As Liaison Librarians, we are often required to teach the same content. This repetition can be uninspiring for us as teachers, and it can also be a turn off for students who are already familiar with the teaching and learning material.
This page is designed to give you ideas of how to SPICE UP your lessons.
SET SMALL TASKS AND GIVE THEM URGENCY
This is a good activity for:
recapping what they've learnt (at the end of the lesson, or at the start of the lesson if you want them to revisit what you taught in the previous lesson).
quick application of something you've just taught
Examples:
| COUNTDOWN FROM 10 USING 'NOTES' APP: give students ten seconds to list as many (whatever you want them to recap) on the Notes app on their phones. |
| COUNTDOWN FROM 10 WITH 'SCORECARDS': give students ten seconds to write down an answer on a piece of scrap paper and hold it above their heads. |
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COUNTDOWN FROM 10 TO FIND INFORMATION IN OUR LIBGUIDES: after you've given the students an orientation of our APA LibGuide (for example), give them ten seconds to find how to reference a YouTube video. Have five different types of sources - ten seconds to find each. |
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GROUP WORK RACE: have groups compete against each other to find information or answers. For example, a race to reduce the number of results for the same keyword search by using limiters or Boolean phrases. Each group nominates a runner to write their answer on the board once they have a result. They keep going until the smallest number of results is obtained. |
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COMPETITION USING CREATIVITY: have groups compete against each other to create content. For example, who can come up with the funniest title for an untitled photograph in 30 seconds - when doing APA referencing for images. |
USE FUNNY CONTENT FOR YOUR LESSONS
The students will be instantly engaged.
Remember, it's the learning process that's important. The content is secondary.
You don't need to use subject-specific material to teach things like APA.
You don't have to make your students laugh out loud. You're just aiming to amuse them.
Examples
| Give students an article from the Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques (because this is your "new hobby") to practice their reference skills on. |
| Use a funny cats video from YouTube to teach how to reference videos. |
| Give them a website on the joys of adult swaddling therapy to practice the CRAAP test on. |
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Get the students to highlight the key words they should use as search terms for the following assignment: Explore the effectiveness of employing the Jedi Mind Trick as an anaesthetic tool for surgical procedures. |
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Invent silly examples. When teaching the difference between narrative and parenthetical in-text citations, make up your quotes: Tait (2020) theorises that the likelihood of achieving levitation can be "heightened" by eating mint-flavoured chocolates, but admits there is "no empirical proof" of this (pp. 4-5). |
USE YOURSELF AS MATERIAL FOR EXAMPLES
Instead of using material or sources that are specific to their course, find something about you that might pique their interest and use it.
They will be engaged because it's anecdotal material (a proven engagement tool).
It helps build your relationship with the students because you become a 3-dimensional person and not just a library professional visiting their class.
The subject matter doesn't matter. The learning focus is the process.
HAVE FUNNY OR CUTE THEMES FOR YOUR LESSONS
Continue with the theme throughout your lessons for that class, so it's a point of distinction and expectation.
You could also change it up each lesson. Have more than one point of interest, so you've got some versatility.
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WHAT TO USE
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HOW TO USE IT
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A pet or a favourite animal
The subject of an activity like a keyword search on Onesearch