Information Literacy Commons^™

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Tools For Online Database Instruction, Yvonne Mery, Erica Defrain, Elizabeth Kline, Leslie Sult

Communications in Information Literacy

The intent of this study was to evaluate the Guide on the Side (Gots), an online learning tool developed by the University of Arizona Libraries, and a screencast tutorial for teaching information literacy and database searching skills. Ninety undergraduate students were randomly assigned into three groups: group 1 completed a GotS tutorial; group 2 viewed a screencast presenting identical content; and a control group. Each group completed an identical 16-item post-test. An analysis of variance revealed statistically significant differences between the control group and both treatment groups, however there was no statistical difference between treatment groups. Limitations of the study …

Building A Library Subculture To Sustain Information Literacy Practice With Second Order Change, Carroll Wetzel Wilkinson, Courtney Bruch

Communications in Information Literacy

This article addresses development for information literacy (IL) practice through building internal library organizational culture. Using an analysis of relevant literature and reflection on lived experience, the authors explore issues and concepts for instruction librarians and leaders to consider as they advance and sustain IL initiatives. Through a lens of second order change the article proposes change agency theory and organizational development as theoretical approaches; calling on librarians to adopt roles and techniques that honor personal learning and continuing education while simultaneously focusing on student learning. It additionally suggests a flexible roadmap for managed change processes including organizational assessment techniques, …

Analyzing Archival Intelligence: A Collaboration Between Library Instruction And Archives, Merinda Kaye Hensley, Benjamin Murphy, Ellen D. Swain

Communications in Information Literacy

Although recent archival scholarship promotes the use of primary sources for developing students' analytical research skills, few studies focus on standards or protocols for teaching or assessing archival instruction. Librarians have designed and tested standards and learning assessment strategies for library instruction and archivists would do well to collaborate with and learn from their experience. This study examines lessons learned from one such collaboration between an instructional services librarian and archivist to evaluate and enhance archival instruction in the University Archives' Student Life and Culture Archival Program (SLC Archives) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. Based on evaluative …

Integrating An Information Literacy Quiz Into The Learning Management System, M. Sara Lowe, Char Booth, Natalie Tagge, Sean Stone

Communications in Information Literacy

The Claremont Colleges Library Instruction Services Department developed a Quiz that could be integrated into the consortial learning management software to accompany a local online, open-source IL tutorial. The Quiz is integrated into individual course pages, allowing students to receive a grade for completion and improving buy-in at the faculty and student level. Piloted in nine first-year classes in Fall 2012 then revised and launched in Spring 2013, the Quiz has given the Library valuable assessment data on first-year student IL skills and enhanced the ability of teaching librarians to tailor their instruction to student performance.

Developing An Information Literacy Assessment Rubric: A Case Study Of Collaboration, Process, And Outcomes, Christina Hoffman Gola, Irene Ke, Kerry M. Creelman, Shawn P. Vaillancourt

Communications in Information Literacy

A team of four librarians at the [Institution Name] ([Institution Initials]) Libraries partnered with the [Institution Initials] Office of Institutional Effectiveness and its Director of Assessment & Accreditation Services for General Education to conduct a campus-wide, exploratory assessment of undergraduate information literacy skills. The project evaluated a selection of graduating, senior-level student papers using a rubric developed as part of the collaboration. This paper describes and discusses the collaborative rubric development and rating process, the practical implications for other librarians seeking to conduct a similar assessment, and the impact the project is having on the library instruction program.

Peering Into The Writing Center: Information Literacy As Collaborative Conversation, Janelle M. Zauha

Communications in Information Literacy

This column focuses on the conceptual and practical aspects of teaching information literacy. Column co-editor Patrick Ragains and I write about trends and issues that have come to our attention, but we also solicit contributions to this space. Readers with ideas for Teaching Matters may contact Patrick Ragains at [email protected], or the editors of Communications in Information Literacy at [email protected].

The Flipped Classroom Teaching Model And Its Use For Information Literacy Instruction, Sara Arnold-Garza

Communications in Information Literacy

The "flipped classroom" teaching model has emerged in a variety of educational settings. It provides many advantages for students and exploits the affordances of modern technology. This article describes some of the pedagogical and logistical characteristics of the flipped teaching model. It situates the flipped classroom in higher education and library instruction, and make the case that there are characteristics of information literacy instruction that fit well with the flipped teaching model, in addition to providing some unique challenges.

Potential Ramifications Of Common Core State Standards Adoption On Information Literacy, Jacob Paul Eubanks

Communications in Information Literacy

In the United States, the decline in jobs for high school educated workers and the proliferation of jobs for post-secondary educated workers is driving the development of the Common Core State Standards. The Common Core State Standards theoretically shift K-12 pedagogy towards ability development of critical and extended thinking skills, preparing high school graduates for college and career readiness. This literature review explores the reasoning behind the shift to the Common Core State Standards and asks questions regarding the potential ramifications their adoption might have on post-secondary information literacy instruction.

