Transcript How am I Doing? School Librarian Self
How am I Doing? School Librarian Self-Efficacy and Gauging Relationships with Other School Stakeholders
Anthony Chow, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor Dept. of Library and Information Studies The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Overview
Introduction Literature Method Results Discussion and Conclusions 2 of 28
Introduction
A case study of four school libraries introduced strategic planning as a way to build consensus and increase communication among school stakeholders.
How do we measure the impact on the school librarian?
I created the School Librarian Self-Efficacy and Social Information Processing Scale 3 of 28
Literature
Self-efficacy is defined as, “beliefs in one’s capabilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to meet given situational demands” (Wood & Bandura, 1989, p. 408) GSE or General Self-Efficacy is defined as “one’s belief in one’s overall competence to effect requisite performances across a wide variety of achievement situations” (Eden, in press) or as “individuals’ perception of their ability to perform across a variety of different situations” (Judge, Erez, et al., 1998, p. 170) New Generation Self-Efficacy Scale (Chen, Gully, & Eden, 2001) 8-item scale that measures self-efficacy 4 of 28
Literature (2)
Social Information Processing Theory (Colucci & Rice, 2009) Social Information Processing Theory (SIP) (Rice, 1993; Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978) holds that Individual evaluations of Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction are a reflection of social influence factors, such as information, modeling, and cues regarding social consensus from three factors:
1.
Communication behavior with others 2.
3.
Social cues regarding job satisfaction attitudes Social cues regarding job characteristics attitudes 5 of 28
School Librarian Self-Efficacy and Social Information Processing Scale
Communi cation with Others Social Cues Regarding Job Satisfacti on Attitudes
How am I Doing?
Social Cues Regarding Job Characteri stics Attitudes Self Efficacy 6 of 28
Research Questions
RQ1: What is the current self-efficacy and “social reality” of school librarians?
RQ2: Would introducing strategic planning positively impact school librarian self-efficacy and the three factors comprising one’s “social reality”?
RQ3: What is the impact of one’s social relationships with general self-efficacy?
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Method
Case studies of four school librarians Two elementary, one middle, and one high school Pretest of all four using SESIPS Teacher survey (n=58) Parent survey (n=6) 8 of 28
Results – Pretest of all four
With parents With students With teachers With school leaders With subordinates With peers In general 0,00 Please rate your overall quality of communication with others: 1,00 2,00 3,00 9 of 28 4,00 5,00 6,00 7,00
Results (2) – Pretest of all four
Please rate overall how satisfied you think people are with the job you are doing (take your best guess): With parents With students With teachers With school leaders With subordinates With peers In general 4,60 4,80 5,00 5,20 5,40 5,60 5,80 6,00 10 of 28
6,00 5,00 4,00 3,00 2,00 1,00 0,00
Results (3) – Pretest summary of all four
Please rate your overall quality of communication with others: Please rate overall how satisfied you think people are with the job you are doing Please rate overall how well people understand what you do in your job: 11 of 28
The Tale of Two School Librarians
6,00 5,00 4,00 3,00 2,00 1,00 0,00
Please rate your overall relationships with:
Please rate your overall relationships with: 12 of 28
Librarian 1 – Pretty Confident!
SE Factor 1. I will be able to achieve most of the goals that I have set for myself.
2. When facing difficult tasks, I am certain that I will accomplish them.
3. In general, I think that I can obtain outcomes that are important to me.
4. I believe I can succeed at most any endeavor to which I set my mind.
5. I will be able to successfully overcome many challenges.
6. I am confident that I can perform effectively on many different tasks.
7. Compared to other people, I can do most tasks very well.
8. Even when things are tough, I can perform quite well.
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5.75
6.25
6.25
6.25
6.00
6.25
6.25
Social cues suggest stakeholders are more satisfied….
3 2 1 0 5 4 7 6 In general With peers With subordinates With school leaders With teachers With students With parents Please rate overall how satisfied you think people are with the job you are doing (take your best 14 guess): Pre Post
Pre-teacher ratings (5.3 average; n=8)
Rate your overall satisfaction level with your school library on the following items on a scale of 1-7. (1=lowest satisfaction level, 10=highest satisfaction level) My overall satisfaction level with the school library is...
My school library has an adequate supply of technology resources.
The school library supports my students’ coursework and assignments.
I understand how best to use the school library.
