Criteria for selecting the programs relied upon familiarity between researcher and professor. The furniture design course was a class the researcher had previously taken as an undergraduate student, and the English Language Program was selected due to the willingness of the department’s faculty to participate in the research interview. Both programs are served by the main library on campus, but also have access to departmental library resources as well.
The information transfer process in relation to furniture design is ephemeral, visceral, ethereal, in its movement, but still there are nodal points at which one can begin to explain the process moving through creation, dissemination, organization, utilization, diffusion, preservation, and destruction. The important thing that one should draw from this process is that the elements blend into a model of information transfer that does not readily exhibit distinct boundaries.
The research interview was conducted to collect data relevant to the subject of the information transfer process in the furniture design classroom. The uniqueness of the three-dimensional design feature of the classroom means that traditionally accepted models of information transfer involving the use of printed material is not entirely applicable in this subject.
The faculty member in the furniture design course stated that there is currently little to no interaction between himself and the library. However, he did state that this should be examined to see how the library could be better utilized. The lack of interaction appears primarily to be a result of a lack of understanding of what materials the library can provide faculty member.
Students in the program appear to utilize the library on a much more consistent basis than faculty. From the researcher’s prior collegiate experience, students were aware of the various materials available in the library. Usually this familiarity was the result of individual inquiry of library resources.
The success of knowledge acquisition in the furniture design classroom is readily apparent in its close proximity to the constructivist model for learning by doing. The nature of the learning process in the classroom requires peer-peer and faculty-peer interaction. The design process and the learning process follow a similar track in that they evolve from very simple ideas and issues and then build into increasingly more complex tasks in the completion of the design artifact. Certain processes involved in the creation of these artifacts are diffused so thoroughly that one is hard pressed to discern when or how the skill was acquired. It is important to remember that in the furniture design workshop that students are also learning from each other and through the projects of their classmates.
The goal of the program is to move students beyond English as a Second Language instruction to English Language immersion and to provide English instruction to students. The students in the program are qualified to begin university work, but currently do not meet English proficiency standards for the university. The program seeks to overcome these English language deficiencies by supporting the student’s needs in acquiring knowledge through learning at the university. The ELP was developed with the belief that the university community as well as the language learners (i.e.--students) will be enriched through their participation.
The instructor of this class has taught in the ELP for a total of four semesters and is one of the newest instructors in the program. The class is comprised of international students from a variety of countries. This semester the introductory course was primarily comprised of Saudi Arabians, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese students. As noted by the instructor of this course, although this is an introductory course, students still have a wide variety of skill sets within the class and the goal of the instructor is to make sure that these various competencies are known and that all students are able to draw some constructive learning from the classroom and laboratory experience.
All instructors have a common resource library that they add to and from, which they pull curriculum materials as they are needed. Newsletters, conference notes, and other types of grey literature are informally passed amongst instructors. There is one big conference in which the instructors in the ELP try to attend and that is the Instructors of English to Speakers of Other Languages Conference. Attendance is based on who wants to go, or who is available to go. It is expected that the instructor who attends this event comes back to the workplace and shares this information in an informal presentation to other instructors in the ELP.
The type of gray literature that is used with this program consists of handouts, flash cards, books, DVDs, listening language compact discs, and other supplemental materials. The vast amount of gray literature on English as a Second Language makes the acquisition of gray literature very easy, however this also makes the task of sorting and determining value of the materials quite onerous (Mathews, 2004). Studies in education have found that knowledge is more readily used if it is tailored to the audiences needs, considered relevant and compelling, packaged in an attractive manner, and reasonably easy to accomplish or understand (Huberman, 1989).
When asked about whether the instructor uses the university campus library for materials the instructor stated that the majority of library use within the program takes place with the advanced level courses. The instructor stated that the ELP program does encourage use of the university library, but that the program does not have a formalized agreement with the library. The ELP does work with the university library in preparing some materials, but the biggest gap appears to be between the program and the local public library that has many resources to offer. Not only does the public library offer a variety of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Second Option Language (ESOL), but also they offer these materials geared towards specific nationalities and ethnic groups. The public library also offers a variety of reading materials for different reading levels, and has access to a format of book known as Adult New Readers. Adult New Readers are books that have adult subjects and themes, but they are presented in a way that new language learners can understand the stories without having to read materials that are meant for a much younger juvenile audience. The library also provides a nice quiet study environment and a few meetings rooms that students and other members of the community are free to use.
