Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Beyond Jee: Finding Publication Venues To Get Your Message To The ‘Right’ Audience, Amy S. Van Epps

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Very few publications exist outlining the different publishing opportunities within engineering education as a discipline. Most researchers think immediately of the Journal of Engineering Education (JEE), and as the primary publication associated with the American Society for Engineering Education it is a logical first thought.

Questions arise with new graduate students and young faculty who are trying to learn the scope of engineering education as a research discipline and need to identify possible publication venues. A broad list of publications has been generated and is maintained by the ASEE Student Division in cooperation with the Center for Engineering Learning and …

Educating For Evidence Based Decisions In Engineering: The View As Librarian And Instructor, Amy S. Van Epps

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The First Year Engineering program at Purdue University is regularly reviewed and revised to adapt to the needs of the students, feedback from teaching faculty, and the changing needs of the university curriculum. In the last year, a unifying theme was added to the class to help tie all the different activities together. That theme was “evidence based decision making in engineering”, a perfect fit for introducing and discussing information literacy many times throughout the semester, rather than in a single, isolated session.

As instructor for one section of the class, the author identifies benefits to including this message throughout …

Strategizing For Public Policy: The Information Literacy State Proclamation Project, Sharon A. Weiner, Lana W. Jackman, Emily Prause

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This paper describes a project designed to raise the awareness of policymakers about the importance of information literacy to achieve societal goals. Issues benefit from the governmental support, prioritization, mandates, and funding that can result when there is policy behind them. Studies indicate that many people lack the ability to draw on quality sources of information for a variety of purposes. Attention by policymakers would accelerate the inclusion of information literacy in settings such as education, workforce training, citizenship preparation, and lifelong learning. One way to raise awareness of policymakers is by recommending a proclamation to government executives.

Geospatial Services In Special Libraries: A Needs Assessment Perspective, Ilana R. Barnes

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

No abstract provided.

One-Shot Or Embedded? Assessing Different Delivery Timing For Information Resources Relevant To Assignments, Amy S. Van Epps, Megan R. Sapp Nelson

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Objective – This study aims to determine if the timing of library in-class presentations make a difference in the type and quality of resources students use for each of four assignments in an introductory speech class. This comparison of content delivery timing contrasts a single, 50-minute lecture early in the semester with four, approximately 12-minute lectures offered just before each assignment.

Methods – First-year engineering students taking Fundamentals of Speech Communication provide the study group. Each speech assignment requires students to turn in an outline and list of references. The list of references for each student was given to the …

Data Management And Sharing From The Perspective Of Graduate Students: An Examination Of Culture And Practice At The Water Quality Field Station, Jake R. Carlson, Marianne S. Bracke

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Libraries are actively seeking to identify and respond to the data management and curation needs of researchers. One important perspective in this area that is often overlooked is that of graduate students. This case study uses the Data Curation Profile Toolkit to interview six graduate students working for Agronomy researchers at the Water Quality Field Station (WQFS) research lab to understand the students’ practices with data, the challenges they face, and their attitudes towards managing and sharing data. Though a small study, this research could provide new insights for libraries creating data services, particularly in regards to graduate students.

User-Centered Evaluation Of A Discovery Layer System With Google Scholar, Tao Zhang

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Discovery layer systems allow library users to obtain search results from multiple library resources and view results in a consistent format. The implementation of a discovery layer is expected to simplify users’ workflow of searching for scholarly information. Previous studies on discovery layer systems focused on functionality and content, but not quality of search results from the user’s perspective. The objective of this study was to obtain users’ assessment of search results of a discovery layer system (Ex Libris Primo®) and compare that with a widely used scholarly search tool (Google Scholar). Results showed that Primo’s search results relevancy is …

Making An Impact: Campus-Wide Collaboration For Course And Learning Space Transformation, Clarence Maybee, Tomalee Doan, Catherine Fraser Riehle

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

At Purdue University, the Libraries participate in a provost-initiated, campus-wide course redesign program called Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT). This initiative aims to bring active-learning to foundational courses traditionally taught through lectures. Purdue librarians recognized the IMPACT initiative as one way to enter the conversations blooming on our campus about the nature of learning, curriculum design, and how space design impacts potential learning. This article presents three perspectives: 1) the information literacy coordinator, 2) a libraries’ administrator with a gift for space planning, and 3) an in-the-trenches liaison to course redesign projects. Each discusses the IMPACT initiative from …

Usability Evaluation Of A Research Repository And Collaboration Website, Tao Zhang, Deborah J. Maron, Christopher C. Charles

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

This article reports results from an empirical usability evaluation of Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative Central as part of the effort to develop an open access research repository and collaboration platform for human-animal bond researchers. By repurposing and altering key features of the original HUBzero system, Human-Animal Bond Research Initiative Central hosts previously published materials from related disciplines and an extensive bibliography, in addition to traditional hub materials such as tools and datasets. Seven graduate students in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University participated in the usability evaluation. Tasks included exploring the system, finding an article in the repository, …

Learning To Use Information: Informed Learning In The Undergraduate Classroom, Clarence Maybee, Christine S. Bruce, Mandy Lupton, Kristen Rebmann

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

“Informed learning” is a pedagogy that focuses on learning subject content through engaging with academic or professional information practices. Adopting the position that more powerful learning is achieved where students are taught how to use information and subject content simultaneously, the research reported here investigated an informed learning lesson. Using phenomenographic methods, student’s experiences of the lesson were compared to what the teacher enacted in the classroom. Based on an analysis of student interviews using variation theory, three ways of experiencing the informed learning lesson emerged. Some students understood the lesson to be about learning to use information, i.e., researching …