8/4/2019 Assignment 9 - Reflection on Professional Development

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Assignment 9: Reflection on Professional Development

Since embarking on the PGCHE I have changed my impression of the role of the teacher and the act

of teaching. Initially I had considered the teaching aspect of my new role, as Academic Liaison

Librarian, was something I just had to tolerate; I was very anxious about teaching and lacked

confidence in my own ability. I now embrace opportunities for teaching and consider it to be muchmore than an aspect of my job, but more a change in mindset about my whole role.

I can see new opportunities for creativity within my teaching, not just as an information provider but

also as a facilitator and sharer of ideas and possibilities for researching. I feel more enthused about

teaching information literacy and research skills now because I think there are so many ways to

engage students with concepts and develop these skills. I have been supported and encouraged by

the lecturers and students from the School of Performance, with whom I have tried out new ideas.

Good teaching experiences have really improved my confidence and I have valued the feedback from

students and support from my library colleagues and other members of staff.

The PGCHE has given me a framework from which to develop these new ideas, as well as theconfidence to share them with members of staff both internal and external to University College

Falmouth. I feel I am beginning to develop my own teaching style and have felt more confident about

this through the approval and encouragement I have received from doing my micro-teach, the

observations and from further experience and feedback.

Another invaluable aspect of the PGHCE was the opportunity to meet with other members of staff

involved with teaching both at University College Falmouth and externally. As a result I could discuss

concerns, share ideas and build relationships with these people. This was timely for me as it

enhanced the opportunities for liaising with other lecturers was is the prime purpose of my role, and

it gave me the opportunity to have closer contact with the new members of staff who work within

the School of Performance. I have worked closely with one member of staff, a lecturer from Theatre,conducting joint teaching sessions and sharing ideas of how to incorporate the library into course

delivery. This has given me the confidence to portray Academic Liaison Librarians as academic

colleagues who are able to enhance the learning opportunities of the students.

I have developed my own ideas about teaching information literacy and how these skills are

transferable and could make students more employable if they were able to reapply them in

different contexts. I consider that the library should further market these skill areas in order to

influence the perceived value of a university degree as a valuable and effective route to employment.

At the start of this course, I was so concerned about my teaching sessions that I would plan them

thoroughly ensuring I had search examples and results so that I had control over the sessions. Now I

can appreciate the value of facilitating learning by doing through an enquiry-based approach. From

my own research and work with the lecturer from Theatre I have recognised that experiential

learning can work well when teaching information literacy skills. I have looked to develop these ideas

through projects and bids for funding with the Theatre lecturer, which has further focused my mind

on the application of these ideas.

As well as working with lecturers I have also conducted shared sessions with my equivalent from the

Academic Skills team. I have enjoyed collaborating in this way and from it developing new ways of

engaging students with the library and information literacy skills.

I have begun planning sessions as a result of the PGCHE, initially using existing templates and then

developing my own. This acts as a prompt for me to consider a variety to aspects to my teaching

8/4/2019 Assignment 9 - Reflection on Professional Development

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including inclusivity issues. Moreover it provides evidence of teaching session ideas for lecturers and

documents sessions for future reference.

Evidence of impact and statistics on sessions and one-to-ones are becoming increasingly important

as Higher Education becomes more accountable to society. The increasing of student tuition fees and

cuts to funding will put greater pressure on Higher Education to justify itself. Employability is an issuethat we have visited during the PGCHE, and I consider that this provides an opportunity for the

library to sell its skills of research and information literacy as transferable, and therefore of value to

the students in the workplace post graduation.

The PGCHE has provided me with a framework for thinking critically and reflectively on my own

teaching practice, allowing me to adapt and alter teaching methods to meet the needs of the

students and the different courses. I encourage students to give me feedback to help me reflect on

my practice, and the PGCHE Summer School presented new ideas for how to do this for example

using Turning Point software and hash tags on Twitter.

Teaching research skills is the main aspect of my teaching and therefore keeping up-to-date withnew technologies and resources is very important and requires me to conduct my own research on a

regular basis. The value of continuing professional development has been emphasised by the PGCHE

and it has inspired me to share my reflections, findings, and experiences using a blog and Twitter.

I am particularly interested in issues of inclusivity and how these can influence teaching practice and

encourage creativity in session design and content. I have found the PGCHE useful in helping me to

understand a broad range of potential needs of students. I can now see how specific courses have

particular needs according to how they respond to a library setting and the teaching environments

that are more comfortable to them. It has been beneficial to conduct an initial library session in the

students course environment, for example for Performance students this tends to be in a studio

space. Awareness of these needs have helped me design sessions which break down barriers tolibrary use that might exist amongst different cohorts of students.

Ultimately the PGCHE has been valuable and timely and has enhanced my confidence significantly.

The contacts I have made during this time have been important to me and I intend to build on these.

Moreover, I found my attitude towards teaching has become more positive and I feel enthusiastic

about the start of a new academic year knowing that I now have a better understanding of teaching

practice, styles, new methods of engaging students and inspiration for designing different sessions.