Library and Information Science Commons^™

Sheldon Community History Traveling Trunk Project, Jan M. Kinderknecht

Graduate Research Papers

National, state, and local standards guide education in what is taught in the classrooms today. A lack of resources is often a problem in teaching these standards, especially at the local level. The Sheldon third grade teachers needed resources to fulfill the teaching expectations about their local community. The purpose of this project was to develop a traveling trunk filled with primary and secondary resources to be used in the teaching of a social studies unit on the community of Sheldon. Deciding what people, places, and events to include in these resources is often a concern. Another concern was what …

Linking Opencoursewares And Open Education Resources: Creating An Effective Search And Recommendation System, Brett E. Shelton, J. Duffin, Y. Wang, J. Ball

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

With a growing number of digital libraries and other open education repositories being made available throughout the world, effective search and retrieval tools are necessary to access the desired materials that surpass the effectiveness of traditional, all inclusive search engines. This paper discusses the design and use of Folksemantic, a platform that integrates OpenCourseWare search, Open Educational Resource recommendations, and social network functionality into a single open source project. The paper describes how the system was originally envisioned, its goals for users, and data that provides insight into how it is actually being used. Data sources include website click-through data, …

Knowing And Throwing Mudballs, Hearts, Pies, And Flowers: A Connective Ethnography Of Gaming Practices, Deborah A. Fields, Y. B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Little is known concerning how young players learn to participate in various activities in virtual worlds. We use a new integrative approach called connective ethnography that focuses on how a gaming practice spread across a network of youth at an after school club that simultaneously participated in a virtual world, Whyville.net. To trace youth participation in online and offline social contexts, we draw on multiple sources of information: observations, interviews, videos, online tracking and chat data, and hundreds of hours of play in Whyville ourselves. One gaming practice – the throwing of projectiles and its social uses and nuances – …

Stealing From Grandma Or Generating Knowledge? Constestations And Effects Of Cheating In Whyville, Deborah A. Fields, Y. B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Much research has described the various practices needed of gaining access and participation in multi-user game communities. Cheat sites are a continuation of game communities where players engage in knowledge building about game related challenges. In this paper we analyze the cheat sites created by players for a tween virtual world called Whyville.net, which encourages youth to participate in a range of social activities and play casual science games. Through analysis we created typologies for both the cheats and sites related to science content. Further, a case study of an exemplary cheat site elaborates on how some player generated sites …

Your Second Selves: Avatar Designs And Identity Play, Y. B. Kafai, Deborah A. Fields, M. S. Cook

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Avatars in online games and worlds are seen as players’ key representations in interactions with each other. In this article, we investigate the avatar design and identity play within a large-scale tween virtual world called Whyville.net, with more than 1.5 million registered players of ages 816. One unique feature of Whyville is the players’ ability to customize their avatars with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the expressive resources available for avatar construction, individual tween players’ choices and rationales in creating their avatars, and online postings about avatar …

"Blacks Deserve Bodies Too!" Design And Discussion About Diversity And Race In A Tween Virtual World, Y. B. Kafai, M. S. Cook, Deborah A. Fields

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate racial diversity in avatar design and public discussions about race within a large-scale tween virtual world called Whyville.net, with more than 1.5 million registered players of ages 8—16. One unique feature of Whyville is the player’s ability to customize their avatars with various face parts and accessories, all designed and sold by other players in Whyville. Our findings report on the racial diversity of available resources for avatar construction and online postings about the role of race in avatar design and social interactions in the community. With the growing interest in player-generated content for online …

Weedsin The Flower Garden: An Exploration Of Plagiarism In Graduate Students' Research Proposalsand Its Connection To Enculturation, Esl, And Contextual Factors, Joanna Gilmore, Denise Strickland, Briana Timmerman, Michelle Maher, David F. Feldon

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergraduate students (e.g., Ellery, 2008; Parameswaran & Devi, 2006; Selwyn, 2008). Plagiarism amongst graduate students is relatively unstudied, however, and the existing data are largely based on self-reports. This study investigated the rates and potential causes of plagiarism amongst graduate students in master’s and doctoral programmes in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science or mathematics education by examining actual research proposals written by graduate students. Results indicate that plagiarism is a prevalent issue at each of the three university sites sampled and across all of the investigated disciplines. …

