Digital Commons Network^™

A New Model For Evaluating The Online Tutorial: Does Your Tutorial Reflect Your Mission?, Paulette Kerr, Jana Valejs

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

The online tutorial has emerged as a ubiquitous representation of information literacy instruction and often is the visible face of these programs. Academic libraries currently boast an expanding array of tutorials which are presented as effective alternatives and supplements to face-to-face instruction. A growing body of literature exists about the design and evaluation of the online tutorial (Atwater-Singer & Metcalf, 2006; Dewald, 1999; Hrycaj, 2005; Tronstad, Phillips, Garcia, & Harlow, 2009). Typically, evaluations focus on the quality of the tutorial or its effect on student learning. Quality questions ask whether it is engaging, easy to navigate, and up-to-date. Effectiveness questions …

Letting The Inmates Run The Asylum: Student Engagement In The Progressive Classroom, Tracey Mayfield, Katy Farrell French

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

One of the biggest challenges in library instruction today is engaging students in the one-shot library instruction setting. Students are bored, incommunicative and motivating them to participate proves difficult. These challenges with students beg the question: how do we initiate and maintain student engagement in the one-shot library instruction?

Our approach is a simple one: let the students set the learning agenda.

This presentation will address how librarians can partner with students during the library instruction session to chart a unique and customized path towards learning. The presenters will demonstrate their method of letting students set the agenda that identifies …

The Map Is Useless Unless You Know Where You Are: Information Literacy Pre-Assessment As A Tool For Understanding And Collaboration, Jason Ertz

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

The objective of this presentation is to provide librarians with a potential outline for beginning an information literacy assessment strategy, starting with pre-assessment. Librarians unsure about where to start when it comes to assessment will find that developing a pre-test can be a great way to start such a strategy collaborating with classroom faculty. Pre-assessment also is nonjudgmental pertaining to faculty’s teaching abilities and students’ learning making it an easier sell for collaboration or even initiating collaboration where none existed. If we can’t know where students end up after a class, at least we can get a sense of where …

Using A Pre- And Post-Survey Method To Assess The Effectiveness And Usability Of An Online Information Literacy Tutorial, Lesley M. Moyo

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

The presentation is a case study reporting on the assessment of Virginia Tech’s online Information Skills Modules (ISM): http://info-skills.lib.vt.edu/. The ISM is an information literacy tutorial developed for use either as a teaching tool or independently. The evaluators used a pre and post survey method to determine the ISM impact on research skills of agricultural economics students who used the tutorial as a textbook for a component of their course. The session will cover methods and instruments employed in collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, and how the data was analyzed. Discussion will include detailed findings and recommendations.

Wikipedia, Ipods, And Chickens: An Active Learning Exercise To Teach Evaluation Of Information, Latisha Reynolds, Anna Marie Johnson

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

Librarians at the University of Louisville developed an evaluation of information exercise that is completely interactive. Students learn evaluation skills by participating in a small-group exercise, after which, the groups teach their classmates what they have learned.

Each small-group is assigned a different publication to evaluate such as a book, a website, a scholarly article, magazine or newspaper. They also have questions to answer in order to evaluate each source. After they evaluate the sources, each group chooses a student to present the information in front of the class.

The librarian acts as a facilitator to guide the students and …

Git Along Li’L Dogies: A Collaborative Approach To Library Instruction For First-Year Writing Students, Jim Kinnie, Kerry Caparco

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

This presentation outlines the collaboration between URI Libraries and the URI Department of Writing and Rhetoric that has been designed to improve library skills for first-year writing students who all come to the library for an information literacy session. In ongoing discussions, URI librarians and Writing chairs updated the goals and outcomes of the library sessions and during the spring 2008 semester piloted a concept mapping pre-activity for students to enhance their research projects & prepare them for library research. The project design and assessment are detailed as well as the overall URI library instruction program for writing students.

