Information Literacy Commons^™

Examining Good-Game Design Mechanics That Enhance Student Motivation: A Case Study Of “The Research Race” Game, Ngoc-Yen Tran

Faculty and Staff Publications

The Research Race (hereon referred to simply as The Race) is an active learning game played in one-shot information literacy sessions. It is an exercise that has students working together in teams to find answers and to locate materials in a friendly competition with their classmates, while also introducing them to the physical and digital spaces of the library. This chapter outlines how to play The Race and gives rationale for how The Race can enhance motivation through the use of good game design mechanics.

Digital Inclusion Of Marginalized Seniors, Linda Crosby, Megan Anderson, Donna Sevenpifer

Faculty and Staff Publications

This research project aims to investigate the various methods seniors use to in order to access health care information. More specifically, this research focuses on seniors’ information-seeking behaviours in an online environment in order to identify potential obstacles to the retrieval of accurate and accessible health care information. The existing literature indicates that while there is a large body of research and study about the digital inclusion and exclusion of seniors, there is a dearth of information on the same topic when additional demographic factors are applied to seniors.This study focuses upon the marginalized groups of immigrant, Indigenous and rural …

Fake News And The Caulfield Technique, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

Students are fighting a flood. Social media, news feeds, and more saturate them with misleading and fact-free information. In his open access ebook, “Web Literacy for Student Fact Checkers” (webliteracy.pressbooks.com), Michael Caulfield lays out practical, hands on techniques for determining the validity of online information. The director of blended and networked learning at Washington State University, Vancouver, and the editor of the New Horizons column for the EDUCAUSE Review, Michael Caulfield provides four strategies students can use to fact check information they find online:

• Check for previous work
• Go upstream to the source
• Read laterally
• Circle back

In this session, …

Book Review: Reading, Research, And Writing: Teaching Information Literacy With Process-Based Research Assignments, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

Research papers are ubiquitous in college, as common for freshmen as they are for seniors. To support these assignments, librarians typically have been limited to “go-here-click-that” one-shot sessions. Frequently, the results are faculty who are unhappy with the quality of student papers and librarians who are frustrated that they cannot contribute more to student learning and success. Reading, Research, and Writing takes scholarship from psychology, education, library science, and rhetoric and communication and, in six concise chapters, demonstrates that focusing on the messy process of research, rather than its product, leads to better learning outcomes. To keep the spotlight firmly …

Book Review: Rewired: Research-Writing Partnerships Within The Frameworks, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

On many campuses, writing skills and research skills are supported in separate instructional silos. When it comes to college composition assignments, however, writing and research are interdependent, and this close relationship is evident in the many common elements shared by the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. How the core concepts in these frameworks interconnect and how librarians and writing instructors can work together to implement them in the classroom is the focus of Rewired.

Are You Hip?: Building The Value Of Libraries And Library Instruction With High-Impact Practices, Ngoc-Yen Tran

Faculty and Staff Publications

There is growing evidence that, when done well, High-Impact Educational Practices (HIPs) programs and activities have been shown to be beneficial in increasing rates of retention and engagement amongst students from many backgrounds. Therefore, it is no surprise that higher education institutions are developing activities firmly rooted in the philosophies of the HIPs. Examples of HIPs include common intellectual experiences, learning communities, and service learning. These practices are broad and depending on the institution, they can take on many different forms or activities. In order to encourage participation, these activities are often combined with one another and offered in a …

Crafting The Question: Get The Most Out Of Your Student Response System, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

Socrative, Poll Everywhere, clicker -- no matter which student response system you use, the key to its effectiveness is in the questions you create. This presentation explores how to craft questions that engage students and help assess their understanding. Participants will be introduced to the anatomy of a multiple-choice question and learn to differentiate between effective and ineffective questions. Illustrations will focus on topics covered in a standard information literacy session, and participants will learn how to incorporate student response systems into lesson plans to better achieve student learning objectives.Participants will:be able to create effective multiple-choice questions for use with …

In N Out — Reaching Out To The Community From Within Our Student Body, Ann Fiegen, Michael Germano, Julie Shen, Jordan Nielsen, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu

Faculty and Staff Publications

As a way to enhance their educational experience and promote global citizenship, students in higher education are often expected to participate in activities beyond the walls of their universities. These activities may include study abroad, internships, service learning projects, and much more. While these activities can take place far from the university setting, they also often occur in the university’s local community, where our students work or volunteer at local businesses, nonprofit organizations, and service agencies. These students bring their real world projects to their course work, where libraries and librarians engage with them to find real world solutions using …

The Students Run The Session: Hands Off One-Shots With A Library Game, Miriam Rigby, Ngoc-Yen Tran, Annie Zeidman-Karpinski

Faculty and Staff Publications

Librarian-instructors lead lots of one-shot sessions and often have a lot to cover to help students learn everything that they need to know. Coupled with the desire to include ACRL’s Information Literacy Framework, there are so many concepts and skills to convey that even the most eager students (and librarians) can feel overwhelmed or unengaged. Our answer is the Research Race - an active learning exercise that applies what cognitive science knows about good game design to get students to explore library resources in class. Rather than instruction via lecture, the game has students working in teams to find answers …

Book Review: Critical Literacy For Information Professionals, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

A review of the book Critical Literacy for Information Professionals edited by Sarah McNicol. “Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferrals of information,” wrote Paulo Freire in the Pedagogy of the Oppressed(Herder and Herder 1970, 79). Freire argued that rather than viewing students as empty vessels to be filled with knowledge—termed the “banking model” of education—teachers should recognize and value students’ individual perspectives and life experiences. Today’s critical literacy movement has its roots in Freire’s philosophy. When taught critical literacy methods, students begin from the viewpoint that there can be no single “correct” way to interpret information. Instead, …

Student Confidence/Overconfidence In The Research Process, Valeria Molteni, Emily Chan

Faculty and Staff Publications

Librarians with instructional responsibilities will base information literacy session content upon course syllabi and teaching faculty's assessments of student readiness. Often students' self-perceived competencies do not factor into the lesson planning process. The aim of this project is to collect the levels of self-confidence for a group of students who are primarily entering health care professions. This study observes students' levels of self-confidence in performing research-related activities and their corresponding ability to correctly answer content questions for those tasks. Students' self-confidence ratings are not reliable indicators for information literacy competence. The confidence levels for information literacy tasks of students entering …

Using Rubrics For Information Literacy Skill Assessment: A Case Study For Business Education, Bobbi Makani, Ann Agee, Marilyn E. Easter, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu

Faculty and Staff Publications

Information literacy—the ability to find, evaluate and use information effectively—is an essential skill set. The authors examine how assignments such as case analyses and research reports help business students master these abilities and provide examples of how analytic rubrics with measurable outcomes are particularly suited to assessing these skills. Also demonstrated is how librarians enhance and support student learning of information literacy by teaching in-depth research skills. Working together, professors and librarians can give students a solid foundation in the information-handling skills they need to be effective and productive in the workplace today.

Sources: Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy To Empower Learners, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

A review of the book Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners, by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson. Transliteracy, visual literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, mobile literacy—there has been a struggle for years to define how technology changes the way people understand and use information. For academic librarians, information literacy has been the approach of choice. In one-shot sessions and semester-long courses, we teach students how to determine what information is needed and how to find it, evaluate it, and use it ethically. In Metaliteracy, the authors argue that information literacy as a concept needs to be updated …

Teaching 21st Century, Executive-Functioning, And Creativity Skills With Popular Video Games And Apps, Randy Kulman, Teresa Slobuski, Roy Seitsinger

Faculty and Staff Publications

21st century skills, include flexible thinking, collaborative communication skills, executive funtiona nd critical thinking skills, and digital literacy, will be necessary for education and jobs in the future. Video games and apps are an exteremly powerful tool for teaching 21st century skills due to game mechanics that build in learning principles and their highly engaging nature. Games such as Minecraft, Portal 2 and variety of casual video games have been demonstrated to teach skills, such as problem solving, processing efficiency, cognitive flexibility, and the 21st century skill of digital literacy.

