Session to be observed: Asynchronous February 2025 – Moodle tutorials to support Year 2 Unit 7 (3000 word essay). Research Skills, Introduction to Harvard Referencing.
Size of student group: Approx 400 students (with access to the resources).
Observer: John O’Reilly
Observee: Grace O’Driscoll
Part One
Information sent to John prior to the observation was the same as the notes sent to Jade, see previous post.
John reviewed two of the recordings that I had also sent to Jade for review – see previous post for links to the recordings and slide packs used in the sessions reviewed.
Part Two
John’s observations, suggestions and questions:
#pacing
The voiceover in the introduction is really clear. And the information is broken down into discrete digestible chunks. Nice connection to (and contrast) between library search and Google search. Good use of the term ‘tips and tricks’, it is inviting and warms students up to the idea that this is going to be useful.
#opening up ‘library’
Good situating of the concept of the library as not just a physical space – I tacitly take this idea of library as a physical space for granted (even though I use it online all the time!) and by opening up the idea, space and practice of library, it makes the idea of library less forbidding for those students who are anxious about it, with all that library may imply for them and that they may associate with it, especially as so many are largely interested in practice [one lecturer on our MA cited a third year student who came to him recently and asked about how you borrow books from library – they had never been].
#demystifying
The introduction is really strong demystifying basic library routines. The rationale for using the library and books and journals and other artifacts of research was really excellent with the stress on the idea and power of ‘credibility’. Later on, you do note that the resource is something that is students have paid for and has been developed over time – perhaps mentioning early on that it is curated and selected by your staff and lecturers and previous artists and makers and academics over time.
#credibility and skill
The ongoing emphasis on credible material was excellent and especially the advice around reading for research. Again it demystifies the idea of academic reading. The sections on search terms and the difference between searching on Google and searching in the library was great in how it drew attention to default everyday ways of search versus search (like effective AI prompts) is a skill. Listening to this presentation was so useful for me, it reminded me how much tacit knowledge is embedded in our search. I wonder if you could draw attention to how they will over time develop this skill and practice of ‘thinking-with-search-terms’
#minimalism and interface
The amount of text on each slide work and you build it out succinctly without too much narrative – your voice embodies the minimalism and precision that effective library search often requires. There’s a really good use of accompanying images it was good that you dropped in a little task in the search exercise. Excellent that you showed the library interface on the phone rather than on the desktop, and great storytelling example of your own search, and around the different kinds of media that may be used and usable in a piece of research.
#tacit knowledges and rabbitholes
The exploration of the image search was really well played out and especially your observation that, “all of that is considered academic library research.” It is really helpful for you to highlight some of the skillsets the students already bring to the table in terms of search you have focused these skills a little more while also validating these skills as being academic when applied in a thoughtful and focused way. I also wondered here whether there might be some thinking around the virtues and vices of ‘rabbit holes’ that we often remind ourselves in when doing academic research – the value of allowing for serendipity while being mindful of managing your time and knowing when to cut your (re)search losses when you realise you began this search half an hour ago.
#higher levels
The emphasis on the academic level and higher level, and the analogy that you made here between research and practice and writing, reaching the right levels worked really well. It is great you made the analogy for students about the expectations they have of their practice and the expectations they might have of their research. Love the idea that by being in the UAL library search you were already getting access to the right level and emphasizing the idea of outsider voices that are part of research. I feel like a bit of an outlier on this but it is worth knowing the discipline or practice of the author we are citing – in art school we read so widely, it is worth noticing if the writer is an artist or anthropologist, and what that brings to the table. It might also be worth noting and also worth keeping an eye on where the author is from, and as you say positionality, just to be aware that it might then be worth looking for writers or practitioners who bring different voices to the table.
#sampling with integrity
On of the most exciting parts of this was your presentation of different ways of academic reading, such as ‘treasure hunting’ and the idea of looking at the intro and conclusion to get a sense of their take on things, “to understand the intention of the author.” You emphasise the academic integrity of this practice of ‘sampling.’
#citation as creative act
All the rationale you give for using and citing texts is really persuasive and valuable (I wish I could have articulated these so well when teaching undergrads). The way into the issue of citation was great “the important things to remember is to make a really good try of it.” Such great teaching and advice on how they can approach the “fiddliness of citation.” (O’Reilly, 2025). Seriously I think students sometimes see their inability to do this niche arrangement of names, letters and dates as a sign that they are not academic – you gave the best advice on this, and you could even emphasise this practice of ‘trying’ even more. Your ongoing emphasis that citation is not just about evidentiary support but also about giving you ‘different perspectives’ is so valuable – citation as a creative act. The ethical dimension you introduced was excellent – you really made a persuasive case for reading and citation, such effective teaching. As a whole the two pieces didn’t feel like 20 minutes, really engaging.
Reflection
This feedback from John was invaluable, I have experience in professional training environments but am relatively new to librarianship and the education sector and so I am always balancing what I bring from peer to peer training environments vs. what works in a more classroom like setting. The students we teach are all adults and so I am continually looking for persuasive ways to engage them in a way that acknowledges their self-determination, and while also aware that as a service our sessions feel more optional than academic and practice lectures. I think our advice needs to be positioned as effective and efficient, selling the benefits.
John’s suggestion to emphasise library resources as having been curated and selected by both library staff and academic lecturers over time (and ongoing) is really useful. We talk about the authoritative, credible level of the resources and this is a way to evidence that – modelling one of the skills we’re teaching. Another very useful tip was to mention how students will continue developing their research skills over time, with the practice of translating their ideas into search terms becoming more habitual the more they use it. I have been introducing and explaining the layering and build-up of research skills over the progression of units and so this fits very well with that positioning.
This was the first slide pack I had included an image of the library search page on a phone screen rather than relying fully on screenshots of the desktop site. In addition to John’s comment students were very positive about showing more phone based search advice in writing cafes I attended. It seems to be a much needed visual explanation and so I will include more phone layouts in my slides going forward. These are pretty rough screenshot and photo mockups but it’s great to hear they are useful!
John mentioned the pros and cons of ‘rabbit holes’ as something to touch on in the context of academic research – leaving space for serendipity while being mindful of time management. The issue of students not being able to find relevant material has been more common, but I have also had students who have found it really difficult to stop the research stage and start writing. So this is something I will definitely try to mention in sessions – not only in terms of rabbit-holes but also in terms of expectations at BA stage that research is not exhaustive; that more-than-adequate is a good benchmark to aim for, and knowing when to move-on is key. I do try to give tangible indications of ‘a good number’ of books and articles for an essay / dissertation bibliography as a guide, but again had probably not emphasised the ‘why’ and what to watch out for in terms of knowing when to stop.
John’s suggestion of noting the discipline or practice of the author and whether they are an artist, social scientist, journalist or anthropologist for example, and maybe where they are from, or any clearly stated positionality, will be really useful for dissertation level project preparation where ‘breath of research’ is one of the key elements of marking. It’s certainly something I will come back to in terms of advising students on the balancing of their research sources.
Overall both the micro-teaching and the observation of teaching experiences and feedback have been both really validating and instructive. The biggest learning for me has been the impact and noticeability of what seemed to me like really small things. Some of these are things I might have tried on-and-off and so what these experiences have given me is a platform to be more considered and planned, knowing a bit more about what sort of elements work and should be consistent for best practice.