Treading New Paths: How Creative Collaboration Transformed Teaching The Research Process To Usc Upstate’S First-Year Students, Andrew Kearns

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

What are the special needs of first-year students in learning the research process? How will students come to see information literacy as a process rather than a set of discrete skills? What research and information literacy skills need to be intentionally taught in the classroom and library instruction sessions? How do we as librarians make sure that our instruction session fits organically into the course of which it is ostensibly a part? At USC Upstate, we have addressed these questions through creation of our First-Year Information Literacy Program in three first-year courses, involving creative collaboration between the library, the University …

Instruction 2.0: Engaging Students And Faculty Through Course Wikis, Kristine Esch Kasbohm, Hazel A. Mcclure

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

Merriam-Webster online defines a "wiki" as "a Web site that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections". Librarians at Canisius College have used a variety of web-based collaborative resources such as wikis, Google applications, and Angel course management software to improve student engagement and faculty interest in information literacy instruction. These collaborative resources offer instructional support beyond the one-shot session in the library. They also provide an avenue for librarians to interact with students and faculty.

We have used wikis in several different ways. When students do not completely understand something discussed in the library session, or when they …

Save A Horse, Ride A New Train Of Thought: Using Threshold Concepts To Teach Information Literacy, Lori Townsend, Korey Brunetti, Amy R. Hofer

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

The sun beat down on a high, lonesome hilltop in Hayward... where three librarians at Cal State East Bay were redesigning a credit-bearing first-year Information Literacy course in order to move the content online. They reckoned that creating this online hootenanny would require rustling up some fresh lessons and activities and distilling the class down to a few essential learning objectives, based on ACRL standards. One librarian thundered into town with talk of "threshold concepts," a pedagogical strategy developed by Jan Meyer and Ray Land. Could threshold concepts serve as a lasso for students to snare a deeper understanding of …

To The Instruction Cave, Librarian! Graphic Novels And Information Literacy, Steven Hoover

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

Graphic novels emerged as highly visible additions to many academic library collections over the last few years. Much has been written about the pedagogical value of graphic novels in K-12 settings, but their potential applications in relation to information literacy in higher education have not been seriously addressed. Graphic novels provide an ideal backdrop for teaching students a variety of skills, especially with regard to the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standard Three and visual literacy. In addition, graphic novels are excellent source material for projects that require students to conduct research, evaluate source quality, engage in reflective writing, compare versions …

Many Paths, One Journey: Mapping The Routes To Information Literacy, Margy Macmillan

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

Students gain information literacy skills from a range of sources, not all of which involve direct librarian intervention. These skills grow and diversify over the course of their studies in ways that pre/post test research protocols cannot capture. So how can we understand how they learn what they know? This presentation describes a long-term project using the Information Skills résumé as a case study of gathering, analyzing and using qualitative data to better understand student learning and thereby improve information literacy instruction. The Information Skills résumé tool, used to gather information from journalism students over five years, showed development of …

The Savvy Researcher: Teaching Information Management Skills To Graduate Students, Merinda Kaye Hensley

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

Who better to teach information management skills than librarians? Run-of-the-mill library instruction rarely leaves time to cover topics such as current awareness tools, copyright concerns or scholarly communication education. The Savvy Researcher asks us to reconsider the drop-in workshop as a venue for the inquisitive graduate student. In this interactive session, we’ll demonstrate several active learning techniques including PowerLearn, a form of speed dating for instruction. You will develop a lesson plan to implement a workshop/module customized for the needs of your institution. At the end of this session, don't miss the Pecha Kucha, “Every path has its puddle: We …

Developing An Online Credit-Bearing Information Fluency Course: Lessons Learned, Rebecca Blakiston, Yvonne Mery, Leslie Sult

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2009

This presentation will focus on the University of Arizona Libraries’ development and implementation of its first online one-credit information fluency course, the Skillful Researcher. This course is taught entirely online and has allowed the Library to reach new students who have little experience with the Library and its resources. The presentation will be aimed at librarians who are currently planning their own online or credit-bearing courses. Attendees will learn how we developed the course from its inception to its evaluation and how they can avoid the same mistakes and pitfalls in their own development.