It was fair skies and calm seas six years ago when librarians and writing professors set sail together on a voyage of collaborative information literacy and writing instruction. And while the program was effective in terms of student learning, the collaboration ended amidst growing discontent among the writing faculty. Professional expertise is a necessary but insufficient condition for successful collaborative instructional efforts. Foundations in authentic leadership and effective teams are also essential components. This presentation will use our collaborative instruction program as a use case to illustrate the importance of the human side of instructional partnerships, addressing the affective side of teaching partnerships, team dysfunctions to avoid, and the importance for leaders to acknowledge their team members and spend time with them to strengthen relationships.
Participants will: 1. Summarize the threats to effective team work 2. Analyze collaborative instructional efforts from a managerial angle 3. Evaluate the role of leadership in the success or failure of instructional collaborations
Assoc. Professor/Dept. Chair, Southern Utah University
Anne Diekema is Department Chair of the Library & Information Science department at Southern Utah University's Sherratt Library. Anne teaches information literacy and library research skills and studies how to best prepare students for information problem solving in school, profession... Read More →
