Education Commons^™

Assessing The Research Process Improves The Product: Results Of A Faculty-­Librarian Collaboration, Divonna M. Stebick, Janelle L. Wertzberger, Margaret E. Flora, Joseph W. Miller

Janelle Wertzberger

When an education professor and a reference librarian sought to improve the quality of undergraduate student research, their partnership led to a new focus on assessing the research process in addition to the product. In this study, we reflect on our collaborative experience introducing information literacy as the foundation for undergraduate teacher education research. We examine the outcomes of this collaboration, focusing on the assessment of the process. Using a mixed methods approach, we found that direct instruction supporting effective research strategies positively impacted student projects. Our data also suggest that undergraduate students benefit from not only sound research strategies, …

Information Literacy For Teaching And Learning: A Course For Teacher Practitioners., Sara Bushong, Colleen T. Boff

Colleen T. Boff, Ed.D.

Teachers are faced not only with standards-based instructional design daily, but with the shortage of certified school library media specialists within their districts. Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning, a graduate level course, was created, in part, to empower teachers with the knowledge, skills and abilities to embed information literacy within classroom learning experiences. In addition, the skills mastered and activities explored in this course logically transfer to research projects assigned in future graduate courses. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

Addressing Academic Integrity: Perspectives From Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar, Nancy E. Fawley

Nancy Fawley

Understanding the cultural aspects that affect a student’s ability to appropriately use resources is important in developing outreach and instruction in multicultural settings. Differences in educational philosophies, students’ previous scholastic training and cultural differences in individual motivation are all factors that may affect a freshman’s ability to understand an American university’s idea of academic integrity and can inadvertently cause problems where independent work and critical thinking are required. At Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU Qatar), a branch campus of the American university in the Middle East, a special class on academic integrity and ethical behavior was integrated into the …

Cultivating The Librarian Within: Effectively Lntegrating Library Lnstruction Into Freshman Composition, Jesse Ulmer, Nancy E. Fawley

Nancy Fawley

It has become common practice for library instruction to be included in lower-level college composition courses. Students are typically required to visit the library once or twice a semester to receive instruction on how to find books and journal articles for an upcoming writing assignment that incorporates formal research. But does this current model of instruction truly address course outcomes that seek to produce students who are information literate, critical thinkers and life-long learners? Faculty who teach such courses are often reluctant to surrender precious class time to a librarian, but this paper argues that the merging of bibliographic instruction …

Information Literacy Opportunities Within The Discovery Tool Environment, Nancy E. Fawley, Nikki Krysak

Nancy Fawley

Discovery tools such as Primo, EBSCO Discovery Service, Summon, and WorldCat Local aim to make scholarly research more intuitive for students in part because of their single interface for searching across multiple platforms, including the library, fee-based databases, and unique digital collections. Discovery tools are in sync with the way many undergraduates look for information because they offer a more “Google-like” experience in contrast with previous methods of research that required first knowing which database to use, then searching each one differently according to its specifications. However, broad searches across multiple formats with different systems of controlled vocabulary force instructors …

Serving Those Who Serve: Outreach And Instruction For Student Cadets And Veterans, Nancy E. Fawley, Nikki Kyrsak

Nancy Fawley

Student cadets and veterans new to college have unique academic needs, and the abrupt switch from civilian to Corps life for new students at a military university can be challenging. Likewise, transitioning from military life to civilian life as a veteran student can be overwhelming. The libraries at Norwich University and The University of Alabama are supporting programs to assist new students in the transition from civilian to Corps life and from military to civilian life, respectively. While these students are at different stages of their military careers, cadets and veterans have common attributes that inform library support and instruction, …

Using A Media Technology Showcase To Bridge The Gap Between K-12 & Higher Education: Creating A Professional Development Workshop., Sonya Shepherd

Sonya S. Gaither

Why should students spend time navigating to find the library tools needed to search? Why not provide direct links to library resources so more time is spent finding, evaluating, and synthesizing information? These were questions asked by some academic librarians trying to help students locate resources for assignments.As a result, these academic librarians created online tutorials for using persistent links to library resources. Teaching faculty learned how to use the links in web pages and WebCT Vista. These tutorials were also shared at conferences. Attendees encouraged the presenters to develop a hands-on workshop. Attendees also suggested the workshop as a …

Panel: Going Vertical Together: An Interdisciplinary Infusion Of Information Literacy With Research Writing In The Disciplines, Debra Dew, Nora Belzowski, Trisha Mileham, Jonathan Bull

Nora Belzowski

This panel explores the vertical design of an IL-infused university writing program now under construction at Valparaiso University. The program infuses IL work across a four-year trajectory of CORE, WIC, WID and Senior Capstone curricula. Panel speakers each enjoy distinct structural and disciplinary relations to the project.

Creating Online Tutorials For Freshmen, Anne Grant

Anne Grant

In the Fall of 2012, the teaching librarians at Clemson decided to move the freshman library experience online. Previously, over 200 workshops were provided each Fall semester for all incoming students and for the first time in 4 years, those workshops were replaced with online instruction. Join Anne Grant, instruction coordinator, as she talks about the way this change happened and hear about preliminary assessment data.

Going Vertical Together: An Interdisciplinary Infusion Of Information Literacy With Research Writing In The Disciplines, Debra Dew, Nora Belzowski, Trisha Mileham, Jonathan Bull

Jonathan Bull

This panel explores the vertical design of an IL-infused university writing program now under construction at Valparaiso University. The program infuses IL work across a four-year trajectory of CORE, WIC, WID and Senior Capstone curricula. Panel speakers each enjoy distinct structural and disciplinary relations to the project.

The D.B. Weldon Library's Instruction Portfolio: A Grassroots, Team-Based Approach, Kim Mcphee, Melanie Mills, Marg Sloan

Marg Sloan

In an effort to address ever-shifting staffing levels and evolving service demands, staff in the Research & Instructional Services department of The D.B. Weldon Library at Western University developed and implemented a new and strategic approach to structuring their work. The ‘Portfolio Model’ provides a framework for organizing the primary functions of the department - collections, instruction and reference - while at the same time preserving liaison at its core. Through a close examination of this grassroots effort and in particular, the achievements realized and challenges faced by the team of librarians and library assistants who together comprise the ‘Instruction …

The D.B. Weldon Library's Instruction Portfolio: A Grassroots, Team-Based Approach, Kim Mcphee, Melanie Mills, Marg Sloan

Melanie Mills

The Cloud Ate My Homework! Stay Organized Using Online Storage, Jenn Nolte

Jenn Nolte

First Steps In Planning A College Department Curriculum To Incorporate Information Fluency, Claudia J. Dold

Claudia J. Dold

Creating an information fluency curriculum for a specific discipline requires preliminary work: assessing what students already know in their discipline; what they need to learn to be successful in their current course; and then what they will need to be functional in the field when they complete the remaining classes in their discipline, when they start working in their field, and/or when they move on to graduate school. This session addresses how one librarian approached faculty in a particular discipline, assessed the current teaching agenda, and planned to determine the information fluency demands of the courses.