Adaptations And Continuities In The Use And Design Of Visual Representations In Us Middle School Science Textbooks, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Visual representations are ubiquitous in modern‐day science textbooks and have in recent years become an object of criticism and scrutiny. This article examines the extent to which changes in representations in textbooks published in the USA over the past six decades have invited those critiques. Drawing from a correlational analysis of a corpus of 34 US middle school physical science textbooks, continuities are established with respect to the purposes that most textbook images serve and the numbers of schematic representations that are used. Changes are observed in the overall total number of representations in textbooks and in the proportion of …

Leatherby Letters - Spring 2010, Leatherby

Leatherby Letters Archive

Newsletter of Chapman University's Leatherby Libraries. Volume 3, Issue 2.

Fifth Grade Student Learning And Interest In The American Revolution Through Reading Graphic Novels Compared To Reading Biography Or Other Nonfiction Books, Kari Bosma

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this study was to examine student recall of facts, along with enjoyment of reading and interest in the topic when using graphic novels as compared to illustrated nonfiction prose in social studies content area reading. Twenty-two fifth grade students (13 f, 9 m) in a public school in a Midwestern state participated in the study. Half of the students read about the Boston Massacre and Patrick Henry through graphic novels and read about Paul Revere and the Boston Tea Party with illustrated nonfiction texts, with the other half doing the opposite. The mean number of correct ideas …

Information Literacy And The Workforce, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This presentation is a review of reports on information literacy and the workforce. There is a substantial body of literature on information literacy in K-16 educational settings, but there is much less literature on implications for the workplace and job-related lifelong learning. The topical categories of the reports are: the importance of information literacy for the workforce; how information literacy differs in work and educational settings; and barriers to information literacy in the workplace. The presentation concludes with recommendations for practice and for further research.

The Learning Commons As A Locus For Information Literacy, Sharon A. Weiner, Tomalee Doan, Hal Kirkwood

Libraries Research Publications

Many institutions of higher education are designing spaces to facilitate learning. Libraries have created information or learning commons to support this activity. This article draws from the literature and best practices to explore this new direction. Academic libraries have focused on student learning and the teaching of skills and strategies that develop information literacy competency. Although there is an assumption that learning commons facilitate student learning, there is a need to more closely connect this new environment with information literacy and pedagogy and to demonstrate its merits in enhancing learning. A basic premise is that each learning commons that is …

Information Literacy: A Call To Action, Sharon A. Weiner

Libraries Research Publications

This editorial questions why information literacy is not yet fully integrated in educational programs and issues a call to action. There is evidence that the way that things have been done in the past to accomplish this is not working. The article advocates for using results of studies such as Project Information Literacy to motivate new, non-traditional ways of thinking about the problem.

Using A Student-Generated Survey To Inform Planning For A User-Focused Learning Commons, Sharon A. Weiner, John Weiner

Libraries Research Publications

A master’s comprehensive University is planning a learning commons to support undergraduate learning. The planning process included a literature review, site visits to commons, consultations with experts in the field, discussions with campus specialists, and surveys of patrons. The literature reports two primary forms of data gathering for learning commons: interview/observation and purposive surveys. This report describes the findings of a survey conducted to determine students’ perceptions of services relevant in learning commons. The findings indicated that the students wanted help with their information processing needs.

Information Literacy Beyond The Library: The National Forum On Information Literacy, Sharon A. Weiner, Lana W. Jackman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

The purpose of this column is to highlight information literacy activities that are occurring in organizations and institutions outside of libraries. Academic libraries have done much to advance information literacy in postsecondary institutions. Yet, much activity is also occurring outside of academic libraries in relation to information literacy. This column will feature some of those organizations and activities so that academic librarians may share information with them and develop new partnerships that will further advance the goals of information literacy.

