Library and Information Science Commons^™

The Role Of Generative Ai In Qualitative Research: Gpt-4'S Contributions To A Grounded Theory Analysis, Ravi Sinha, Idris Solola, Ha Nguyen, Hillary Swanson, Luettamae Lawrence

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

We present reflections on our experience using a generative AI model in qualitative research, to illuminate the AI's contributions to our analytic process. Our analytic focus was a segment of classroom transcript, which captured a teacher introducing scientific theory-building practices to middle school students. We used a grounded theory approach to produce a fine-grained characterization of the teacher's talk moves during the lesson implementation. Our eventual goal is to build a more nuanced conceptualization of responsive teaching in the context of theory-building activities. We involved GPT-4 during the initial exploratory and later focused coding stages. For our analysis of GPT-4's …

What Happened To The Geometry? Examining Spatial And Mathematical Concepts In Computational Toys And Kits For Young Children, Jody Clarke-Midura, Jessica F. Shumway, Anahita Ashineh, Alireza Zandi, Whitney Clawson

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper explores the design of computational toys and kits for young children (ages 4-7) as tools for learning integrated mathematical, spatial, and computational thinking concepts. Specifically, we examine how the design features of the toys and kits represent the concepts of rotation on a point and spatial orientation of the agent. We examine toys and kits sold commercially, developed through research, and used in early childhood classrooms. Our findings indicate that the mathematical and spatial concepts are overlooked in some designs. Prior research examined toys for their affordances related to computational thinking, the present study contributes to understanding of …

Theory-Based Science Communication At Comic Cons, Lisa Lundgren, Emily Slater, Man Zhang, Kadie Kunz, Gabriel-Philip Santos

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

The majority of research concerning science communication happens in spaces where people already have a vested interest in or knowledge of science, such as museums and science cafes. Thus, there is a gap in understanding what theory-based science communication looks like in non-science-centered spaces. This qualitative research study, which featured cosplaying science communicators at comic conventions, offers insights into what science communication practices occur within everyday spaces. We conducted observations of and semi-structured interviews with 15 cosplaying scientists, examining how they utilized effective framing and narrative structuring when communicating science at comic cons in cosplay. Across 700 coded utterances, cosplaying …

Who Gets To Decolonize: A Reflection On The Importance Of Positionality In The Decolonization Of Digital Learning Spaces And Learning Design, Rebecca Y. Bayeck, Tutaleni Iita Asino

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Decolonization as a term and concept gained prominence in the 20th century as new nations emerged from the cessation of the global colonial project which primarily saw European countries occupying different parts of the world. In modern times, interests in decolonization have taken different forms, particularly in learning design and digital learning spaces. In the digital space, researchers mainly suggest introducing indigenous perspectives and cultural lenses in the design of digital learning environments and the design of emerging technologies that embed indigenous perspectives (Nede, 2023). This reflexive essay discusses the importance of positionality in digital learning spaces and learning/instructional design. …

Understanding Non-Designers' Practices And Processes In A Human-Centered Design Course, Luettamae Lawrence, Saadeddine Shehab, Mike Tissenbaum

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Human-centered design (HCD) has been identified in the literature as a useful problem-solving approach for learners. However, learning and applying HCD poses several challenges for students who are unfamiliar with this form of learning. In this paper, we analyse how a novice design team worked on a HCD class project to examine how non-designers learn about and integrate HCD practices into their project. We introduce the HCD taxonomy to define the processes and practices that students engage in. The team’s design work is triangulated across multiple data sources and revealed three challenges for engaging non-designers in HCD: 1) the need …

Review Of Building Representative Community Archives: Inclusive Strategies In Practice, Louis Knecht

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Building Representative Community Archives: Inclusive Strategies in Practice.

