somewhat surprised to find that there were common threads among all three readings. Although looking back on it, I'm not quite sure why I would be so surprised. Here are some of the major ideas I pulled from the three articles.

1. Users
It's like what we have been talking about in class, teaching must be user-centered. If we focus too much on standards, or completing tasks for the sake of completing tasks, no one is really getting anywhere. With populations that are more commonly underserved (this could be Native Americans, visually impaired or even distant learning students) there seems to be a tendency to forget to look past our assumptions of what they need, instead of listening to what they want and need. It all seems so simple, but it also seems so easy to quickly get lost and stray from this. I found all three articles I read (Lopez 2008, Hedreen 2012, and Adetoro 2012) to all address this about the user and non-user assumptions of their needs. Whether it was based on physical impairments, distance (asynchronous or synchronous timing of help) or even cultural understanding of the word "information", user-centered teaching should be a number one priority. And listening to your users should be apart of that.

2. Formats
Formatters, I mean Format Matters! One thing describe throughout the three articles was that the formats being used to help aid in teaching information literacy counts. Also, they strongly noted that one format for all does not exist. While it may be exhaustive, or seem repetitive to make various examples of the same thing in different ways (i.e. screencast, and podcast, and written instructions and a "scavenger hunt" exercise), it will help. I have personally found repetition helpful for learning new tasks or new ways of doing things. After all, practice makes perfect! By providing multiple formats we could provide even more inclusion into the learning process. Not only will we be welcoming different types of learning, but we would be able to provide them helpful tools as well.

3. Learning Together
While we may be in the instructor role, we have to remember we are all learners. Part of being user-center is listening to the users. This shouldn't just mean listening to what they need and want, but also what they know. But taking the time to step back and learn from each other we create a more powerful learning experience and bond among each other.