Sometimes I get these ideas the day before I have to teach a class. They always seem like great ideas. Awesome ideas, and the fact that I’m trying to put it together last minute for a class that I’ve pretty much had canned for the last few years doesn’t seem to dawn on me until right before I teach the class and I’m like “This might not work after all. Why did I think this was going to work? I should just do what I’ve always done, they’re all going to look at me funny when I tell them to do this, I should of worn flats, I’m going to trip in these heel boots” and every other insecurity hits me like a ton of bricks.

This happened yesterday. I completely changed my approach to teaching database and keyword strategy. It was for an Intro to College class so all the students are new to college libraries and resources. It was an hour and half long class so I figured I had enough time to bumble through some of the awkwardness and find my footing. I did the same lesson again today for an ENG 101 that was only an hour long. In both cases, the class will be returning for a second session. My idea was to use this first session to focus on the mechanics of searching databases. I have always spent a few minutes at the beginning of the class explaining what a database is, how they work, how they can differ, and when there’s time I have them following along with doing a search in Google and then do another one in our discovery tool so they can see the difference. The idea is to always start with something they’re familiar with, then move on to something that’s new and unfamiliar. I decided to expand on that a bit this time by designing an anticipatory set that would allow students more hands-on time to explore several familiar tools like Google, Amazon and NPR.org and our databases, using a question sheet to reflect on the process as they go.

I first start by explaining the very basics of what a database is and instead of just talking about it, I’m actually reaching outside of my comfort zone and drawing stuff on the white board. Then they do the anticipatory set. They have to search all different tools using the keyword “santuary cities” and then answer the questions: How many results are there? What type of information/sources do you get in the results? Does it provide lots of filters or just a few?

Then we discuss how the results differ and which one’s they felt more comfortable searching in. The key points that come out of the discussion are:

1) Google has lots of different kinds of information in their results, website, videos, news, .coms, .orgs, etc.

2) Amazon does give you books but you can’t read the books without paying for them. So Amazon isn’t so much a database of information as it is a database of records for stuff that has inforemation that you have to purchase first. This is where I can highlight how our library databases do have books, but they are books they can access and read for free.

3) NPR.org is full of news. It differs from Google in that it’s primarily all news related material. This introduces the concept of a database that focuses on a specific discipline or source type.

4) Search Almost Everything (our discovery tool) is kind of like Google but the information provided in the results are more appropriate for college research. It also has records for stuff like Amazon but you can access the full text, unlike Amazon.

5) The religion and philosophy database is more like NPR.org because it focuses on a specific discipline. There are also less filters offered in comparison to Search Almost Everything.

The rest of the lesson focuses on keyword strategy and develop a research question. I’m still not sure yet if I’m going to keep this as a standard lesson. This anticipatory set does take about fifteen minutes total once you include the discussion time afterwards, so it definitely works best when you have more than one session with the class and longer class period.