My research grant, part 5: survey-based recommendations

Based on the results from the interviews, the following recommendations are being considered:

·         work with faculty during the class/course planning to prepare sessions, and assignments if possible, as well as integrate sessions more seamlessly;

·         help faculty to understand that this is a supportive measure and not in competition to the limited class time.  A diversity of tangible/relevant examples can be exciting for the professor too, who is used to the same resources being used for assignments;

·         do not limit to the traditional disciplines (i.e., History);

·         find non-traditional disciplines (i.e., Nutrition) that could benefit from a session;

·         build sessions in layers.  Consider more introduction-style sessions for first and second years with more detailed sessions for third and fourth years – especially research methods classes;

·         be flexible with sessions to accommodate the needs of faculty and students;

·         provide examples based on the topic of the course/assignment;

·         consider critical thinking classes offered separately from the archival literacy in conjunction with a librarian to cover both primary and secondary sources; and,

·         engage archivists in discussion about the benefits of archival information literacy to students, faculty, and archivists.

My research grant, part 4: survey results

The results of the interviews exceeded expectations and brought a few surprises.  Briefly,

·         faculty see the benefit of engaging students in primary and critical research;

·         faculty appreciate their students’ use the archives as part of their assignment;

·         faculty do not begrudge sessions in the archives and do not feel it a waste of their class time as it enriched the classroom experience instead of competing with it;

·         faculty were concerned that primary sourced assignments might overwhelm the archives’ staff;

·         faculty thought they knew what was in the archives and were surprised to find that we have even more relevant material than previously known;

·         students enjoy working with primary documents in a safe, hands-on environment;

·         students in higher-level courses find more relevance especially for the research methods aspect;

·         students in lower-level courses find more diverse topics and materials to enrich their general assignments;

·         physical material triumphed over the digital, although digital material was more accessible; and,

·         no teaching style changes were requested.  The only request on this point was from students and faculty alike – incorporate even more hands-on materials.

Spin-off results and comments from the interviews that were complete surprises included:

·         interviews raised awareness of the archives with faculty and students alike;

·         increased traffic in the archives’ reading room;

·         additional, ‘non-traditional’ faculty signed up their class for a session without invitation;

·         at least two new-to-archives classes next year will incorporate primary sources; and,

·         knowledge of primary sources and research is beneficial to students applying to graduate school – better research methods=stronger thesis=stronger application for school.

My research grant, part 3: survey participants

Ten faculty members and ten students were selected to participate in the survey.  Of them, four faculty members and over ten students were invited with the proviso that their participation was voluntary and would not involve any degree of risk.  All participants were given the option to complete a written survey or to be interviewed; everyone opted for the interview.  The interview questions were reviewed in advance by a few of the participants.

Four faculty members and twenty students from the Department of History, the Department of Psychology, and the School of Education were interviewed.  Both groups were asked ten questions that were pre-approved by the Acadia University Senate Research Ethics Board.  The interviews were done either in groups or individually, as appropriate and mutually agreeable.  All participants had attended an archives session within the past two years.

An additional six faculty members were selected for participation, but were not invited to participate.  This group had never requested an archives session and so pre-approved questions were devised to determine why.  These six faculty members were not interviewed because of the survey results (below) and because, during the research, four faculty requested sessions which had never been requested before and two faculty indicated that they plan to request a session in the Fall of 2012.  Although this group may still be surveyed for their comments, it was decided that an outreach strategy may be the best way to engage additional faculty as the need is clear.  An outreach strategy will likely draw even more faculty to request an archives session.

My research grant, part 2: expectations

Before I tell you what we found out, I should tell you what we expected to find.

We anticipated the following results from the interviews:

·         faculty were satisfied with the sessions, perhaps more so with the ones specific to the course;

·         students were not satisfied with the sessions and did not feel it met their assignment needs;

·         the reason why students did not return to the archives for other assignments;

·         the reason for faculty not requesting sessions for their other classes;

·         the reason why more faculty do not ask for a session; and,

·         a critique of the sessions’ delivery method.

We also expected the findings to result in clearly identifiable weaknesses in the method of delivering sessions and therefore the development of new methods to deliver sessions.  These new, stronger sessions would be tested in the Fall of 2012. 

Again, we were surprised on both fronts.

My research grant, part 1: the setup

In late 2011, I applied for the University Research Fund grant to hire an Education student who would assist me to assess and develop Archival Information Literacy (AIL) sessions.  Here's part of what I proposed:

"This research will support the preparation and construction of a set of new AIL sessions aimed to improve and enhance student research skills using pedagogically sound assignments and research tools.  The research includes examining the impact of previous AIL sessions by surveying or interviewing five (5) faculty and ten (10) students from the Faculty of Arts and the School of Education who have had an AIL session in the past.  Surveys or interviews will also be conducted with five (5) faculty from the Faculty of Arts who have not asked for an AIL session but whose class may benefit from a session.  The results of the surveys and interviews will be used to inform and develop the new AIL sessions."

That grant proposal was successful and we began our work in January 2012.  I hired an Education student to conduct, transcribe, and compile data from the interviews, keeping me at arm's length of the process so as to not influence it.  

Here are the questions that formed the basis of the interviews:

Surveys/Questionnaires/Interview questions:

Questions for faculty who have had an archives session:

1.      Why did you choose to include an archives session in your course?

2.      What were the benefits of including an archives session in your course?

3.      What were the drawbacks of including an archives session in your course?

4.      What did your class do during their session?

5.      Did the session meet your expectations and/or the needs of the class?

6.      How could the session be modified to better meet your expectations and/or needs of the class?

7.      How could the examples be improved to better meet your expectations and/or needs of the class?

8.      What type of assignment did you build to reinforce the skills your students learned in the archives session?

9.      Did the students include archival sources in their assignment?

10.  What type of session would you prefer to be offered to your classes?

11.  What skills/information should your students learn from an archives session?

12.  Do you have any other comments about the archives session?

Questions for faculty who have NOT had an archives session:

1.      Have you included an archives session in the past?

2.      Would you consider including an archives session in your future course(s)?

3.      What would be the benefits of including an archives session in your course?

4.      What would be the drawbacks of including an archives session in your course?

5.      What expectations would you have for an archives session?

6.      What needs would your students have for an archives session?

7.      Do you want your students to include archival sources in their assignments?

8.      What skills/information should your students learn from an archives session?

9.      Do you have any other comments about the archives session?

Questions for students who have had an archives session:

1.      What did you learn in your archives session?

2.      How does the archives session meet/not meet your learning needs?

3.      How can the archives session be improved or changed so as to better meet your needs?

4.      Were the example(s) helpful and assist in your understanding of how to use the Archives?

5.      How can the example(s) be improved to assist in your understanding of how to use the Archives?

6.      How can this type of session help you with assignments in your other courses?

7.      In what other courses do you feel you would benefit from an archives session?

8.      How can the Archives reach out to students to help them with their learning?

9.      Do you have any other comments about the archives session?

The results were surprising!  I will share them in a separate post.

On June 8th, at the Association of Canadian Archivists' conference in Whitehorse, I shared one of my interactive, guided class examples with delegates.  I called it "The Case of the Controversial Calendar".  It will be available as a podcast on the ACA members website. Thank you to everyone who participated.  Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to share my research endeavours via this blog.  As promised, I will use this blog to disseminate the research and practice of AIL.  Exciting times are ahead!