I just HAVE to tell folks about this project. Really, I do. It’s a requirement.

As part of my grant application, I indicated that I would share my findings with colleagues. Keeping up this blog, and its companion, is only one way to share my research. Bringing a number of stakeholders to the same room and talking about the research is my usual way of sharing. Last week, I held a meeting with those stakeholders. I invited 25 faculty and administrators to participate in an activity using primary documents (about 30 minutes) and a presentation of the research findings (15 minutes). Only eight people came, but they were so engaged and enthusiastic that the group remained long after the session was over.

Many of the research findings have already been shared on this blog; but, some data was compiled only for the purpose of the meeting. I want to share it as you may be surprised by the findings.

Let’s start with numbers.

Below is a chart, showing the number of students, by discipline, taking an archives session between 2007 and 2011 (before my research began). “Other” refers to students in Theology and Interdisciplinary courses, which did not come every year. 

 

Here is a chart showing the numbers of students, by discipline, receiving an archives session between 2011 and 2013 (during the time of this research). “Other” refers to Psychology and English course.

 

Before this research started, the numbers of students having archives sessions were already very strong. During this research, the numbers became stronger. This increase came with no publicity on my part; the faculty heard about my sessions and asked for a session without my prompting. 

You can see from the charts above that History continues to grow. Education dropped off in 2012/13 because of a leave, but I already have a class booked for the summer term and expect their numbers to rise again. Kinesiology and Nutrition are expected to continue booking sessions in the Fall.

Now for the sessions themselves...

With respect to the “learning packages” we hoped to develop, there were great results. Our grant application stated that we would develop packages for eight courses; instead, we developed twelve packages and delivered ten. These packages fit into six categories and future sessions will be developed to fit within them. They are:

1.       Information: to provide an overview or introduction.

2.       Speed dating: to quickly assess many, course-relevant sources.

3.       Discovery: to slowly explore a source or group of sources for a common theme.

4.       Questioning: to explore a source in order to answer a specific question(s).

5.       Research Workshop: to practice course-specific research.

6.       Combination: some or all of the above sessions in various combinations.

I cannot state strongly enough the important of my research assistant, Amber Klatt. Her experience and education was vital to the success of this research. She has helped me understand how to create meaningful archives sessions that give the students the right tools to actively teach themselves about primary sources. I have said time and time again, the success of this grant was not what we were doing, it was how we were doing it. 

Snapshot impressions #10 – fifth class of the Winter 2013 term

Last class of the term for me did not go even a little bit according to plan. And, it was a good plan!

This was a small group of students, so the session could be focused on their assignment needs. They wanted a tour and time to ask questions (check). The prof wanted time to discuss sources at other archives (check). I wanted the students to have time to look at sources relevant to their assignment (check). We had over two hours to do all of that, so this is what I had planned…

Everyone in the class had been to the Archives and Special Collections for a session. This was a chance to take them behind the scenes and show them the closed stacks, answering their questions about the collections and preservation issues. Then, we would reconvene and discuss sources that would help the students with their research papers. While the prof was lecturing on sources at other archives in the country, I would pull material from the Archives. When the prof finished his lecture, the students would have time to review the pulled material. After they had seen the material, we would all have an open discussion about sources and evidence.

In reality, the tour took almost half of the class time instead of 20 minutes (or so). It was done in a completely relaxed manner and the students asked many questions while expressing a deep interest in the collections. They didn’t really want to take the class as time to work on their assignment, they wanted to learn more about behind the scenes. Although I had planned the session with the professor in advance, I had completely misunderstood the expectations of the students.

What did they miss? I had planned a 20-30 minute segment for open discussion about questioning sources. The purpose was to encourage students to think about the kind of questions they are asking and, therefore, the kind of answers they are getting (e.g., presence of bias, skewing your research, etc.). The discussion was going to open with the professor talk about how studying the past has changed dramatically over the recent 100 years and how it will change in the next 100 years. Then we all would have discussed the following:

1.  What is your perspective on how history is being told today?
2. Where do you fit in the process of historical research?
3. If you write about history, are you creating history? What role do you have in creating history?
4. What history do you want to tell? How does that influence your research?

No matter. This was a great class to end the sessions offered during the term. As for the questions, I will find a way to recycle them into another session next year – guaranteed.

Snapshot impressions #9 – fourth class of the Winter 2013 term

This course was introductory, so you know what that means—too many students for one session. Fortunately, two sessions did the trick. [I find that offering the same session more than twice on the same day is too tiring and does cause me some confusion. I can’t recall if I mentioned certain details to one class or another, etc.] Two sessions works well and the students got the best of both worlds by taking the opposite session with a librarian.

The prof came to my second session and participated in discussions about the documents. Personally, I love when that happens. (I may have said this before.) I feel that it is important for the students to see the prof and the archivist together in the session and providing two perspectives on the content.

Because the prof and I had discussed the course content and assignment well in advance, my research assistant and I were prepared for this class. The assignment involved the students choosing a research topic, five of which were well represented by primary documents in the Archives. Oddly enough, that worked out perfectly—the research room has five tables. As the students entered the room, they randomly chose to sit at one of the five tables. Each table featured a single, archival document and a set of questions. All of the students had the same set of questions, aimed to help them probe the evidence on the table. The groups were given lots of time to look at the material and share their ideas before they were asked to speak about the records and discuss the questions with everyone. (Here’s how it was done: http://archivallessons.blogspot.ca/2013/04/extra-extra-come-learn-all-about-it.html) 

As luck would have it, some students sat at a table with the document that was relevant to their assignment. My research assistant and I have discussed if we should label the table’s topics to reduce some of the randomness of selecting a table. We have decided against it. The luck of the draw (or serendipity) is part of the experience of visiting an archives. Yes, some students will not be engaged as a result, but others will enjoy the element of discovery. We did build in a few minutes near the end of the session for the students to roam around and look at the documents on the other tables. I hope to incorporate more “roaming” in my future sessions.