A Tale of Two AQs

 

“Busy hands and idle minds have knitted many a sweater; Busy minds and idle hands have knitted many a brow.” (Maryrose Wood)

I like to keep busy, although there are times that I worry that I have bitten off more than I can chew. The first third of 2022 is going to be very busy for me, because I am teaching not one, but four different AQ courses for two different institutions. The great thing is that both of these institutions have very different approaches and content. In my completely biased opinion, I'd recommend taking courses from either of them. Let me briefly talk about the strengths of each of these programs.

Queen's University TL AQ courses

Right now, I am facilitating the TL Specialist AQ course for Queen's University (Winter 2022 session). I've taught the TL Part 1 AQ twice and the TL Part 2 AQ once in the recent past. What I really like about this course is that the assignments are really enjoyable to do and to read as an instructor. There are a lot of them, but it is such a pleasure to digest and responses seem to come quite naturally. All of the course content is available immediately, so participants can work at their own pace. The size of the class is small, which makes it feel intimate and I am able as an instructor to participate frequently and thoroughly in discussions. The information aligns with the most recent revisions to the guidelines for teaching the TL AQs that OCT developed. This means that equity is infused throughout the entire course and course candidates will receive an up-to-date education on the current issues in school librarianship, as well as exposure to foundational concepts and documents. The tools we use to complete assignments are varied and can be employed by educators outside of the course, so we are learning through and about various media texts. Course experiences will not be dependent on the instructor you receive, as the content is consistent regardless of the leader. 

York University TL AQ courses

A fellow TL and friend of mine, recently retired as the lead instructor for York's online TL AQs. These are big shoes to fill and I am grateful to York University that they believe in me (their blended TL AQ learning instructor in the past) and invited me to be the new regular instructor for all these online TL AQs. Right now, I am guiding the Parts 1, 2 and Specialist courses. This is busy but guarantees that all sessions can run despite lower numbers in the upper versions of the course. What I really like about these courses is that I am allowed the flexibility to offer options. For instance, the candidates can choose to attend one of our guest lectures by external speakers (that I've organized) in lieu of a course assignment. Our first talks will occur this week (by Salma Nakhuda and Jennifer Cadavez) with three more to come (by Kim Davidson, Melissa Jensen, and Jennifer Brown [from PDSB]). The course content appears in chunks, so it is manageable and not overwhelming. I also like how reaching out to practicing TLs is part of the Part 1 tasks. All of the assignments can be completed within the Moodle platform, so it is centralized. I am revising the course content to match the newest TL AQ guidelines, so I'm very excited about that. It will look different from other institutions (as their course content is proprietary) but it will still do a good job of preparing educators for the role of leading and learning in the library. 

After reading the above descriptions, my recommendations might sound contradictory. How can I like a prescribed curriculum AND opportunities to change things simultaneously? This exercise of listing all the benefits of each program made me realize that there are many different approaches to teaching an Additional Qualification course. There is not just one right way to facilitate this learning journey. Certain aspects might appeal to different kinds of learners, even when those learners are themselves educators. What I've discovered from teaching with two different universities is that there are many ways to approach the same material. This reminder will help me in my regular teaching gig; just because I might like a certain method or pedagogical technique does not mean that everyone will respond to it positively. This also extends to the fact that not everyone responds to the instructor in the same way. There are other TL AQ providers. My friends Cindy Van Wonderen and Dawn Telfer are instructors for OISE's TL AQs. I'm uncertain about the other instructors for the seven other institutions offering various Teacher Librarian AQs - this is unfortunate, as I think it'd be nice to be transparent (to help people make the decision about where and when to enroll in a TL AQ) and it would be wonderful as a support network. (The image below is a list of the 10 providers of the Part 1 version of the course.)

To the course candidates in all of my TL AQs: thank you for participating in professional learning of this type; I enjoy learning from and with you. Keep up the great work!

PS - I wanted to add a little something to the end of this blog. I did a critical reading of this post, and an internal voice said to me, "Diana, why are you hogging all the opportunities? You get to rewrite two courses? Why not give someone else, especially someone that isn't white, cis-het, and female a chance?" (I appreciate that inner voice, even if they make me uncomfortable sometimes.) To that question, I reply that, although getting my "foot in the door" with teaching AQs was initially a bit of a fluke, I've been able to continue because of my experience in the field. Having said that, however, it is my goal to continue to mentor and promote many other teacher-librarians so that they are able to gain experience and then eventually take my place. The course content I help produce will also center voices that aren't usually part of the dominant narrative. I am going to use the privilege I possess to introduce more people to the opportunity to teach other educators via AQ courses. Now, if only some of these people would let me pay them an honorarium for their time! (Educators are too accustomed to providing their labour for free, but that's another topic for another day.)