Same Song, Different Verse: Developing Research Skills With Low Stakes Assignments, Amy E. Stewart-Mailhiot

Communications in Information Literacy

The research component of college writing and composition courses is often only practiced as part of high stakes assignments. This paper proposes a collaborative approach to helping students develop foundational research skills that builds on the success of the low stakes writing movement. Using Elbow's 1997 article "High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing" as a framework, the low stakes research model centers around providing students multiple opportunities to practice research skills in a manner that alleviates library research anxiety and increases research quality. Key to the success of this model is a collaborative relationship between …

Wikipedia And The Wisdom Of Crowds: A Student Project, Greg Barnhisel, Marcia Rapchak

Communications in Information Literacy

Students examined the question of whether the 'wisdom of experts' or 'the wisdom of crowds' is more reliable and useful in a writing course by engaging in a parallel Wikipedia project. Each student either created a new entry or made significant changes to an existing Wikipedia entry, tracked changes to their contributions, and then wrote a paper and gave a presentation reflecting on what they learned; simultaneously, the class as a whole collaborated on a Wikipedia entry about a local landmarks controversy. Background readings familiarizing students with Wikipedia's procedures, as well as critical and philosophical interpretations of Wikipedia's significance, provided …

Education Training For Instruction Librarians: A Shared Perspective, Dani Brecher, Kevin Michael Klipfel

Communications in Information Literacy

This article provides an overview of recent literature illustrating a troubling disconnect between (a) the importance of teaching and information literacy instruction for the future of libraries and (b) the apparent lack of education training many librarians receive during library school. We argue that it is essential for the future success of academic libraries that library schools pay greater attention to instructional pedagogy for training library leaders of the future. We then outline several practical strategies drawn from our own experience that library school students and currently practicing professionals can adopt to expand their understanding of instructional pedagogy as a …

Building A Unified Data And Information Literacy Program: A Collaborative Approach To Instruction, Megan Bresnahan, Andrew Johnson

Library Instruction West 2014

As information literacy needs of graduate students change and expand, library initiatives should respond with approaches that align holistically with users’ perspectives by incorporating areas like research data into existing information literacy instruction programs. This presentation will provide a model for subject and instruction librarians to use to promote their skills and expertise within their organizations’ existing or yet to be developed research data efforts. For institutions that already have positions dedicated to research data, subject and instruction librarians can learn how to market their value in enhancing research data instruction. At libraries where research data services are nascent or …

Flashlight: Using Bizup's Beam To Illuminate The Rhetoric Of Research, Kate Rubick

Library Instruction West 2014

Have you noticed that the way we typically describe information sources has more to do with what the sources are than on what writers might do with them? In Fall 2013, an instruction librarian at Lewis & Clark College partnered with a professor teaching Rhetorical Criticism to depart from the traditional, search-oriented library instruction session. Instead the librarian guided students as they critically appraised the works cited in a peer reviewed journal article using the rhetorical vocabulary of BEAM.

Join us as we explore BEAM as one tool for framing processes of academic research and writing. And be a part …

Data Literacy: Something For Everyone, Heather Whipple

Library Instruction West 2014

Have you ever wanted to infuse your teaching with one of your passions that is not commonly associated with information literacy? More specifically, have you ever been curious about including hip-hop themes, metaphors, or other hip-hop-related content in your IL instruction? In this panel discussion grounded in critical pedagogy, social justice discourse, and the politics of including hip-hop in the college classroom, attendees will hear the strategies and experiences of four instruction librarians with varied hip-hop familiarity, from novice to fan to emcee. Panelists will describe teaching research concepts through hip-hop metaphors, teaching library databases through interpreting/annotating rap lyrics, and …

Instructional Diversity: A Blended Model For Sustainable Il Programming, Joan Morrison, Jody Nelson

Library Instruction West 2014

Faced with the challenge to reduce face-to-face instruction hours, the MacEwan University Library instruction team initiated a redesign of our IL program for first-year undergraduates. Our goal: to create a sustainable IL instruction model that could be managed by our instruction team, reduce duplication of content and effort, incorporate both online and in-person instruction and promote self-directed learning opportunities through a new Learning Commons. We successfully piloted the new model in Fall 2013, with full implementation planned for Fall 2014. In this session we will share details of our blended instruction model, which incorporates: timely face-to-face classroom visits, online learning …

Reuse And Recycle: Award Winning Info Lit Tutorial, Sarah Fay Philips

Library Instruction West 2014

Humboldt State University has modified the award-winning “Begin Research” online tutorial developed by the University of California, Irvine Library into a flash-free interface on Drupal. The open-source tutorial is now accessible on mobile devices and has additional options for embedded assessment. This presentation will demonstrate how the tutorial has been adapted and used at universities across the country, and how your Library can modify it to use on your campus for interactive and engaging online information literacy instruction. I will also discuss the challenges faced during the adaptation and how they were resolved through collaboration with partnerships across campus.

