Digital Commons Network^™

Designing For The One-Shot: Building Consensus On Design Processes For Academic Librarians, Kirsten Hostetler

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Academic librarians have long been responsible for teaching information literacy competencies on college campuses, even as many are hesitant to accept the title of teacher. With inadequate instructional design preparation and one-shot sessions serving as a popular, if limited, instructional medium, librarians’ design processes are often developed on the job and infrequently explored in the literature. Previous research has examined specific design models and instructional strategies, but no studies were found that determined how academic librarians select and implement these design decisions within the unique context of a one-shot.

The purpose of this study was to describe academic librarians’ design …

Short Circuits In The Information Cycle: Addressing Information Breakdowns Using The Information Literacy Framework, Lucinda Rush Wittkower, D.E. Wittkower

The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique

We argue that information literacy instruction that aims at developing students’ critical thinking habits should address how safeguards in the information cycle fail. We argue that such “short circuits” in the information cycle can be best engaged with at a “middle distance”—not so distant from students’ lived experience that they seem irrelevant, but not so close that students can’t gain a critical distance—and illustrate this framework with three such cases that concern moral panics about new technologies. We hold that instruction using this framework will help learners critically assess sources while retaining a strong but realistic appreciation for procedural supports …

Making Connections Between General Education Information Literacy Classes And Upper Level Writing Courses: An Exploration Of Faculty And Student Perceptions, Lucinda Wittkower, D. E. Wittkower, Narketta Sparkman-Key

Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

This presentation will describe a collaborative project between University faculty and a librarian that connected faculty who teach general education information literacy courses to those who teach upper-level writing intensive courses. The project provided an opportunity for these faculty to participate in a focus group discussion to explore how the courses are aligned and how information literacy courses can support and prepare students for upper-level writing courses. Following the focus group discussion the presenters provided an opportunity for writing and information literacy faculty to take action on what they learned from each other by participating in an assignment redesign workshop. …

Science In The School Library Inquiry Model (Sslim): A Mixed-Methods Case Study Of The Implementation Of A Science And Information Inquiry Curriculum In An Elementary Library, Bree L. Ruzzi

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Data indicate that students in the U.S. may start school with lower levels of science understanding and that these levels may consistently remain lower throughout their public-school career. With deficits in science achievement starting in the earliest years of students’ education, benefits may be gained by exploring alternate resources and alternative environments that can support young student’s science education and achievement. A largely unexplored area for science instruction is in the school library. This dissertation, a mixed-methods, case study, examined the creation and implementation of a novel information and science inquiry model and curriculum, SSLIM. This curriculum was created and …

The Information Literacy Continuum: Mapping The Acrl Framework To The Aasl School Library Standards, Elizabeth Burns, Melissa Gross, Don Latham

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the American Association for School Libraries (AASL), two major divisions of the American Library Association (ALA), both recently released new guidelines. These documents form the basis for information literacy and library skills instruction for PK-20 education. In this study, we explored the alignment between these documents to identify the continuum of knowledge and skill expectations as well as the dispositional attributes toward information literacy that learners are presented. Our findings identified where the content of the ACRL Framework and AASL Standards Framework for Learners documents is strongly aligned as well as …

Examining Student Perceptions Of Their Knowledge, Roles, And Power In The Information Cycle, Lucinda Rush

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

This project report describes a collaborative effort between librarians, staff, local journalists and students at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) to provide a venue for a discussion about ‘fake news’. Post-event questionnaire results are analysed to explore what students learned as a result of attending the event as well as student perceptions of their own understanding and ownership of the roles that they can play in the information cycle.

Use Of Social Networking Site Consumer Training To Teach Information Literacy Threshold Concepts, Lucinda Rush

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Introduction

Social networking sites (SNS) have been integrated seamlessly into our everyday lives, and college students are one of their biggest consumers (Lenhart, et. al. 2010). Just as consumers of Starbucks have been trained to speak the language of the corporation, ordering “venti” instead of “large”, and consumers of smart phones have come to rely on them in their every-day lives for things like directions, instant access to email, fitness apps, and more, social media users have been trained to intuitively expect and respond to things on their SNS in day-to-day life. The skills that our students have developed through …

The Biggest Lies On The Internet: Using Real Life Examples To Help Students Master Information Literacy Concepts, Lucinda Rush

Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

Teaching students how the information cycle works is a common instructional goal for academic librarians. Oftentimes we do this by showing them examples of how things work under ideal circumstances. By sharing case studies in information cycles that have short‐circuited, either due to moral panics about the impact of new technologies or due to poor reporting gone bad on social media, we can teach students how to be critical readers of empirical research‐based claims. In this lightening talk, the presenter will provide examples of incorporating these case studies into library instruction settings and share ideas that will help to bridge …

Libguides Two Ways: Teaching Information Literacy In And Out Of The Classroom, Lucinda Rush

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Librarians at Old Dominion University (ODU) Libraries use the LibGuides platform in a creative way to meet immediate, practical needs. Traditionally, we have offered two types of information literacy tutorials. The first is a lengthy, module-based tutorial and is used in our information literacy-designated courses to cover skills in-depth and which students must complete over the course of a semester. The second is a short tutorial designed to give students an introduction or a refresher covering basic research skills, information literacy concepts, and library services.

Prior to migrating to a new web platform, ODU Libraries hosted short click-through tutorials on …

Worked Examples In Teaching Queries For Searching Academic Databases, Mary Kickham-Samy

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The worked-example effect, an application of cognitive load theory, is a well-supported method of instruction for well-structured problems (Chandler and Sweller, 1991; Cooper and Sweller, 1987; Sweller and Cooper, 1985; Tuovinen & Sweller, 1999; Ward and Sweller, 1990). One limitation is expertise-reversal effect, where advanced students perform less well when exposed to worked examples than when exposed to traditional problem solving (Kalyuga, Ayres, Chandler, & Sweller, 2003; Kalyuga, Chandler, & Sweller, 1998; Kalyuga, Chandler, Tuovinen, & Sweller, 2001). A possible alternative to the worked-example approach is the fading example, designed to transition intermediate students to solving well-structured problems without assistance …

Helping Librarians To Encourage Critical Thinking Through Active Learning Techniques In Library Instruction, Cynthia Wright Swaine

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Encouraging librarians to incorporate critical thinking skills and active learning techniques in their course instruction requires more than talking about it in a department meeting or distributing articles on the topic. At Old Dominion University (Virginia), librarians have tried conducting workshops, had readily-accessible binders of articles and suggestions for librarians to consult, and held idea-sharing sessions. They have also tried including a related library instruction annual performance objective for each reference librarian involved in instruction. This paper describes this latest attempt to incorporate active learning in library instruction and includes an active learning planning sheet which serves as an outline …