EDIT 6900
SLMS Interview
Assignment Description and Rubric
Mode: Individual
Value: 10 points
updated
8-20-09
Purpose of this
Assignment
The most
significant product of this course is the Problem Project, in which
your team will identify a problem of practice, research the literature
to discover what is known about that problem, provide recommendations
for solving it, and design (but not implement) a way to evaluate the
efficacy of one or more of these recommendations.
It is critical that the problems emerge from authentic SLM practice.
Thus, you will interview a media specialist to discover one or more
problems that might serve as topics for research. It is very
important to note that topics need
not be typical media center problems, but can be any
education-related problem. In your role as instructional consultant,
teachers may come to you with all sorts of concerns that have nothing
to do with media center management - but you must still strive to
provide avenues for solving problems through information, networking,
and research.
This experience will also give you a small amount of experience in
conducting interviews.
Keep in mind that your goal is to come up with at least one substantial
problem - and more would be even better. Solutions are not
required at this stage. Neither are you obligated to choose one
of the problems that emerge from your interview - there will be many
other choices for your Problem Project.
Linked AASL
Standards
3.2
Instructional Partner
3.3
Educational Leader
4.2
Managing Program Resources: Human, Financial, Physical
Related
Themes from this Course
Establishing a theoretical frame around a problem
Applying what is known to problems
Research methods and techniques (interviewing)
Task
- Working media specialists may not interview themselves. :-)
- Find a media specialist to interview, and set up a date and time.
Interviews may be in person or over the telephone, but don't use email
for this. Interviews should last no less than 30 minutes, but 1 hour
would be better. Do not exceed 90 minutes. While arranging the
interview, mention its purpose so that your interviewee can be thinking
about it ahead of time.
- Submit your SLMS' name and school to the separate Dropbox set up
for this. Otherwise, you should plan not to share the identity of your
interviewee. Name the file yourname-interviewee.doc. (Purpose: so
that I can separate in my mind your person from their problems; the
info is there in case of legal or accountability problems.)
- Conduct the interview. Explain the project and its purpose.
Your questions, at minimum, should include:
- Describe your school to me, in terms of demographics, grade
levels, and any special characteristics.
- Share some examples of problems (or issues or challenges) you
face in the media center.
- Share some examples of problems teachers have come to you about.
- Share some examples of problems that you know are going on in
your school, whether you've been consulted about them or not.
- Make sure to ask open-ended questions - avoid leading your
interviewee. You may certainly follow up with questions about what
happened in regards to the problem, or other questions that seem
appropriate to you.
- Take notes during the interview. Audiotaping is optional,
but make sure it's ok with your interviewee if you do this.
- Thank your media specialist by writing them a thank-you card
shortly after the interview.
- Write up your notes, leaving out identities. A word-by-word
transcription is not necessary, but your description should be adequate
to give us a sense of what you discussed. Do explain what kind of
school this SLMS is working in.
- End your notes with a definitive list of the problems that
emerged from the interview.
- Self assess using the rubric below; paste along with your notes
into the second Dropbox (labeled SLMS Interview). Name this file yourname-interview.doc.
- Post your notes to the ELC Discussion Board set up for this
purpose.
- Read the notes of your classmates, and think about which problems
would make good projects for this class, and which are particularly
relevant or interesting to you.
Components
- Name of interviewee and school to MAF (via ELC dropbox "SLMS
Interviewee" - 1 point)
- Notes - concise - posted on ELC discussion board, with brief
school
description and list of problems (2 points)
- Notes (concise or less so, your choice) and Rubric with
self-assessment to Dropbox
("SLMS Interview" - 9 points)
Evaluation Checklist
Criterion
|
Value
|
Your
assessment:
(yes or no)
|
MAF's
assessment
|
Name and
school of interviewee submitted
|
1
|
.
|
.
|
Notes posted
|
2
|
|
|
Identities omitted in notes
|
1
|
|
|
Interview
questions asked in an open-ended manner
|
2
|
.
|
.
|
Notes are sufficiently descriptive, but
not a transcription
|
1
|
|
|
One or
more problems identified
|
2
|
.
|
.
|
Self-assessment
submitted
|
1
|
.
|
.
|
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Fitzgerald's
SLM Program Resources
Expires
12-31-09
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http://it.coe.uga.edu/~mfitzger/6900/slms-interview.html
Update log:8/20/09: refreshed
for 2009. 8/11/08: refreshed
for 2008. 8/10/07: created.
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