More Than Words: Survey Software For Active Learning, Flipped Instruction And Formative Assessment, Meredith Farkas

Library Instruction West 2014

Survey software is used in many libraries for creating needs assessments, in-class quizzes, and more. Tools like Google Forms, Survey Monkey, and Qualtrics are not only useful for collecting information from students, but can also be powerful tools for learning. Most survey software these days allow you to insert text, images, video and links, enabling you to provide instruction within the context of an online worksheet. In this session, you will hear from a librarian -- who has used survey software to create pre-assignments, flipped instruction, full tutorials, and, yes, surveys -- how to capitalize on the sophisticated features of …

Borrow Globally, Recycle Locally: Repurposing Genius Ideas To Meet Your Goals At Your Institution, Mark Lenker, Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol

Library Instruction West 2014

As soon as we saw it, we fell in love with the North Carolina State University Libraries’ amazing “Mobile Scavenger Hunt.” It represents the perfect application of mobile technology (iPod Touch devices networked with the Evernote content sharing system) to engage students while they learn about NCSU’s wealth of library resources. But NCSU is a very large institution (34,000+ students) with a reputation for cutting-edge library initiatives. How could we make their program work at a smaller institution like ours (< 5,000 students)? By working really hard, refusing to take ourselves too seriously, and being willing to try things out before they were completely perfected, we were able to treat our first-year seminar students to “Library vs. Wild,” a fast-paced, active-learning game in which students work together to explore the far reaches of the information wilderness. We’ll share how we adapted NCSU’s game to work for our library, our learning outcomes, and our personality.

Code-Switching Learning Outcomes Using Digital Badges: Opening Our Learning Outcomes To Our Learners, Nicholas Schiller

Library Instruction West 2014

Many of us want our library instruction programs to be centered on our students. Many of the best practices for student centered instruction involve outcomes assessment methods. There is an unfortunate disconnect between the specialized language generated by outcomes assessment methods and the everyday language used by students. All too often the outcomes we want our students to reach are not written in language our students can read.

This session will examine how digital badges are an ideal tool for code-switching (or switching between more and less formal dialects) dense academic language into language targeted for beginning scholars. Using the …

Give A Flip: Making Library Instruction Scalable And Sustainable Through Inversion, Alan Aldrich, Carol A. Leibiger

Library Instruction West 2014

Instructional librarians are challenged to address issues of scalability and sustainability in ways that foster instructional creativity. As a result of a South Dakota Board of Regents mandate, IL instruction is required in four general- education courses at the University of South Dakota (USD). The resulting heavy volume of instruction poses problems of scalability and quality for the library faculty. This presentation by the University Libraries' instructional design team (IDT) demonstrates how inverted or flipped instruction can be used to provide scalable sustainable and effective information literacy (IL) instruction. We include a discussion of the affordances and constraints of inverted …

How Librarians Are Winning The West: Development Of A Scalable Digital Learning Badges Program For Information And Research Proficiency, Bee Gallegos, Kevin Pardon

Library Instruction West 2014

Digital learning badges offer an innovative approach to foster student success within the higher education learning environment. At Arizona State University, the need to reach transfer students was the impetus for creation of a digital learning badges project that offers librarians a mechanism to sequence and assess instruction within the University’s New College curriculum, provides faculty with a menu of choices to match skills with course goals, and is sustainable across disciplines, instructional formats and campuses. A team of librarians representing multiple disciplines, in collaboration with faculty and online staff, developed this pilot program for students to learn and demonstrate …

Step Away From The Computer! Successful Information Literacy Instruction And Improved Student Learning Without Technology, Nancy Noe

Library Instruction West 2014

Too often, librarians equate information literacy instruction with technology. Newer teaching spaces equipped with the latest technologies and online instruction modules have almost become synonymous with student learning. While it is true that many of today's students use any number of emerging and digital technologies, their use alone does not automatically guarantee success, while few libraries may have the resources to "keep up." Current neuroscience and cognition research actually suggest that the use of technologies may actually be a barrier to student learning, particularly when it comes to higher order thinking. This session provides an overview of present brain research …

Badge It! Using Digital Badges To Certify Information Literacy Skills Within Disciplinary Curriculum, Emily Ford, Jost Lottes, Betty T. Izumi, Dawn Richardson

