PRC: Katy!

Writing Support

2010-04-22T00:09:04Z

During my past two walk-in hours I have had someone come to me with a direct referral for writing support. One was from a SMART Commons staff person at Wilson and the other was from a Center for Writing staff person.

If staff are having trouble distinguishing PRCs from SMART writing support tutors on the SMART website, it seems likely that students are having the same problem. I think that it is very important that future PRCs are not classified under WRIT 1301, because it causes confusion about what service we provide.

One solution would be to have the WRIT 1301 link to another page asking if students are seeking writing support or research support. This may clear up the misunderstandings about our role in student consulting.

Slow down

2010-04-19T17:26:57Z

My walk-in hours have been very slow for the past week and a half. I've had about 1 student on average coming in to see me. My theory is that our lull will end next week when the students who have been putting off their research panic and need some help finding resources. It's kind of a bummer not having a lot of people come in after 3-4 weeks of heavy traffic.

Extra Credit/ Assignment Consulting

2010-04-05T16:45:32Z

Last week we had our first run-in (this semester) with students from a FYW class who were coming to visit us as a class assignment. Between Francisco and I, we signed 10+ certificates. When we talked last Wednesday, Tony hadn't worked with anyone who needed a PRC certificate, but I'm sure he will :)

The structure of the sessions that are required are different from the ones when students come in with questions. The students that came in for an assignment had no expectations for the session, and just sat down to say "Hi, I need to come meet with you for a class." At first I was kind of lost, because usually I base my sessions around what the student already knows about research and the questions that they come in with. Most of these students had not started their research yet and couldn't identify the roadblocks they would encounter.

After working with the first of 5-7 students from the same class, I had a good idea of the expectations the instructor had research paper. I covered most of the same information with each student after that, but with a slightly different focus depending on their topic and how much information they had retained from the Unravel 2 online workshop they all had done. I showed each of them some basic mistakes people can make on the Library's homepage, introduced them to Academic Search Premier, and explained how to link GoogleScholar with the U's library databases.

Trade Off

2010-03-29T17:12:17Z

As we're getting closer to the end of the semester, I haven't been blogging because I've been really busy! During every set of walk-in hours last week I saw at least 3 students.

With the increase in business comes a trade-off. When there are other students waiting to ask questions about their projects, some students might not get to spend enough time working with us to build the skills they need to do their research. Often, when there is no one waiting, I spend more than 30 minutes with students and make sure that they are comfortable with the strategies we covered before they leave. When there are others waiting, it isn't always possible to get to this point. I know that students still leave with a better understanding of how to use the resources available to them through the library.

This is a contradiction that is hard to balance, because we want as many students as possible to use the service, but we also want them to build as many skills as possible by meeting with a PRC. There's no easy solution. I've been taking it on a case-by-case basis with general rule of 20 minutes per person when there is a line.

Lots of Consultations!

2010-03-10T01:54:51Z

This week we've had (or at least I'VE had) a big increase in business. There have been a number of students from a specific FYW course, and I think that the professor has been suggesting that her students visit us when they meet with her one-on-one.

On Monday (3-8) I worked with three different students, and another was hoping to talk to me, but had to leave for class before his turn was reached. Three out of these four were FYW students, and the other was a senior. Tuesday, I worked with one student for over an hour, because no one was waiting and I was able to introduce her to many new search skills.

Also I did another class visit today (and have another on Th). This one was for a non-native speaker section of FYW. After my presentation the students had questions and many seemed very interested in the service.

I'm excited because I think that the combination of our outreach/advertising and impending research paper deadlines has worked its magic and we'll be spending more time working with students from now till the end of the semester.

Group work

2010-03-04T22:55:20Z

The instructors from the leadership course I did a presentation for said that visiting a PRC would be a requirement for their students. The project their class is working on is a group project, and the instructors were encouraging the students to come in with their group, part of their group, or individually.

Because we know that groups of students will likely be coming in, I think it would be a good idea to include some things about collaborative work that the students may not be familiar with. I just recently learned about options like googledocs and netfiles that can make sharing information between group members really easy.

