Thanks everyone for the ideas... some good new ones to entice students and
teachers to use the databases.
If anyone has any more advice to add re: WHY students should be using the
databases, please send it. The argument "it's better than google" is not
really working for either students or teachers here. Most of them find
what they need just fine (!) using Google and don't want waste their time
looking for what might not even be there in the database. If you have
some good answers or statistics on why database use is important, please
share!
ORIGINAL REQUEST: I am wondering how I can persuade teachers to use our
subscription database more consistently. We have EBSCOHost and I've tried
all the usual stuff, and have had a little success. My question is
specifically, how can I at least get the teachers to try out another
database when we have a trial for it, as we do right now? How would you
fill in the blank (we are a preschool through gr 12 school so please reply
no matter what level you teach)...
Teachers and students should try out the trial database
because______________________________________.
I'm operating on the assumption that if they tried it, they would like it,
and then I have a reason to ask for funding for a subscription.
I'm writing an email to the staff trying to persuade them to give the
trial database a try, but I can't think of a good reason that will
convince! (e.g., is there evidence that it "works" in some way-- helps
kids do better on tests, helps them stay focused, helps them be better
researchers in college, etc)?
_____
RESPONSES:
When classes come to the library for research, create a short pathfinder
of the resources you have available and include the database on the
pathfinder. Demo the database for the class before the students begin
research. Highly recommend they try the database first and show at least
one article that really hits the target. Stress that Ebsco provides the
citation for their works cited page...both students and teachers love
that.
It's always a push but it does work when kids find what they need.
_____
Hi Terry, offer to supply resources for them, include articles from the
database - when they come to check these out they get an instruction sheet
on how to get there by themselves - same for students. This can be on your
website or as a FAQ. Also speak to the principal - this skills are generic
- teaching them to search databases is essential for university and TAFE,
could you have some time for PD that everyone has to do. If you get PD
time make it interactive - in other words a do session where they play -
not chalk and talk. Give them a booklet on how to search different
databases. Could then use this as an introductory booklet for new staff
and stduents at the beginning of each year - have an online copy on your
library website. Only needs updating once a year.
_____
If it is the equivalent of an American HS -grades 9-12 (age 14-18) then I
would simply state "Teachers should make students use at least one
database source in their next term paper because this is what will be
expected of them in college/university"
_____
We struggle with this still, but one of our most successful efforts was
when
we had the staff run a competition, using our computers, of who could find
information - using available databases - first. We gave them a brief
tutorial on what we had (this was when we still had EBSCO, now we have
Gale...but most of our resources are the same) and then we gave them each a
slip of paper with a HARD question on it that couldn't be solved via
googling....
It was fun and the big surprise was that our BB coach was the winner - he's
not tech savvy but knew the right database to use each time!
_____
I'm doing something similar now but with media techs at all the schools in
our district.? I presented the idea first at a meeting and described the
database briefly and asked for volunteers who would be interested in doing
the free trial with me.? Then I posted on my?blog brief instructions for
how they were to get to the free trial and a list of issues for them to
consider (Is the content valuable?? Is the site user-friendly?? Is it
worth the cost? etc.)? Then, they are to leave comments in response to the
blog post to share their thoughts with me and the other free-trialers.? I
don't know if this helps or not, but I found that asking in person works
best for me and that making it optional took some pressure off (not
everyone has to try, but I figure if I can get the buy-in of a few, they
will encourage the others later if we decide to purchase).
_____
I try to be pro-active: when there's a class coming to the library for
research, I make a 1-page sheet of resources to use--like a pathfinder, I
guess. Also, if there are trials, I'll include that info. I've sometimes
put the trial URL/username/password by each computer.
_____
>because internet research is not reliable and returns too many non-useful
>hits...have to use an internet website evaluation form for that.
>However, the new database contains articles written by experts on the
>topics and returns more useful hits.
>Also, just Googling isn't research, and students need to learn how to
>research effectively before they go off to college.
_____
Actually, I did have an excellent experience last year with a grade 5/6
class... the grade 5's were researching animals, and the gr. 6's were
researching planets. For my "why databases are good/better lecture", I
used a data projector and showed what happened when I Googled "Saturn" -
and at least at that point, several hits on the first page were about
the Saturn car - and the database hits were the planet (mind you, I had
to do my own research and try several planets before I found one that
would give the non-relevant hits I was looking for!). Similarly, for
the gr. 5's I used "lions", as several of the top Google hits were not
relevant (or were links to Wikipedia, which the teacher had declared off
limits) - the best thing was that the first image under "lions" (again,
at that point)was a clearly faked picture of a lion driving a car, while
the database returned useful hits. While I won't guarantee that no kid
reverted to Google, it did make the point that the databases are
actually useful. The teacher helped by insisting that the students
start with the databases I had highlighted.
In terms of your specific question of WHY teachers should try the
databases, our elementary schools have benefitted from the fact that the
secondary school librarians have said "high school teachers require
students to use databases", so the elementary panel has had a reason to
push the databases. Maybe you could talk to the university librarians
in your area and get a testimonial from them on the use of databases
required at the university level.
_____
For teachers, I've had moderate success with bribery. For a month I
sent a question each day to the entire staff, with instructions on how
to find the answer via one of the online resources. Some were trivia
questions, and other were more along the lines of "Find an article you
would be able to use with your students, and tell me about it."
Teachers simply hit "Reply" with their answer, and I saved the answers
in a folder. At the end of the month I had a reward for participants.
The first time I did this (years ago, and at my old school) the
principal got involved - he funded some pretty nice gift cards and we
had a drawing for them, with people entering their name once for every
question they'd answered. I did this again last spring, and made up
little Easter baskets for those who answered at least 10 out of 20
questions. There were actually a few people who answered more than 1
but less than 10, and I decided to give them Easter baskets anyway for
the sake of good PR. I didn't have extremely high participation ... I
think I ended up making less than ten baskets for a staff of about 40
teachers and a number of other staff who could have participated ... but
hey, that's 10 people who became aware of the resources! Little by
little ... :)
A similar thing might work with students, although I think your best bet
there is to convince the teachers how great these databases are, and
then they can start requiring their students to use them.
_____
I don't know if this will help, but I tell the students, with their
teacher listening, that anyone can put a professional looking website up,
and it will be accessed through Google. I tell them, "any one of you in
here, if you know anything about creating web pages, could put something
on the web, without even researching it, and you could fool a lot of
people." I tell them that with the databases we have, they are guaranteed
that the information is accurate and that it will be easy to create a
bibliography because the info is all right there. That at least convinces
some of them. Some of them still google, no matter what I say. Good luck.
_____
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