Rethinking Libraries In Terms Of Learning And Working Collaboratively: An Interview With Mary Somerville, Mary M. Somerville, Ivan Gaetz, Janet Lee

University Libraries Librarian and Staff Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Volume 3, Issue 10, December 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Library Hours during the semester break; Avoid Fines!; Does holiday stress have you at your breaking point? Follow these tips to enjoy the festive season; TGIF: Thank Goodness It’s Finals!; Fall Textbook Buy Back is December 13-18

Volume 3, Issue 9, November 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

In observance of the Thanksgiving Holiday, Parkland Library will have the following schedule changes; November is National Novel Writing Month; Parkland is Expanding!; Need A Quick Alternative to Google?; Having trouble with the bird? Contact one of these turkey hotlines; This month in the library, check out our exhibits on cooking for Thanksgiving and beyond, plus Native American Heritage Month!

Volume 3, Issue 8, October 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Pick a topic and make yourself familiar with it; Find some specific research; Write an amazing thesis and organize your paper; Write, baby, write!; Document your sources and polish!

Volume 3, Issue 6, Summer 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Did you hear? Parkland will be closed on Fridays; It's never too late to sign up for summer classes; Check parkland.edu/library for our hours, as they vary throughout the summer; Summer Reading and Movies Available Now; Get a NEW Parkland ID Card Today

Volume 3, Issue 7, September 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Ask a Librarian; You need a new ID to check out at the Library; The Library was quoted as a “top pick for those who enjoy a quiet spot” for studying by the August 25 edition of the Prospectus!; Did you know we carry “the good stuff?”; Where to study in the Library

Volume 3, Issue 5, May 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

A Successful National Library Week; Need Caffeine?; Check parkland.edu/library for our hours after finals; Avoid library fines!; Congratulations to all of our graduates

Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2010, Version 2, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

National Library Week April 11 - 17, 2010 Celebrating "Communities Thrive @ Your Library"; Tell Us What You Think; Second Annual Cupcake-A-Book Contest; READ Poster Unveiled; Check out our books on display! Literally!

Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2010, Version 1, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Wanting to finish your degree without leaving the area?; Check out our books on display! Literally!; National Library Week 2010

Volume 3, Issue 3, March 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Make Up Your Own Holiday on March 26; Of the thinks you can think up if only you try; Check out a laptop at the Service Desk; National Library Week coming in April; Need a quiet study space; Check out parkland.edu/library for our hours during Spring Break

Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

The library will be closed on Thursday, February 25 for Professional Development Day; Parkland Celebrates Black History Month; New Computers; Calling All Art Students and Fans; It's Tax Time Again

Volume 3, Issue 1, January 2010, Parkland College

The Toilet Paper

Avoid Library Fines!; Feature Films at the Library; Some New Resolutions for the New Year; Be Ready, Change Is Just Around the Corner!; Coming March 2010: the Parkland Connection online service's website is changing

Introduction To Public Librarianship, Kathleen De La Peña Mccook

School of Information Faculty Publications

Preface Public libraries in the United States of America are in their third century of service as the heart of communities throughout the nation. Our public libraries are our public sphere open to all who desire to use their services—both as cultural spaces and as virtual services. The literature of public librarianship is extensive, but it is also dispersed among many specializations such as management, information technology,youth services, and community planning. In truth, public librarianship incorporates all of these specializations, just as public librarians work to serve all people—all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all ages, all religions or no religion, all …

Ubiquitous Research: Integrating Library Resources Into Online Courses., Kate Lyons, Elisabeth Tappeiner

Publications and Research

Online learning is transforming the way colleges and universities offer credit bearing courses. Now students are able to finish some or all of a degree online, with courses and programs from the hard sciences to the humanities. Nevertheless, a college education is comprised of a variety of educational and social activities that extend beyond a discrete class. Classroom learning is enriched and supported by services across campus, from the writing center to tutoring services, to the library.

This article discusses the experience of librarians working in a small, urban community college in integrating library collections, reference services, and information literacy …

Purchasing Subscription Reference Databases In The Iowa Elementary Public School Library, Michaela B. Seeman

Honors Program Theses

With so many reference materials available for the elementary public school library, making subscription reference database purchasing decisions can be an overwhelming task. The purpose of this research study was to examine how the 15 participating Iowa teacher librarians made subscription reference database purchasing decisions and the use they observe of various reference materials by students and staff influencing these decisions. To answer these questions, I conducted a survey asking Iowa public elementary school teacher librarians how they decided what to purchase and criteria they used for examining reference materials such as subscription reference databases. The population used for this …