Crafting Assessment Questions: Creating The Tools To Assess Information Literacy Objectives For Art And Design: A Workshop, Rebecca Feind, Kathy Clarke

Faculty and Staff Publications

Now that information literacy standards for higher education have been created and are commonly incorporated within university curricula, assessing student mastery of the objectives is the next step in creating a measurable information literacy program. In addition to responding to institutional needs for data on student learning, assessment data is a valuable resource for updating instruction programs based on student knowledge and performance. While many librarians have vast amounts of anecdotal knowledge about what students know, being able to gather hard data on what students learn from online and in-person instruction can quantify the strengths and needs of your instruction …

More Than A Scavenger Hunt: Using Ipads And Qr Codes To Find Sources In A One-Shot Library Instruction Session, Ngoc-Yen Tran

Faculty and Staff Publications

iPads are fun but they can also be a great tool for one-shot library instruction sessions. In conjunction with QR codes, a structured activity with these devices will get students out of the computer lab, working in groups to find the differences between scholarly and popular articles, primary v. secondary sources, and to use WorldCat Local to find their own sources. Attend the session to find out how the activity is set up and whether or not is possible to have such an elaborate session within the limits of a 50-minute one-shot.

Information Literacy In The Workplace: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, Yuhfen Diana H. Wu

Faculty and Staff Publications

This cross-cultural study has two main purposes: to investigate how information literacy is perceived in the workplace and to discover how employees obtain information to carry out their jobs in an effective and timely fashion. This project applies a mix of research methods, including site visits, interviews, and a survey. More than 120 participants from forty companies were involved in this study. They were from a wide variety of industries in Taiwan and Silicon Valley, in Northern California, where many companies base offices or operations from around the world. Major obstacles in conducting cross-continent research are cost, time demands, scheduling, …

Going Beyond A Library Tour: Leading One-Shots Using Ipads And Qr Codes, Ngoc-Yen Tran

Faculty and Staff Publications

According to the 2011 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology report, "institutions and instructors do not fully harness [technologies] to create opportunities for more varied, inspiring, and beyond-the-classroom learning experiences." The challenge for libraries is how to use technologies to excite and provide experiential learning for students so that they can improve their information literacy skills. Using iPads in conjunction with QR codes, a structured fifty-minute session was developed to engage students with information. In groups of 3-5, students completed the activity together. Each group was given the same activity but with different topics and sources to examine. …

Ipad 2s For Everyone! Catching Students’ Attention In Library One-Shots, Ngoc-Yen Tran

Faculty and Staff Publications

“You are an exercise science major and you have a mid-term essay due in two weeks. You’ve chosen to write about the benefits of yoga. The assignment requires you to find at least 2 peer-reviewed articles (also known as scholarly articles).” This is the scenario that I have given to students during one-shots and although that does not excite them, seeing iPads being distributed in conjunction with the activity certainly does. But, instead of using the iPad as a parallel to a computer (meaning that students use the web app to find materials), the students use the iPads to scan …

Cognitive Interviewing Using A Carl Grant: Keeping Research Valid On A Budget, Francis E. Howard, Tina Peterson, Tom Hewitt

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Does Pedagogy Matter To Librarians?, Anamika Dasgupta

Faculty and Staff Publications

I started attending Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) events in 2008 when I received a Title III faculty mini-grant to do research in the use of new and evolving technologies in teaching and learning. I attended the first event because it was mandatory for grant recipients. These events were very informative and stimulating because guest speakers and audiences talked about the various teaching methods that they incorporated into their practices. And since then I continued to attend CETL events whenever possible. In most colleges and universities, librarians conduct Information Literacy classes and help students at the reference …

Digital Image Databases: A Study From The Undergraduate Point Of View, Teresa Slobuski

Faculty and Staff Publications

This article investigates current metadata practices in art image databases. Searches were completed in the Bridgeman Education and ARTstor databases using only terms found in introductory art history texts. Details from the search results point to overalltrends in the data and offer comparisons between the databases for particular search sets. The examples reveal tendencies in precision,recall, and consistency, as well as identify some particular issues that may impede successful retrieval for the novice user. A short discussion on the usability of both of the databases' interfaces offers further insight into their respective strengths andpeculiarities.

