This document discusses how two librarians at the University of Toronto, Elena Springall and Navroop Gill, collaborated on instruction projects to support undergraduate students at scale. They piloted projects in architecture and math courses. For a first year architecture course, they provided a lecture, trained teaching assistants, and led tutorial sessions. Feedback noted improved citations but opportunities remained. For the second iteration, they extended TA training. Outcomes included increased capacity and strengthened faculty-library relationships. The librarians emphasize the value of collaborative reflection to continually improve instruction through experiences sharing, critical feedback, and assessing community needs.

1. THROUGH REFLECTION
AND COLLABORATION
E L E N A S P R I N G A L L
N AV R O O P G I L L
MAKING
INSTRUCTION
MORE
SUSTAINABLE

2. ABOUT US
ELENA, LIAISON &
EDUCATION LIBRARIAN
Bea
NAVROOP, TEACHING &
LEARNING LIBRARIAN
Morgan

3. UNIVERSITY OF
TORONTO
• Research-intensive university
• 1000 programs of study
• 97,000 students
• 40 libraries, 17 centrally governed

4. SCALE CONCERNS
A typical semester:
• Around 44,000 undergraduate students at the downtown campus
• Concerns about scale of information literacy efforts, equitable
access to services, skill building support

5. TEACHING
AND
LEARNING
PROJECT
Pilot project
formed in
2019
Goal to
support
undergraduate
instruction at
scale
1 full-time
librarian, 1
20% librarian
Environmental
scan

6. SUSTAINABLE
INSTRUCTION PROJECTS
• 2 in Bachelor's of Architecture
• 1 in Math
• Recruited to:
• Increase capacity of solo
librarians
• Take a new approach to
longstanding large classes

7. CASE STUDY: FIRST YEAR
ARCHITECTURE

8. TAKE ONE:
Our approach:
• 30-minute lecture on finding
and citing academic sources
• 1-hour training and consulting
session with Teaching Assistants
(TAs)
• 7x50-minute tutorial sections led
by three librarians, with TA support
Learning objects:
• Lecture slide deck
• Pre-tutorial student worksheet
• TA training slide deck
• Tutorial slide deck and lesson plan

9. REFLECTION
What worked?
• Citations, overall performance
slightly improved
• "This created an important learning
opportunity and the foundation on
which they can build upon and
develop their research skills as
they progress in the program.
What better way to start their
academic experience?!!"
Opportunities for improvement:
• Use different teaching example(s)
from assignment topic
• Empower teaching assistants to
lead tutorial
• Have students articulate their
search process for assessment

10. TAKE TWO:
Our approach:
• 1x 1.5 session to walk TAs through
the planned tutorials and gather
their feedback on the plan, adapt
as necessary
Learning Objects
• Same as before +
• Student tip sheet
• Marking guide for TAs

11. OUTCOMES
• Scalability
• TA training approach taken
• Capacity of solo librarians
increased
• New relationships,
strengthened bond between
faculty and libraries

12. THE VALUE OF
COLLABORATIVE WORK

13. LEARNING AS
A SOCIAL
PRACTICE
• Form "personal connections
with colleagues that
involved experiential
learning, whether through
mentorship, observation, or
collaborative teaching"
Booth. C (2011). Reflective Teaching, Effective
Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library
Educators. ALA Editions

14. CRITICAL
FRIENDSHIPS
critical friends are "people
who collaborate in a way that
encourages discussion and
reflection in order to improve
the quality of teaching and
learning"
Farrell, T. (2001). Critical friendships: Colleagues
helping each other develop. ELT Journal, 55 (4),
368–374.

15. REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE

16. "Reflection is deliberate and intentional. It is a
process that we consciously undertake, in the
professional sense, in order to take stock of our
practice by interpreting, analyzing, and questioning
the way we work. It is the first step in the process of
looking at ourselves critically, questioning all of the
assumptions that we have been operating on, and
refashioning, reformulating, and reinventing the way
we do things" (Reale, 2017, p.2)
REFLECTION AS PEDAGOGY

17. INTENTIONALITY
• Iterative Practice
• Creating the time
• Weekly check-ins, instruction
debriefs
• Learning from others
• Other disciplines and
experiences

18. OUR WORK
OVER TIME
• Adapting during the COVID-
19 pandemic
• Connecting during research
leave

19. SUGGESTIONS
Start by assessing
community needs
Work with new
people
Schedule regular
check-ins
Take time for
reflection
Have fun
together

20. QUESTIONS?

21. LET'S
CONNECT
Navroop Gill
Teaching & Learning Librarian
University of Toronto Libraries
Email: nk.gill@utoronto.ca
Elena Springall
Liaison and Education Librarian
University of Toronto Libraries
Email:
elena.springall@utoronto.ca

22. REFERENCES
Booth. C (2011). Reflective Teaching,
Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for
Library Educators. ALA Editions
Farrell, T. (2001). Critical friendships:
Colleagues helping each other develop. ELT
Journal, 55 (4), 368–374.
Patel, A. & Plowman, S. (2022, August 17).
The increasing importance of a best friend
at work. Gallup.com. Retrieved March 27,
2023, from
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/i
ncreasing-importance-best-friend-
work.aspx
Reale, M. (2017). Becoming a reflective
librarian and teacher : strategies for mindful
academic practice. ALA Editions, an imprint
of the American Library Association.