Professor uses you as a “babysitter” and does not have an assignment. Is there a go-to assignment when the professor has no plans?
Share your ideas in the comments!
Monday, April 13, 2015
Ask the Masses: Fixing the Librarian as Babysitter Problem
We are posting a few of the questions from the Solution or Sympathy portion of the IL Interest Group session held during the spring 2015 IPAL Conference. There were several wonderful questions that were submitted but, unfortunately, we ran out of time to discuss them all. Leave your solution or sympathy response in the comments and help keep the great sharing going!
Share your ideas in the comments!
Share your ideas in the comments!
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Typically we try to say no to this type of situation, but when we simply can't usually because of campus politics we've created a type of "fake assignment" with a worksheet. We use a generic 5-7 page paper on a controversial topic. And then we walk the students through a series of questions they should be able to answer about an assignment. Length, source requirements, citation style, etc. We talk broadly about how to approach assignments like this realistically when they will work on it.
ReplyDeleteOr you could also do a series of "skill checks." Things you think student should and might know. How get a citation from a database, where a particular book might be located in the library, finding a full-text copy of an article from a citation, etc. I bring a bag of candy and promise chocolate to the first who can accomplish the task.