Indiana School Library Media Specialists Improve How Teachers and Students Use the Internet
Marilyn Irwin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, IUPUI
Master of Library Science, Indiana University (1983)
IUPUI Student Sparks Research Award
As a SLIS graduate student at IUPUI, Teresa Williams approached Marilyn Irwin, Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at Indianapolis. Teresa wanted to explore how high school students and their teachers used the Internet. Her research proposal, with principal investigator Bonnie Grimble, school media specialist at Carmel High School, and coordinated by Dr. Irwin won funding through Highsmith, Inc. and the American Association for School Librarians (AASL). Results of the study were reported at national conferences in Orlando and Chicago and recently published in two refereed journals.
Findings clearly showed that high school teachers do not set high expectations for information searching and retrieval. They are often satisfied with documents retrieved quickly and with little critical review. Such a practice needed to be corrected through professional development sessions. The study found that most teachers did not understand how to use online databases that allow for refining searches and identification of authoritative resources. Further, new teachers at the high school seemed willing to adopt new search strategies, model such for their students, and set higher information selection standards for term papers.
Although not all teachers have changed their practice, some have learned that the Information Age is much more than a quick search for facts. The skills to search the Web deeply and critically are essential for students and teachers. Promoting those skills through information literacy has become a key instructional role of today's school media specialists. Learning to teach critical information inquiry is a required set of skills for students in the IU school media education program across the state.
Student Demos Yahoo and Google to Support Academics
Suzanne Hinnefeld entered her student teaching experience at Walkerton High School in January 2006. Her goal was to complete the field experience requirements that would certify her as a teacher of library media in Indiana schools. Not only has she completed those requirements, but she changed some of the teaching practices in the high school along the way. Julie Parent, an English teacher at Walkerton, reported the following to Shirley Ross, director of school library media and Suzanne's supervising teacher:
"Suzanne Hinnefeld was wonderful. Really she helped tremendously in two ways. I have always been under the impression that I wanted my students to struggle to some degree on finding materials for their research projects. Suzanne pointed out that we really don't want them to waste time struggling to find material, when the true struggle will come with understanding what they do find and figuring out how to use the information appropriately in their work.
Second, I have always told my students to stay away from Yahoo and Google because of the vast amount of information that is not accurate. Suzanne taught me about the use of Google and Yahoo directories, which refer students to websites that aca¬demic people have deemed worthy of use. Students continue to want to go to Yahoo or Google first, but now at least their searches are more refined, thus they will come upon better information to cite."
The Indiana University school library media education program, directed by Daniel Callison, professor and executive associate dean, has carried a ranking among the top ten nationally for the past decade. Students from Indianapolis, Bloomington and regional campuses at South Bend, Gary, New Albany, and Fort Wayne account for about forty placements in public schools in Indiana and other states annually. Several recent graduates have gained special national attention.
Kathy Hicks Brooks, a school media specialist at Gary, recently became the first teacher in her corporation to obtain national teacher certification. She credits the rigorous program through IU for her success. Her responsibilities include coordination of computer facilities and curriculum planning with her peer teachers.
Kym Kramer, former school media specialist at Pike Township's Fishback Academy, has entered doctoral studies at the IU Bloomington School of Education. Kramer received a full fellowship to support her Ph.D. work in school media and curriculum design. Funding was awarded through the Institute for Museum and Library Services in Washington D. C. According to Kramer, "the number one perk of the media specialist role is co-planning with your teachers, listening to what they want to accomplish, and using your creativity to help imbed information, media, and technology literacy skills into their classroom instruction."
After several years of classroom teaching, John McDonald is now the library media specialist at Connersville Middle School. "Since I was young, I knew I wanted to work with kids and to teach," says McDonald. In a typical day he meets and plans with his principal, conducts several reading promotions, meets with a couple of teachers about upcoming research projects, helps students edit their video productions, and finalize orders for new instructional materials including books and computer software. Last summer, McDonald received the Henne Award from AASL, recognition as an emerging national leader in teaching and the school media field.
According to McDonald, "If you enjoy working with kids, possess a strong belief in the joy and power of reading, and thrive on challenges of a fluid and ever-changing profession, you should consider the ranks of our schools' library media specialists. As a profession, we are dedicated to helping the entire school community to become proficient users of information."
Article reprinted with permission from the author and Indiana Insight, a publication of IUPUI.
