Abstract
Research consultations offer an opportunity to foster research and critical thinking skills in students. However, they do not always incorporate learning theories, which risks rendering the consultation into a transactional one. Introducing pedagogical approaches like inquiry-based learning to one-on-one consultations enables librarians to foster dialogic approaches to reference encounters. By creating documents that mimic these dialogic encounters, librarians obtain artifacts that examine research questions students are asking and document students’ knowledge creation process. These documents allow librarians to center the interaction around student needs and transferable skill acquisition.
Inquiry-based learning teaches students to select topics, generate questions, and seek and synthesize information (University of Wisconsin). This approach not only teaches research strategies but develops highly sought-after professional skills like critical thinking and self-directed learning (New York University). Centering the student in an interaction helps foster dialogic learning (Gilles), which promotes collaborative interaction. These pedagogical approaches foster conversations where information literacy is better embedded into consultations. Pulling from the ACRL Information Literacy Framework, inquiry-based learning teaches research as inquiry while dialogic learning embodies scholarship as a conversation.
These pedagogies informed a redesign of a research service that offers both scheduled and walk-up consultations. Using a document called a “research jumpstart” to capture conversations taking place during consultations, librarians and students collaboratively create a take-away document to help students recall strategies developed in the interaction. The Jumpstart also creates an artifact for librarians to assess interactions and examine student research trends.
This session will discuss the benefits of applying inquiry-based and dialogic learning to research consultations and information literacy development to help revamp the standard research interaction into a transformative experience for both librarians and students. It will also showcase an artifact designed and used to collaboratively record the natural conversation generated by a research consultation and outline the specific service model within which the artifact was used.
References
American Library Association (2015). “Framework for information literacy for higher education.” ACRL. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework.
Gillies, R. M. (2016). Dialogic interactions in the cooperative classroom. International Journal of Educational Research, 76, 178–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2015.02.009
New York University (n.d.). 13. Inquiry-based learning. http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/faculty/teaching-and-learning- resources/strategies-for-teaching-with-tech/best-practices-active-learning/active-learning-techniques/techniques-13.
University of Wisconsin (n.d.). Inquiry-based learning. https://ce.uwex.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Inquiry- basedlearning.pdf.
