Learning community as a model for cultivating teaching proficiencies among library instructors – a case study

Learning to teach can be achieved through formal teacher education programs, or through in-house training programs that are pedagogically designed to develop teaching proficiencies for subject and disciplinary experts. At Virginia Tech, a library curriculum was developed for a cohort of new library instructors to prepare them for teaching roles within the changing library environment. The cohort’s year-long experience used a learning community model that was designed to immerse participants in an instruction experience that involved practical exercises designed to not only create an understanding of theoretical underpinnings of the scholarship of teaching and learning, but also to provide participants the opportunity to develop a teacher identity that would help shape their techniques as library instructors. A cohort of 10 librarians and staff participated as members of the learning community, and were guided by three experienced instruction librarians as facilitators. This paper discusses the rationale and goals of the Virginia Tech Libraries’ New Instructor Cohort, as well as the various methods and resources employed to cultivate teaching proficiencies of the participants. The paper includes preliminary outcomes of the program, evaluative feedback from the participants that were garnered via journaling during training, and recommendations for other institutions that may wish to adopt this model of supporting library instruction.

教学能力的习得既可通过正规教师教育项目实现，亦可依托基于教学法设计的内部培训项目，为学科专家培育教学素养。弗吉尼亚理工大学（Virginia Tech）针对一批新晋图书馆馆员讲师开发了一套图书馆教学课程，助力其适应不断变革的图书馆环境中的教学岗位。该培训项目为期一年，采用学习共同体模式，旨在让参训者沉浸式参与教学实践活动。此类实践环节不仅可帮助参训者理解教学学术的理论基础，还为其提供了塑造教师身份认同的契机，这将有助于优化其作为图书馆馆员讲师的教学技巧。本次学习共同体共有10名图书馆馆员与职员参与，由3名资深教学馆员担任引导师。本文阐述了弗吉尼亚理工大学图书馆新晋馆员讲师培训项目的设计初衷与目标，同时介绍了用于培育参训者教学素养的各类方法与资源。本文还涵盖了该项目的初步成效、参训者在培训期间通过撰写日志收集的评估反馈，以及为有意借鉴该图书馆教学支持模式的其他机构提供的建议。