Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work: Collaboratively Navigating Information Literacy Instruction In The Classroom, Niki Fullmer, Katie Strand

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

Teaching students to critically think and effectively research and write is a tall task, but an important one in ensuring students become informed citizens. The good news is we don’t have to face these challenging concepts alone. In Spring 2022, USU Librarians conducted a research study to better understand information literacy instruction that is occurring in our local high schools as well as understand teacher/librarian collaborations. Presenters will share key findings from this study and facilitate a discussion about how our expertise as teachers and librarians might intersect in ways that will better support our students. Participants will also discover …

Case Studies In The Classroom: Assessing A Pilot Information Literacy Curriculum For English Composition, Rachel Wishkoski, Katie Strand, Alex J. Sundt, Deanna Allred, Diana J. Meter

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Purpose

This mixed-methods study assesses a pilot library curriculum in a general education English composition course. Case-based learning (CBL), a form of problem-based learning (PBL), was used to scaffold information literacy skills and concepts across sessions. This article explores the approach's impact on student learning and engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were enrolled in four sections of an undergraduate composition course. Two sections were taught with the CBL library curriculum, and two with the standard library curriculum as a control. Pretest/posttest surveys included quantitative and qualitative measures to assess students in several areas of information literacy. Weekly reflections from a subsample of …

Utah State University: English Composition Library Instruction Program – A Program Within Programs, Katie Strand, Dory Rosenberg, Mckenzie Hyde

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

This case study book chapter presents missions, allocation of resources and labor, supervisory structures, prioritization approaches, and other processes and structures required to make the English Composition Library Instruction Program work. The program consists of an integration with Utah State University’s English 1010 and English 2010 courses. Both of these courses have their own separate objectives and learning outcomes, and the overall goal is that once students finish (or test out of) both courses, they will have developed foundational research and writing skills related to rhetorical argumentation. Our goal in describing our program is to showcase an example of an …

Building Community, Fostering Collaboration, And Engaging Bridge Program Students With A College’S Historical Archives, Russell Michalak, Monica D. T. Rysavy, Gregory C. Thompson

Journal of Western Archives

Similar to smaller archives, this college’s archives have not been traditionally accessible online. Two instructors sought to teach summer bridge program (Boot Camp) students basic archival practices and quantitatively measure their information literacy skills through using the Information Literacy Skills (ILA) and Students’ Perceptions of their Information Skills-Questionnaire (SPIL-Q) instruments (cite). Boot Camp students’ average perceived confidence with IL skills as assessed by the SPIL-Q instrument increased from 4.00 to 4.77 (+19.2%) on the post-training SPIL-Q. By adding the ILA and SPIL-Q instruments to the course curriculum, combined with end of course reflection questions, the instructors were able to quantitatively …

Marginalia No. 43, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University

Marginalia

• Old Ephraim's New Home, page 4
• Arrington Mormon History Lecture, page 5
• New Furniture & Rooms, page 7
• Scholarly Communication 101, page 8
• Information Literacy 101, page 9
• In Memoriam... C. Blythe Ahlstrom, page 10

Librarians In The Lead: A Case For Interdisciplinary Faculty Collaboration On Assignment Design, Rachel Wishkoski, Kacy Lundstrom, Erin Davis

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Assignment design provides a potential niche for librarians to fill in improving research assignments and in providing opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration on teaching, but this can be difficult work to claim as librarians. In the 2016-2017 academic year, a team of three librarians at Utah State University, a mid-size research university, piloted an assignment design workshop for faculty. Based on a model developed by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), our workshop’s core component was a structured, librarian-facilitated small group discussion among three to four faculty members from a range of academic departments. Interdisciplinary conversation about teaching research …

Closing The Loop: Engaging In A Sustainable And Continuous Cycle Of Authentic Assessment To Improve Library Instruction, Teagan Eastman, Kacy Lundstrom, Katie Strand, Erin Davis, Pamela N. Martin, Andrea Krebs, Anne Hedrich

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

This study demonstrates how a team of librarians sustained authentic assessment across multiple studies in order to inform changes to an information literacy curriculum. It demonstrates the cyclical and action-based nature of assessment, including closing one loop only to reopen another and begin the assessment process again, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and making changes that increase student learning. Researchers analyzed 79 English composition papers for evidence of information literacy skills, expanding upon a previous study which established information literacy skill benchmarks. Findings from the previous study led to the development of new library instruction lessons, which targeted skills students …

What We Stand To Gain: Librarians Leading Collaborative Assignment Design, Kacy Lundstrom, Rachel Wishkoski, Erin Davis

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

One of many shifting areas for academic librarians is their role in the design of research assignments. While many librarians possess both expertise and the desire to engage in assignment design, doing so in practice requires deep collaboration and careful role negotiation with discipline faculty. Faculty, who themselves have varied degrees of formal pedagogical training, may not recognize librarians as teachers with this instructional design expertise. Finding the “collaboration sweet spot” can be difficult to achieve in spite of best intentions (Junisabai, Lowe, & Tagge, 2016). However, librarian participation in creating authentic, scaffolded research opportunities is crucial if we are …

Librarians And Instructors Developing Student Learning Outcomes: Using Frameworks To Lead The Process, Kacy Lundstrom, Britt A. Fagerheim, Elizabeth M. Benson

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Purpose

–The purpose of this paper if to design a workshop that effectively facilitates the collaborative revision of student learning outcomes based on current research relating to competencies in information literacy (IL).

Design/methodology/approach

– This case study describes collaborations between librarians and writing instructors throughout an eight-week workshop. The workshop focused on using the results of assessments to revise learning outcomes and restructure instruction practices to help students in the areas they struggle with the most. Three significant frameworks, including threshold concepts, backward design and decoding the disciplines, were used to facilitate effective discussion and revise learning outcomes.

Findings

– …

Librarian Perceptions And Information Literacy Instruction Models, Erin Davis, Kacy Lundstrom, Pamela N. Martin

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

Purpose – This paper aims to explore both instruction librarians' attitudes on teaching and how they identify themselves as teachers. Particular attention is to be paid to teaching librarians' views on the effectiveness of two types of instruction models: for-credit courses and course-integrated library instruction.

Design/methodology/approach – To investigate librarians' attitudes towards these two models, a survey was constructed targeting librarians who teach information literacy (IL).

Findings – The results indicate that there is an important relationship between the IL instruction model employed and feelings towards campus politics, perceived effectiveness of IL models, and librarians' self-identification as teachers.

Research limitations/implications …

Teaching Information Literacy With Authentic Problems: Creating And Using An Online Module, Heather Leary, Wendy Holliday, Anne R. Diekama

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

The American Library Association defines information literacy as a “set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.” Students in an academic setting need to learn how to learn about all kinds of information. Committed to finding innovative ways to teach students information literacy skills, Utah State University’s Library Instruction Program created a free online course to teach these skills. This presentation will explain the course, why and how it was created, the problem based approach using authentic scenarios, the value it adds to library instruction, and how it can be integrated into a curriculum.