Stewardship And Sustainability: Applying The Tcos Framework To Reappraisal, Karen Glenn, John Murphy, Cory L. Nimer, Dainan M. Skeem

Journal of Western Archives

This article reports on a Brigham Young University Library Special Collections reappraisal pilot project based upon OCLC's Total Cost of Stewardship (TCOS) framework. The case study considers how reappraisal activities align with TCOS principles, and its use in reviewing faculty papers. The pilot measured reappraisal and reprocessing costs for a small sample of papers of university administrators, and identified all other collections of faculty, staff, and administrators for reappraisal in both university archives records and manuscripts collections. Findings identified through the pilot will inform a larger reappraisal project in Special Collections to refine appraisal and processing work and reclaim repository …

A New Generation Of Collecting Priorities: Case Studies From The Northwest, Jodi Allison-Bunnell, Linda Long, Trevor J. Bond, Chloe Nielsen, Amy Valentine

Journal of Western Archives

The last twenty-five years have brought lively, important, and difficult discussions around heritage collections. We are called to broaden our collecting activities to be more inclusive of (among many things) all races, classes, and experiences. We have begun to move away from the troubled legacy of taking collections away from creators and toward empowering those same creators to steward their heritage. We confront a vast universe of current holdings and possible collections and have few models for assessing the opportunities. We also operate with some firm limitations on our budgets, personnel, and space that we have outdistanced with our collecting. …

Beyond Efficiency: An Impact Assessment Of The Uc Guidelines For Efficient Processing, Laurel Mcphee, Kate Dundon, Courtney Dean, Elvia Arroyo-Ramírez, Audra Eagle Yun

Journal of Western Archives

The Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries established shared principles and recommendations for increased processing efficiency in archives and special collections in the UC system. Since its publication in 2012, the Guidelines has become an influential resource for archival workflows nationwide. In this paper, the authors evaluate the Guidelines' impact over time on backlogs, collection management policy, and day-to-day archival practices across the UC libraries by assessing collections, processing practices, and staffing levels.

Secondary Processing At Utah State University Archives, Kelly Rovegno, Heather Housley, Paul Daybell

Journal of Western Archives

In 2018, Utah State University Special Collections and Archives undertook a Remediation Project to create finding aids and library catalog records for all its holdings, including University Archives. During this project, additional issues were found with the arrangement, description, and preservation of University Archives. A new workflow, called secondary processing, grew out of efforts to address such issues while completing the original goals of the Remediation Project. This article examines how secondary processing was used at Utah State University and the challenges and opportunities uncovered as work progressed. It also discusses how secondary processing was used to improve discoverability and …

Introduction To “Collection Stewardship In The Age Of Finite Resources”: A Special Issue For Journal Of Western Archives, Ryan K. Lee

Journal of Western Archives

Introduction to the special issue on collection stewardship in the age of finite resources.

Documenting Wonderland: Conducting A Collection Survey To Inform Collecting Policies, Sara Pettinger, Anne L. Foster

Journal of Western Archives

Collection surveys and collecting policies have become standard for effective archival collection management. But in recent years, surveys have most often been used to establish processing and preservation priorities and collecting policies are often considered static documents that, once established, change little as the collections grow. The Yellowstone National Park Archives, with a mandate to update its collecting policy and limited space and resources, developed a project to survey its collections in order to inform an updated policy. With a more granular focus on analyzing collections than previous surveys have undertaken, this case study focused on defining success and fulfillment …

Leveraging The Protocols For Native American Archival Materials To Support Indigenous Digital Collections: A Case Study From The Sherman Indian Museum Digital Project, Eric L. Milenkiewicz

Journal of Western Archives

The Sherman Indian Museum houses a rich collection of archival materials that document the student experience, institutional culture, and community history of California’s sole remaining off-reservation American Indian boarding school. To broaden access to its collection for community and scholarly use, the museum partnered with the University of California, Riverside Library on a grant-funded project to digitize and provide online access to nearly 14,000 items from their collection. With a shared understanding of the unique ethical and communal protocols present in a digital project of this scope, the two repositories turned toward the standards and goals articulated in Protocols for …

Buckets Of Fun: Impacts Of Fraction Ball Activities On Students' Math-Related Emotions, Siling Guo, Drew H. Bailey, Katherine Rhodes, Kreshnik Nasi Begolli, Vanessa N. Bermudez, Luettamae Lawrence, Daniela Alvarez-Vargas, Lourdes M. Acevedo-Farag, June Ahn, Andres S. Bustamante, Lindsey E. Richland

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Rational number learning can cause frustration and negative emotions for elementary school students. Fraction Ball, a play-based math intervention, allows students to actively learn rational numbers through engaging and interactive activities. Based on a cluster-randomized trial with 16 teachers and 360 students, our pre-registered analyses showed moderate positive impacts of Fraction Ball on overall students' self-reported math-related emotions. Exploratory analyses indicated that students with higher negative emotions at pretest showed larger experimental impacts on decreasing negative emotions at posttest. Finally, we found that Fraction Ball evidenced no trade-off between rational number learning and emotional outcomes at the classroom block level, …

Green Oa Day 2024 Toolkit, Usu Libraries, Erica Finch

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

This toolkit contains graphic assets; social media images for Facebook, Instagram, and X; and a PowerPoint template developed by Utah State University to promote green open access to faculty, staff, and students.