Maybe it would be possible to go over some of the other tools covered in the library's Extreme Googling: Collaboration Tools workshop during our bi weekly training/ staff meetings.

First FYW students!

2010-03-03T02:45:01Z

This week I had my first meeting of the semester with a FYW student. Our consultation reinforced my belief that we are providing a VERY valuable service for students. At the beginning of our time together the student seemed lost and confused about starting his project, but by the end he was ready (and excited!) to get started. Most of his anxiety was coming from not knowing how a research paper should be put together and what kind of information he was looking for, and after we addressed those topics and where he could find that information he seemed quite confident.

The student I worked with today is also a testament to the importance of building relationships with other programs on campus, especially with the FYW instructors. This student came in after getting a direct recommendation from his instructor. This instructor also has a link to the PRC schedule posted to the Moodle page for the class, right next to a link to SWS at the Center for Writing.

Business this week seems to have picked up a little. I talked to Francisco at the end of his shift and he had worked with two FYW students today.

Classroom Visits

2010-02-25T20:50:21Z

This week I did two classroom visits to promote the PRC program. One group was a FYW class and the other was the first course in the Leadership minor. The instructors for both course were VERY enthusiastic about promoting the program to their students. The instructors for the leadership course are going to require their students to come in and work with us and the FYW instructor is considering making it an extra-credit option for his class.

In the presentation I included an overview of what the program is, our hours and locations, what I think we can help students with and time for questions. Both were done in in 10min or less.

U of M Center for Writing

2010-02-24T00:49:40Z

Today I met with Molly, a graduate student who works as a consultant for the Center for Writing. The consultants there do a professional development project each year and she chose to focus on research skills and specifically our PRC program. Having taught FYW classes in the past, she is a big fan of the PRC program!

The problem that led her to study our program was a struggle about whether to/ how to tell students that their research is not as good as it should (and could) be. The Center for Writing staff has a lot of students come in requesting help with grammar, but on top of that the sources they have based their paper on are not solid. Molly said that many students cite Wikipedia in their papers without knowing that it isn't a credible resource.

Through Molly's project, the Center for Writing staff will get a glimpse at what PRCs are and how we can complement their program. Also through her visit I was able to learn more about the Center for Writing and what the expectations are for incoming students.

This was a great review session for me about the service we offer as peer consultants. Molly forced to consider the process I follow as a consultant and the strategies I use with students.

Target Audience

2010-02-15T17:29:28Z

The first part of the semester has not been going so well for getting our target audience of First Year Writing Program students in. To my knowledge we haven't done any class visits for them yet, but I've been making announcements in the Unravel Workshops that I rove for. Hopefully the information will stick, even without flyers.

Even though we haven't been getting many (any?) freshman students in, I've had consultations with two seniors and a graduate student. I've heard from Franscisco that he's also met with at least one graduate student this semester. I see why our program is geared toward first year students- they are completely new to doing research and our service complements the program well. However, I've come to see that there is absolutely a demand for our service at a higher level of student research as well.

It seems more likely for an advanced student to seek out help from a librarian (and also more likely that they'll need aid from a subject librarian rather than a PRC), but I've also seen in my classes and through my consultations that students outside the 1201 and 1301 classes are also lacking the basic research skills that we are seeking to build.

Spring semester- week 4

2010-02-09T01:08:46Z

PRC's have started Spring Semester!

This semester we've added on evening hours. Three days a week we'll be available until 9pm. It's early in the semester so it's hard to say how popular those hours will be. We haven't really had any business so far. My one visitor was a friend of mine who happened to be in the SMART Commons at Wilson when I came in for walk-in hours and also happened to need some help looking for newspaper articles about a US invasion of Panama.

Outside of meeting with students (or not meeting with students as the case may be) I've been connecting with the SMART Commons tutors who are in Wilson at the same time as me. It isn't as easy to do this in Walter (because we are physically farther away), but I'll be making an effort next time I'm there as well. Our program is also making connections with the Writing Center. A consultant there will be coming to shadow my hours sometime soon, to see how our program works and what kind of advice we are giving to students. It will also be great to get more information about the process and expectations of the Writing Center while she's there.