The instructor did express desire for reading materials that were more at the intellectual level of the university student. Most new reading materials appear to be geared towards young readers, not new readers. Often times these materials are given the format name of “adult new readers” to signify that the material was created for adults who are new to reading English language materials.
The interaction between the ELP faculty and the university library is minimal. This is primarily due to the introductory nature of the class. According to the professor, there is not enough time in the course to cover more than the material they are required to cover. Time is also limited due to the amount of material that is covered in the semester long course. The hardest task for the instructor in this environment is providing equitable availability and distribution of benefits, which many theorists conclude must be considered in the developmental stages of systems that disseminate knowledge (Machlup, 1993).
When asked about materials the instructor is not using that they would like to use in the future, the instructor stated a need for more up to date facilities such as smart classrooms. The instructor mentioned the program has the use of a portable cart that contains hardware necessary to deliver audio-visual materials to the students, but this is clunky at best and not always worth the added effort. Thus, the instructor mentioned incorporating more technology into the course as a way that students might get more value-added service from the library.
In addition to technology help from the library, dissemination of resources could be enhanced by the university library. When providing any suggestion for improvement in services offered by the English Language program the key seems to be focusing in on effective dissemination channels. The Dissemination Analysis Group (Klein, 1992) has identified four functions of dissemination and appropriate strategies for achieving each:
Spread-the one-way broadcasting of information, in order to increase awareness” Choice- the provision of information on options intended to help users compare alternative resources. Exchange- interaction of information, materials or perspectives Implementation- technical assistance, training or other forms of support to change attitudes or behaviors and to institutionalize changes over time.
One possible suggestion would be to open the dissemination exchange channel in the English Language Program in the future between the program, library, and students would be the instructor asking for student participation in social networking site such as Facebook, available at www.facebook.com (Stephens, 2006). This would provide an opportunity for the librarians to interact with instructors and students in an informal environment, and hopefully show the students that instructors and librarians are accessible to students for help in acquiring learning materials.
Another suggestion is inclusion of students, librarians, and instructors in the curriculum formulation stage. Input from the students and librarians could help foster an environment where utilization of the library was a given, instead of an afterthought as it appears now. The success of constructivist theory in interactive learning is that the input from all participants is what helps in building a solid knowledge base for the student to proceed from. With instructors as the only participants in curriculum planning, the desires and needs of students become secondary to the plans of instructors.
The number one finding derived from the research of the English Language Program was that if the university wants this program to attract more students and income to the univeristy, then greater efforts need to be made for connecting instructors and students to useful library resources. Currently, the academic library is not serving the program needs but the public library has much to offer these instructors and students. Methods to connect people with adequate resources in an academic situtation need to be revisited and the mission of the ELP examined.
This study indicates that faculty, students, and librarians need to cultivate an interactive relationship, which may lead to improvement of library service on the campus. These increased interactions would help to delineate the information needs of the involved stakeholders, and seek to facilitate the increased efficiency of the information transfer process. Better communications will help to ensure that faculty members have materials relevant to curricular requirements, and that librarians will be better situated to provide specialized service to faculty. Increasing services for faculty for course preparation and instruction will benefit the student who is now given materials and instruction that work together in hopes of increasing knowledge acquisition.
Meetings should be coordinated between faculty and librarians to determine how the preparation of course materials and curriculum could be enhanced by access and materials located within and/or offered by the campus library. It was obvious from the research done that faculty members were not aware that this type of service was made available at the library. Lack of understanding of this service has led many faculty members to become entrenched in a mode of underutilization of library resources.
Professional organizations should also start to focus on how bibliographic instruction can enhance the information transfer process between creators and distributors of knowledge to the users and consumers of that knowledge. Departments in the college classroom, and professional meetings and conferences can raise this awareness. Finally, some discussion should begin on a type of continuing education opportunities for professionals on the university teaching level to learn about potential library services and interactive collection development.
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Copyright 2007 Royce Kitts. Send comments to rkitts@emporia.edu. All rights reserved. Webpage created: December 7, 2007.