Standardised Library Instruction Assessment: An Institution-Specific Approach, Shannon M. Staley, Nicole A. Branch, Tom L. Hewitt

Faculty and Staff Publications

Introduction
We explore the use of a psychometric model for locally-relevant, information literacy assessment, using an online tool for standardised assessment of student learning during discipline-based library instruction sessions.

Method
A quantitative approach to data collection and analysis was used, employing standardised multiple-choice survey questions followed by individual, cognitive interviews with undergraduate students. The assessment tool was administered to five general education psychology classes during library instruction sessions.

Analysis
Descriptive statistics were generated by the assessment tool. Results. The assessment tool proved a feasible means of measuring student learning. While student scores improved on every survey question, there was uneven …

Embedding Information Literacy In Service Learning College Course Via Desire2learn Learning Management System, Mei-Yan Lu, Susan Kendall

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Assignment Research Calculator: Designing And Implementing A Customized Product To Reach Your Students, Monica Fusich, Jane Magee, Elisabeth Thomas

Faculty and Staff Publications

The original Assignment Calculator from the University of Minnesota is a free open-source tool which helps students manage time and organize the steps of a research project.(FN1) It provides a schedule and timeline for each step, and includes tips and outside links to more information. The head of instruction and outreach services in the Henry Madden Library recognized the value of this popular tool, but felt we could expand on its potential for students and faculty here at California State University-Fresno. We accomplished this by tailoring it to our own library and campus resources, staff and services, thus making it …

Implementing An Embedded Information Literacy Program At The University Level: Best Practices, Ann Agee

Faculty and Staff Publications

Information literacy is the ability of individuals "to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" (American Library Association, 1989, para. 3). At San Jose State University (SJSU), information literacy has been traditionally taught through one-shot, 50-minute lectures delivered by university librarians to students enrolled in a select few undergraduate courses. This method of instruction has proven to be neither sustainable nor effective. The lectures are not tailored by discipline and students might receive the same lecture several times while completing their lower-division coursework. SJSU wants to replace this format …

Peer Mentors And Writing Center Tutors: What Our Collaborations Taught Us About Serving The Sjsu Freshmen Students, Peggy Cabrera, Robert Bruce, Francis E. Howard

Faculty and Staff Publications

The Library Outpost, a satellite office of the campus’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, seeks ways to reach out to First Year students who are new to writing research papers. One of our goals is to meet the First Year students on their own turf. Since the Peer Mentors and Writing Center tutors have peer relationships with the First year students, we want to learn how we can collaborate with them to provide services to the First year students. We surveyed the Peer Mentors and Writing Center Tutors to assess their perceptions of their own research skills, and their …

Transforming Teachers Into Teacher Researchers: How To Become Information Literate Teacher Researchers And Model Information Literacy For Student Researchers, Susan Kendall, Mary Nino, Lorene Sisson

Faculty and Staff Publications

Information literacy is one of the major areas emphasized by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). According to NCATE, all candidates in school settings must be able to systematically integrate information literacy in Pre-K and K-12 school curriculum to assist student learning. The 21st century requires information literate teacher-researchers who are capable of meeting the standards set by the professional organizations such as (NCATE), the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Teaching is no longer finite knowledge distributed by the teacher and returned upon demand. Critical thinking, …

Overcoming Speech And Library Anxiety, Rozanne Leppington, Rebecca Feind

Faculty and Staff Publications

Students at higher education institutions need to learn how to use the library and to give public speaking presentations, and most will experience Speech and or Library Anxiety. We review Library and Speech Anxiety, and a collaboration between librarians and faculty that produced a freshman course Library Demonstration Assignment. We describe its generation, implementation, and refinement and its effectiveness in preparing students to use the library and to practice public speaking with confidence.

21st Century Tools For Meaningful Teaching And Learning – Using Authentic Resources, Susan Kendall, Lorene Sisson

Faculty and Staff Publications

No abstract provided.