0,00 15 2,00 4,00 6,00
1 0 3 2 5 4 7 6
Seeing an improvement with two groups, not so much for a third…
In general With peers With subordinates With school leaders With teachers With students With parents Please rate overall how well people understand what you do in your job: Pre Post I have begun to make a very positive impact on the staff, in general, as they have come to understand my role as a provider for quality, instructional technology resources. It has only been in the last month that I have been able to lead a professional development workshop. Two of my administrators were present for it and both expressed that they thought the session was well done. I believe it was the first time they really recognized my potential as an untapped resource. A few of the teachers were surprised that I invited the entire faculty to collaborate on lessons. They did not know that I would be willing to "teach".
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A second librarian – great things are happening
8 7 6 1 0 3 2 5 4 In general With peers With subordinates With school leaders With teachersWith students With parents Please rate your overall quality of communication with others: 17 of 28 Pre Post
Satisfaction is improving… ah that’s what she does!
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 In general With peers With subordinates With school leaders With teachersWith students With parents Please rate overall how satisfied you think people are with the job you are doing (take your best guess): 18 of 28 Pre Post
Relationships are also improving….
8 7 2 1 0 4 3 6 5 Your co-workers Your subordinates Your school leaders Your school's teachers Your students Please rate your overall relationships with: Your students' parents 19 of 28 Pre Post
Pre-teacher Ratings (5.2 average; n=11)
Rate your overall satisfaction level with your school library on the following items on a scale of 1-7. (1=lowest satisfaction level, 10=highest satisfaction level) My overall satisfaction level with the school library is...
My school library has an adequate supply of technology resources.
The school library supports my students’ coursework and assignments.
I understand how best to use the school library.
0,00 20 of 28 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00 7,00
Self-efficacy and confidence is flowering!
4 3 7 6 5 2 1 0 1. I will be able to achieve most of the goals that I have set for myself.
2. When facing difficult tasks, I am certain that I will accomplish them.
3. In general, I think that I can obtain outcomes that are important to me.
4. I believe I can succeed at most any endeavor to which I set my mind.
5. I will be able to successfully overcome many challenges.
6. I am confident that I can perform effectively on many different tasks.
7. Compared to other people, I can do most tasks very well.
8. Even when things are tough, I can perform quite well.
Please rate your overall confidence in the following: 21 of 28 Pre Post
Scale Composite Scores
SESIS Teacher Satisfaction 12 Questions SL1 Pre 5.2
5.33
Post 5.4
Pre 4.0
5.19
SL1 Post 5.4
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Discussion and Conclusions
Building a school library strategic plan Empowers librarians to establish an ideal vision Encourages collaboration Active, assertive steps towards building a collective vision for the future School Librarian Self-Efficacy and Social Information Processing Scale provides a way of measuring impact and current social “reality” 23 of 28
Research Questions
RQ1: What is the current self-efficacy and “social reality” of school librarians?
Too early to tell – One continues to do well, the other is doing really well Relationships with parents, leaders, and teachers continue to lowest rated Need to increase sample size 24 of 28
Research Questions
RQ2: Would introducing strategic planning positively impact school librarian self-efficacy and “social reality”?
Preliminary data suggests “yes” Both responding librarians have experienced growth and improvement in the areas of communication and attitudes towards job satisfaction and job characteristics.
Again need to increase sample size 25 of 28
Final Thoughts
Just getting started My new book, Library Technology and User Services, details the strategic planning process explicitly within the context of technology and user services.
I’m a systems designer and live by the motto, “Make your own luck” Create an ideal vision of what you want to become Work backwards securing the resources and means necessary to accomplish your goals Work hard and you will be a lot closer to achieving that vision then you are today !
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Are you interested?
I would be happy to: Provide you with our online strategic planning instrument Email support if needed Provide you access to the self-efficacy and social information diagnostic scale Just leave me your name and email address and we will be in touch with you I just want your data (completely anonymous and confidential) to help refine and validate the instruments so they are truly effective and worthwhile….
The slides will be available at anthonyschow.wordpress.com 27 of 28
References
Colucci & Rice, 2009 Chen, G., Gully, S., & Eden, D. (2001). Validation of a New General Self-Efficacy Scale. Organizational Research Methods 2001; 4; 62 Eden, D. (in press). Means efficacy: External sources of general and specific subjective efficacy. In M. Erez, U. Kleinbeck,&H. Thierry (Eds.),Work motivation in the context of a globalizing economy. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Judge, T. A., Erez, A.,&Bono, J. A. (1998). The power of being positive: The relation between positive self-concept and job performance. Human Performance, 11, 167-187.
Rice, 1993 Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978 Wood, R. & Bandura, A. (1989). Social Theory of Organizational Management. Academy of Management Review, 1989, Vol. 14, No. 3, 361-384.
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Contact Me
Anthony Chow, Ph.D.
anthonyschow.wordpress.com 29 of 28