Review Of Decolonial Archival Futures, Rachel A. Ernst

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Decolonial Archival Futures by Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey.

Creation Of A Southwestern Authors Archive: Revisiting The Laverne Harrell Clark Collection Ten Years Later, Erin R. Wahl, Pamela Pierce, Wendy Burk, Julie Swarstad Johnson, Sarah Kortemeier

Journal of Western Archives

This article details the processing of the LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection by University of Arizona Poetry Center librarians, archivists, and interns, and the current status and next steps of the collection. The LaVerne Harrell Clark Photographic Collection, which contains thousands of portraits and candids of poets taken circa 1960-2000 by LaVerne Harrell Clark, the Poetry Center’s first director, is deeply entwined with the Poetry Center’s institutional identity. In addition, the authors explored ways in which the collection and the institution as a whole are positioned as uniquely Western and also of national significance. Those processing the collection became interested …

The Path Of Least Resistance: Optimizing Metadata Practices Through User Assessment, Andrea Payant, Liz Woolcott, Paul Daybell, Becky Skeen, Anna-Maria Arnljots

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

As part of a multi-faceted research project examining user engagement with various types of descriptive metadata to improve metadata services, Utah State University Libraries Cataloging and Metadata Services unit investigated user search behavior in library catalog (MARC) records, Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids, and most recently in digital collection metadata. The authors used web log analysis to determine how users interacted with CONTENTdm, categories of search terms used, and where search terms were found in a record. Key findings included that navigation through CONTENTdm using clickable queries (links) is a prominent user search pattern, dates are an important faceting …

Reaping The Harvest: Developing The Idaho Harvester, Robert Perret, Michelle Shannon, Amy Thompson, Courtney Berge, Devin Becker

Journal of Western Archives

Social media platforms like Tumblr offer a quick, easy, and popular way for archives to conduct outreach and engage users with collections without requiring technical expertise like computer programming and web design. However, as the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives Department discovered after years of using Tumblr for online outreach, there are significant disadvantages to using a third-party social media platform. Unable to control the discoverability, display, and preservation of blog posts, it became clear that Tumblr was no longer serving the department’s evolving needs, necessitating an alternative solution moving forward. Special Collections & Archives partnered with …

Making Hay While The Sun Shines: Answering The Urgency In Audiovisual Preservation, Benjamin Harry

Journal of Western Archives

Many twentieth-century audiovisual formats are becoming obsolete and/or the physical carriers are deteriorating, warranting the need to digitize this content as soon as possible. Balancing efficiency and urgency with digitization and digital storage resources is a challenging endeavor. This article documents the efforts of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections (LTPSC) at Brigham Young University to begin a systematic effort to digitize audiovisual content found in manuscript collections.

Cmst 2110: Finding And Using Peer Reviewed Articles (Library Module), Usu Libraries

All E-Learning Resources

Attention: As of 2026 updated versions of this module will no longer be available on Digital Commons. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

In this module you'll learn:

• What a peer-reviewed source is and why you'll want to use them for your research assignment
• How to avoid paywalls and get full access to peer reviewed sources for free
• How to break your research topic into keywords for database searching
• How to cite your sources using APA citation style

Mrs. His Name: Reparative Description As A Tool For Cultural Sensitivity And Discoverability, Elspeth A. Olson

Journal of Western Archives

Reparative description, a term coined by La’el Hughes-Watkins to describe the role of revising archival metadata in social justice, becomes a tool of both practical discoverability and cultural sensitivity toward the past when applied to the issue of married women’s names in legacy metadata in finding aids. The Mrs. His Name Project at the University of Nevada, Reno, represents a case study in balancing the practical with the ethical in identifying married women formerly identified solely by their husband’s names in finding aids. The project further suggests methodology which may be applied to other reparative description projects in archives, and …

Affordable Learning Resources With Usu Libraries: Oer, Course Reserves, And Ebooks, Stephanie Western

Library Faculty & Staff Presentations

What is OER?