We can't forget...

2009-12-07T17:05:50Z

Through helping other students with their research I've greatly improved my own ability to find information. In my position as a peer research consultant, this can be an amazing benefit because I'm able to guide students more efficiently and anticipate problems I would not have imagined just a few months ago. On the other hand, the growth in my research skills has allowed me to forget what it's like to NOT know where to seek information, which can lead to assumptions about what students know (or should know) about researching and analyzing information.

One of the benefits of PRCing is that we are students working with our peers, and we can connect our recent experiences to those of our patrons. So, even while I'm becoming more knowledgeable about using library resources, I need to stay aware that I am in danger of moving away from one of the most valuable qualities of a PRC -- the ability to relate with students who have never done or struggle with doing research.

When using a variety of databases and indexes and navigating the library's home page become second nature to us, it may be difficult to remember how to start over with students who may not have seen the library's home page or heard of googlescholar before coming to see us. When we forget we may lose the ability to emphasize the details that are essential to the research process and our goal of building a student's personal skills will be lost as well.

Reflecting on the first month

2009-11-23T20:29:24Z

When we opened our walk-in hours in October, I was excited to get started, but honestly I didn't think that our service would be very popular and even had doubts about how it would be useful to students with all the other resources that are available. I was really questioning what role we would play. Why would someone want to sit down with another student when they could just go ask a librarian? Do students feel like they need to use the library's website when google (especially combined with googlescholar) can answer almost any question instantly? Despite my initial doubts, I think the PRC program has been a big success.

Since our first 2 weeks, business has really picked up. I've been seeing at least a couple people every session. After students leave, I feel like they have gained new skills that they'll be able to use on their current projects and in the future- even if we didn't find exactly what they were looking for. I feel like I can direct students to the right librarian or other resource if I can't address their research question. Over the past month I've gotten more comfortable working with students and more confident in the research advice I'm giving. I've also realized what areas I'm not able to help students in, and I know when to send them on to another resource.

Walk-in Hours

2009-11-23T19:55:50Z

This was a draft written just after we started our walk-in hours.

We've had a bit of a slow start with our walk-in hours. We've been doing some classroom announcements, and I think those REALLY help! The more people who have our flyers sitting around, the better.

So far I've worked with four students. Three were from freshman writing course and one was a freshman student I have a class with. Three of the four heard about us from classroom announcements. The work that I've done with these students really seems to have helped. When they leave I feel like they could do many of the things we did together on their own. Success!

First week of Walk-in

2009-10-17T01:53:15Z

My fist week of walk-in hours was, I think, a big success. It was great to get all the logistics figured out at both Walter and Wilson before actually having students coming to the walk-in hours. Now we know for sure that the SMART laptops at Wilson can't hold a charge and that at Walter we need an extension cord. Doing a slow, pre-advertised week was also really good for strengthening my understanding of who does what within the library system and who I should go to if I have a problem. Getting better acquainted with Jim Hatten and Scott Spicer was great, because they're such great resources when I'm working in their space.

I did get to work with a student on some research. She really just stumbled upon my table at the right time, and even though it took about a dozen preliminary questions, it came out that she had a paper due on Friday for her 1301 writing course... it couldn't have happened any better. Her topic was really specific- different energy uses of the Kalahari Kung, an African indigenous group. Our first two searches didn't yield anything, but after broadening our search a little we were able to find a few articles about the Kung. She was in a hurry, so we saved the articles to an Ebscohost folder and emailed them to her. Even though we were pressed for time at the end, I think she learned some of the basic search strategies we've been discussing in training, and I think she'll be able to navigate back to Academic Search Premier at the very least.

Some things to remember:

-Always look attentive and somewhat professional (I think the name tags really help!) because you never know who's going to find you

-Know your surroundings- I got several questions I couldn't have answered without having the SMART Commons explained to me before hand

-Log out of any UofM programs before working with a student- example I was logged into moodle, and when she tried to sign in to her email it automatically logged into mine

-Know your people- It was great to come in and have some familiar faces. I also introduced myself to a SMART tutor and explained who PRCs are and he said he would definitely send research questions that he gets my way.