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. 

More questions than answers: reflecting on the Fall sessions

I tell students that the Archives is not a place of answers—it is a place of questions. Never has this rung more true than with this research. We set out looking to find answers, not to find questions. We were mistaken. While reflecting on the sessions offered in the Fall of 2012, more and more questions came to the surface concerning the project, student engagement, and the tools/sources being used.

The Project

·         Is there a disconnect between the expectation of the professor and the archivist? Does the professor basically want only an introduction to archives as well as a primary vs. secondary source session? Is the archivist providing a much more detailed, research-oriented session that is unwanted?

·         What ARE these sessions about? What SHOULD they be about? What are the students really gaining from their archives session? Make sure I know ‘what’ and ‘why’, then ‘how’ will become apparent. Be sure that the professors understand this too!

·         Should the professors be interviewed? The impact of sessions? How to do it better for them?

·         Should the students be asked about their session? It’s impact? How to do it better for them?

·         Should the archivist do a follow-up visit with the students two- or three-weeks after the session? Address questions? Invite them to make appointments?

Engagement

·         How can students be best prepared in advance of their visit? Involving the professor in the session engages the students. Certainly going to the class in advance of the session seems to help ease the anxiety of the students.

·         Can a few classes be taught in the space using the material to reinforce the lecture? Inviting the professor to lecture in the space or use the space with limited support of staff may increase the use of the space and help the students feel more comfortable. The Kirkconnell Room can be used in different ways.

·         We know that external factors impact the learning that occurs in the session. How can this be minimized? Perhaps the professor/instructor can deal with this over multiple classes, but this cannot be done in a single session. (I call this the “substitute teacher situation”.) Having the professor in the class may minimize this situation—they have the rapport with the students.

Tools/Sources

·         Should the primary and secondary sources be presented separately? They are both needed for research. Perhaps I need to explain them separately, do separate activities, and then do an activity that uses them together. This may help minimize the confusion over the sources.

·         How can structured serendipitous research be built in to the sessions more often? Should it?

·         When does self-driven exploration work better in a session? Does it depend on the level of the class? The social dynamic? The subject?

·         How can the other media be incorporated? For example, audio and video should be part of the session. Video is more problematic, but not impossible.

·         How can the white board and the tablet be used effectively? They are tools that I have available. Not that I should use them for their own sake, but that they may be underutilized.

·         What should be done with the departure pass? Should it continue to be used? Should it be changed to add more depth? Should it go with the student? What do I want to gain from the passes? How is this reflected in the answers/questions?

·         How can the guides be better used to supplement the sessions/process?

I had written a large document that analyzed the Fall 2012 term. In essence, the term came down to these questions/observations. Keeping these things in mind, we tackled the next term with a brand new set of tools and variables. The results from the second term were very different.

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.

The title of this blog is inspired by an article of the same title, written by Wendy Robicheau for the March issue of the APLA Bulletin, available here: http://apla.ca/?q=75/3.robicheau

What is Archival Information Literacy

Archival Information Literacy (hereafter AIL) is the process of educating researchers to understand and use primary sources effectively.  While outreach and public programming raises awareness of original documents, AIL goes further to teach research skills using primary sources.  Understanding and using primary sources during the research process can build and enhance students’ aptitude for doing qualitative, quantitative, and historical research in addition to expanding their learning experience.  When reinforced with assignments and research tools, students can develop research skills, practice them in the archives, and apply them to any discipline.  A review of the literature indicates that archivists have not embraced information literacy at the same rate as librarians.  Many articles focus on defining the concept of information literacy rather than on the practice of information literacy. 

At present, the Archives at Acadia is providing students with a unique learning experience; however, that opportunity is limited.  AIL sessions have been offered since 2007 at the request of individual faculty members.  The inter-disciplinary nature of the Archives’ holdings makes it a fertile space to examine ways to increase utilization of the Archives through class visits and tailored assignments.