"Open Educational Resources are teaching, learning, and research materials in any medium--digital or otherwise--that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation, and redistribution by others with no or limited restrictions."

How Teachers Conceptualise Shared Control With An Ai Co-Orchestration Tool: A Multiyear Teacher-Centred Design Process, Luettamae Lawrence, Vanessa Echeverria, Kexin Yang, Vincent Aleven, Nikol Rummel

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance teachers' capabilities by sharing control over different parts of learning activities. This is especially true for complex learning activities, such as dynamic learning transitions where students move between individual and collaborative learning in un-planned ways, as the need arises. Yet, few initiatives have emerged considering how shared responsibility between teachers and AI can support learning and how teachers' voices might be included to inform design decisions. The goal of our article is twofold. First, we describe a secondary analysis of our co-design process comprising six design methods to understand how teachers conceptualise sharing control with …

Stem Usu Libraries Orientation, Katie Strand, Erin Davis, Sandra Weingart, Katie Luder

All E-Learning Resources

Attention: As of 2026 updated versions of this module will no longer be available on Digital Commons. Please contact [email protected] for more information.

An introduction to library resources and services available to students in STEM programs at Utah State University.

How Co-Designing Computational Modeling Activities Helped Teachers Implement Responsive Teaching Strategies, Hillary Swanson, Luettamae Lawrence, Jared Arnell, Allisia Dawkins, Bonni Jones, Bruce Sherin, Uri Wilensky

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In recent years, science education has shifted focus, from content to practice. This is reflected in the NGSS, which advocate learning science concepts through engagement in science and engineering practices. Theory building is a central activity of science and computational modeling is a key practice through which contemporary scientists construct theory. In this paper, we discuss an 8th grade science teacher's implementation of a computational modeling lesson. The teacher had co-designed the computational modeling microworld and lesson with the research team over the preceding summers. We investigate the teacher's activity during a whole-class discussion near the end of the lesson, …

Understanding Computational Thinking In The Gameplay Of The African Songo Board Game, Rebecca Y. Bayeck

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Computational thinking is a necessary skill for the 21st century. While previously examined in computer-rich settings, researchers are increasingly studying computational thinking in unplugged environments such as board games. Focusing on the African board game Songo, this study shows that computational thinking practices are embedded in Songo board gameplay and interact with the cultural context. The study also reveals a computing practice peculiar to Songo gameplay, songoputation. This paper suggests that researchers can benefit from exploring computational thinking and computing practices beyond board games in western contexts.

Assessing Finding Aid Discoverability After Description Improvements Using Web Analytics, Ashlyn Velte

Journal of Western Archives

Archivists use best practices, like More Product Less Process, and professional standards, like Describing Archives: A Content Standard, to create descriptions of archival collections that promote collection use and discoverability. However, most existing usability literature assessing online finding aids looks at navigability and ease of use, but does not examine increase in traffic and discoverability of those finding aids. University of Colorado Boulder Archives improved online finding aid descriptions on ArchivesSpace during 2020. Google Analytics data from 2020 and 2021 show an increase in users and sessions on ArchivesSpace. It also indicates that most users arrive to the site from …

Supporting And Sustaining Equitable Steam Activities In High School Classrooms: Understanding Computer Science Teachers’ Needs And Practices When Implementing An E-Textiles Curriculum To Forge Connections Across Communities, Deborah A. Fields, Yasmin B. Kafai

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

While the last two decades have seen an increased interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) in K-12 schools, few efforts have focused on the teachers and teaching practices necessary to support these interventions. Even fewer have considered the important work that teachers carry out not just inside classrooms but beyond the classroom walls to sustain such STEAM implementation efforts, from interacting with administrators to recruiting students and persuading parents about the importance of arts and computer science. In order to understand teachers’ needs and practices regarding STEAM implementation, in this paper, we focus on eight experienced computer …

Orcid Toolkit For Liaison Librarians, Erica Finch

Library Faculty & Staff Publications

This ORCID Toolkit is intended for use primarily by liaison librarians and others who may engage in outreach to researchers or answer general questions about ORCID. It includes presentation materials, handouts, email templates, and FAQs.