Library Instruction West 2014

As technology in higher education rapidly changes, new pedagogical tools are being tested, developed, and implemented. Digital badges systems are one such tool that can be used to certify student skills and competencies, including information literacy skills. Despite new teaching technologies and pedagogical approaches, it remains difficult for instruction librarians to lead experimentation. As a result, librarians depend on collaborative relationships with disciplinary faculty to experiment with pedagogies and tools like badging. At Portland State University, however, librarians are leading a collaborative digital badges project with Community Health Faculty to develop, deliver, assess, and track student achievements in information literacy. …

Badge It! Using Digital Badges To Certify Information Literacy Skills Within Disciplinary Curriculum, Emily Ford, Betty T. Izumi, Jost Lottes, Dawn Richardson

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss the collaborative learning outcomes-based approach taken by a librarian and disciplinary faculty members to improve information literacy (IL) curriculum within disciplinary courses. To this end, the team aimed to award badges to certify IL skills.

Design/methodology/approach – This article considers relevant literature on competency-based curriculum, technological innovation in higher education, collaboration between library and disciplinary faculty and badges. This literature is used to frame the approach to plan a successful and sustainable project to embed IL in disciplinary curriculum using digital badges. The approach includes mapping learning outcomes and engaging …

How It Got Here: Teaching 'Format As Process' In An Era Of Web-Scale Discovery, Kevin Seeber

Library Instruction West 2014

What has the growth in web-scale discovery services meant for information literacy instruction? And what kind of threshold concepts do students need to grasp before they can use these tools effectively? This presentation addresses the concept of “format as process,” which emphasizes that evaluating information should focus on how it was produced, rather than how it is accessed. As students navigate discovery tools which combine a wide variety of source types into a single results list, their understanding of this concept is vital to evaluating resources and selecting those which are the most relevant. Learn about how “format as process” …

Leveraging Adult Learning Theory With Online Learning Modules, Rebecca Halpern, Chimene Tucker

Library Instruction West 2014

Adult learners are a quickly growing population on university campuses. While there is a fair amount of research on the differences in adult learning pedagogies, most information literacy literature focuses on undergraduate skills and competencies. At the same time, more and more adult learners are harnessing the flexibility of online programs to get their degrees. How can we best leverage what we know about adult learning theories with sustainable, scalable, and engaging online learning modules?
Rebecca Halpern is the librarian for the online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California. One of her biggest projects is …

Evaluation Of Sources: A New Sustainable Approach Using Argument Analysis And Critical Thinking, Sharon Radcliff, Elise (Yi Ling) Wong

Library Instruction West 2014

An area of information literacy instruction that has increasingly gained attention is evaluation of sources. Moving away from the checklist approach (timeliness, relevancy, bias, credibility, authority), this session describes a new approach incorporating critical thinking questions and training for students on analyzing arguments using the Toulmin method, which students apply to evaluating articles and to detecting “myside” (confirmation) bias in their own writing.

This approach was used at two institutions, a 2-unit information literacy course at CSU East Bay and several sections of an English Composition course Saint Mary’s College and incorporated a “flipped classroom” design with much of the …

Leveraging Adult Learning Theory With Online Tutorials, Rebecca Halpern, Chimene Tucker

Library Instruction West 2014

Adult learners are a quickly growing population on university campuses. While there is a fair amount of research on the differences in adult learning pedagogies, most information literacy literature focuses on undergraduate skills and competencies. At the same time, more and more adult learners are harnessing the flexibility of online programs to get their degrees. How can we best leverage what we know about adult learning theories with sustainable, scalable, and engaging online learning modules?
Rebecca Halpern is the librarian for the online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California. One of her biggest projects is …

Teaching “Format As A Process” In An Era Of Web-Scale Discovery, Kevin Seeber

Library Instruction West 2014

Purpose- Advancements in online discovery require academic librarians to develop new means of teaching and assessing information literacy, with an emphasis on having students employ critical thinking to evaluate sources.

Design/methodology/approach- This conceptual paper analyzes how the threshold concept “format as a process” could be incorporated into information literacy instruction sessions which address web-scale discovery services and other online search tools. General guidelines for applying this concept are included, along with potential classroom activities and assessments.

Findings- Format as a process provides a valuable framework for evaluating information, though librarians need to be mindful of how they present the concept …

Upcycling Instruction: Developing Efficient Approaches To Working With Experienced Researchers, April Aultman Becker, Veronica Arellano Douglas

Library Instruction West 2014

Our classrooms aren’t always filled with wide-eyed freshman and novice researchers. Many of the students we teach are thesis writers, experienced researchers, and professional practitioners. Through teaching this population, instruction librarians quickly learn that possession of subject expertise and research experience is not necessarily a guarantee that students will have mastered efficient, productive information seeking behavior. Addressing these gaps in research and information literacy knowledge takes some finesse. Through a combination of discussion and activities, we’ll investigate the unique challenges and pedagogical opportunities that accompany teaching advanced students and researchers. Attendees will leave with practical ideas that they can incorporate …