Students as Experts [5:23]

https://players.brightcove.net/2566261579001/HyuWsfFhb_default/index.html?videoId=4584644896001

About

When we have students around us who collectively are experts, it means that we don't have to be the experts in everything.

Transcript

So now we're user centered, we've had the mindset shift, we're connecting users with information, we started thinking of space as a resource, and our students are making all sorts of things in our space. Our sixth step, is to allow our students to be experts. When we leverage the skills that our students have, we can also increase services that we offer. By doing this we also are empowering our students and solving technology challenges. For example, when we got our GoPros, I had no idea how to use them. I hadn't even opened the boxes, when we had students asking about them. So we open them up, slapped a barcode on them and checked them out right away to a group of students. They came back after the weekend and showed us how to use them. A little while later our students were asking me to buy GoPro remote controls, so they could mount the camera but start it remotely. Another student overheard the request and came up and showed us all how to use our iPhones as a GoPro remote. So these students are teaching us and each other how to use these cutting edge technology tools. I don't have to be the expert in everything when I have students around me who collectively are experts.

Another example: we train student workers to be in charge of the 3D printer. When we first got the printer, I was spending nearly an hour a day working with students on 3D designs fixing printer cogs and balancing build plates. But we had students who were super interested in the 3D printer. So we taught them to do all of the things I didn't have time to do. We no longer have to change the filament or clear Clogged Extruders and work with some of the frustrating designs. Our students do all of that.

We don't have study halls at our school. These students come in before school, after school, during the lunches, and sometimes between classes, to monitor a print job or help with a problem because they are passionate about it. So, find out what your students are passionate about, what are they experts in, and see if you can make them part of your learning common space. Are they great at video production, Photoshop, installing apps? Find your experts and invite them to join the learning commons in some way.

A middle school I know has a group of students meet in the learning commons at lunch and plan activities for their future maker space. The librarian reports that the students have surprised her with unconventional ideas and driven the project in a different direction than she would have taken it. She was expecting to buy a bunch of electronics kits, like little bits kits. But they were looking for more physical tools and equipment. The students suggested creating a collaborative sculpture and calling it the Maker Monster. I love this idea and I want to do it with my students next year, too.

We've all seen Genius Bars at Apple Stores. Well, a K-2 school in New Hampshire, K-they train every first grader to sit at the Genius Bar in their library one day a year. They're on one to one iPads school and the first graders sit at the Genius Bar and help each other with new recommendations and any other questions they have. It's so empowering. I love that they don't just have the smart kids or the techie kids do it, but every single first grader does it.

Student run Genius Bars or help desks, is a scalable idea for first grade to college. Anybody could do that.

We had an art student who wanted to do community service in the library. We're going to have her make some signs for the space or put up some decorations. We were meeting together one day when an alumni came in with a donation of pictures, yearbooks, and letters from his days at our school. She was super excited about it. And we eventually changed her goal from making signs to digitizing this collection. She was amazing. She set up the Sanborn Archives, with these beautiful photographs. She photographed and scanned hundreds of documents, images, trophies, banners, letters, and anything else she could find. And she organized them all on the website. And now it's one of the most viewed resources on our district website.

Be on the lookout for experts in your school and invite them to be part of your new learning common space, whether it's physical or virtual.

And imagine once again what it's like to walk into your learning commons for the very first time. Are students trusted to share their ideas? Are experts on different topics tapped for helping other students? You may have a Minecraft Pro who would love to teach other students about her digital building techniques, or a student who learned how to knit over the summer and wants to share his new hat making pattern. Take a few minutes to think about the experts in your school and how you could use their expertise to increase services in your Learning Commons.

Activities

Recruiting Student Volunteers

Context:

Students thrive when they are empowered to learn to use new tools independently. It's exciting to share knowledge and enthusiasm with peers in formal or informal capacities. This teaching or coaching deepens skill development for all involved, not to mention strengthens communication strategies and social competencies.

Instructions:

How can you harness the expertise of your students? Consider a digital tool or application, piece of equipment, or other skills for which your students might serve as "experts" to guide peers or even teachers. Plan a pilot program to offer opportunities to connect experts and interested learners (with requisite approvals, as needed). To share the program with students and teachers, create a communication piece (or a few) to recruit volunteers. You might create a PA announcement, print or digital poster, or tweets.

Entry ID: 2122731

Additional Resources

Annotated Bibliography.

About the Author

Pam Harland, EdD, served as a librarian for 25 years working in schools, public libraries, academic libraries, and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. She is now a member of the faculty at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire where she directs the School Librarian and Digital Learning Specialist educator preparation programs. Pam served in several leadership positions at the state level in NH and on the Board of Directors of the American Association of School Librarians. She was awarded NH's Elsie Domingo Service Award in 2016, NH's School Librarian of the Year Award in 2010, and NH's Intellectual Freedom Award in 2009. Pam authored The Learning Commons: Seven Simple Steps to Transforming Your Library (Libraries Unlimited, 2011). She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership in 2019 in which she researched the leadership behaviors of school librarians. Connect with her on Twitter @pamlibrarian

Select Citation Style:

MLA Citation

Harland, Pam. "Creating the Learning Commons. Students as Experts [5:23]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, November 2015, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/1987403?learningModuleId=1987406&topicCenterId=2247903.

Chicago Citation

Harland, Pam. "Creating the Learning Commons. Students as Experts [5:23]." School Library Connection video. November 2015. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/1987403?learningModuleId=1987406&topicCenterId=2247903.

APA Citation

Harland, P. (2015, November). Creating the learning commons. Students as experts [5:23] [Video]. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/1987403?learningModuleId=1987406&topicCenterId=2247903

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/1987403?learningModuleId=1987406&topicCenterId=2247903

Entry ID: 1987403