Tools of the Trade

Designing Templates to Teach a General Education Outcome

Lakeland Community College

General Education Outcome 5

The information literate learner accesses and uses information effectively and responsibly :  Develops an effective search strategy  Evaluates, selects, and critically analyzes information  Uses and manipulates information responsibly, ethically, and legally  Uses technology to access and manage information The Lakeland Information Literacy GEO is based on the Association of College & Research Libraries’ Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education .

General Education Outcomes: A Chronology

2000

 General Education Outcomes Task Force (GETForce) formed.

2001

 The Lakeland Library faculty championed the inclusion of information literacy as one of the GEOs.

 On Nov. 2 nd , Lakeland presented an Information Literacy Retreat for faculty and administrators.

2002

 GETForce began to determine which abilities were to be measured in the Outcomes.

GEO Chronology, 2

2002

continued   Subcommittees for the current 5 Outcomes were created and charged with designing Performance Indicators.

On February 2 nd , Lakeland librarians presented the first assignment design workshop.

2003

  Revised Statement of General Education Outcomes with Performance Indicators submitted.

Committee charge reiterated.

2004

 Draft of new General Education Outcomes worksheet distributed to committee members.

GEO Chronology, 3

2004

continued  Committee determined a standardized format for rubrics should be developed to measure each outcome.

2005

 In the Fall, Lakeland librarians received a Faculty Challenge Grant to present 2 IL workshops.

 General Education Outcome Worksheet and a revised version of the guidelines were reviewed and approved.

 Pilot Assessment done on Dec. 14 th .

GEO Chronology, 4

2006

 April--second round of Rubric Testing.

 Subcommittees revised GEO rubrics based on recommendations from rubric testing sessions.

 Lakeland librarians again awarded a Faculty Challenge Grant to present 2 IL workshops.

 Capstone Pilot & E-portfolio Pilot.

 Conversion of all course outlines to the new General Education Outcomes Worksheet.

Information Resources & Libraries: Some Statistics

 These statistics are from OCLC’s report

Perception of Libraries and Information Resources, 2005

.



First Choice for Information Source by College Students across All Regions Search Engines: 72% Library (physical): 14% Online Library: 10%

Some Statistics, 2

 Where Electronic Information Searches Begin by College Students across All Regions Search Engines: 89% Library (physical): 14% Online Library: 10%

Some Statistics, 3

 Usage of Electronic Resources by College Students across All Regions: Search Engine: 82% Library Website: 61% Online Database: 34% Electronic Books (digital): 31% Online Librarian Question Service: 8%

Some Statistics, 4

 Learning about Electronic Information Sources by College Students across All Regions Friend: 67% Links from Electronic Sources or Websites: 61% Teacher: 50% Librarian: 33%

The Knowledge Environment in the Information Age

Why is Information Literacy Important?

 Information overload  Uncertain quality of web information  Promotes critical thinking & lifelong learning

Challenges to Information Literacy

 Easiest content is best content  Web versus Library Resources

The Knowledge Environment in the Information Age, 2

Challenges to Technological Literacy

 IT focuses on means of accessing content  IT skills enable individual to use computers, databases, software and other technologies  Evolving skills – IM, text messaging, MySpace, Napster. How do popular web skills apply to information seeking?

Information & Technology Literacy Applied

 GEO 5 cumulative over course of college study  Successful assignments do not need to address all GEO 5 Performance Indicators  Any research assignment can be adapted to include GEO 5  Adapt non-research assignments or integrate active learning games into coursework

Library/Faculty Collaboration - GEO 5



Library Instruction

sessions in library classroom can be adapted to specific disciplines 

Library Liaisons

will assist faculty with assignment design to incorporate GEO 5 into their own assignments 

Library Website

offers assignment templates http://library.lakelandcc.edu/ILgateway.html

Template Design Model

 Satisfy one or more Information Literacy Performance Indicators  Be adaptable to many disciplines  Be complete (all vignettes, worksheets, websites, required reading included)  Be easy for faculty to integrate into their classroom and curriculum  Emphasize active learning when possible

Developing the Assignments

 The template for assignment design had 4 components:  Objectives  Preparation required  Assignment itself  3-4 assignments per Performance Indicator developed for first Faculty Workshop     Review points Librarians chose a performance indicator and researched possible assignments, formatted them into the template Librarians reviewed each other’s assignments Approved assignments uploaded onto website

The Workshops

 Funded through Faculty Challenge Grants  Began offering assignment design workshops in 2002  For the past 2 years, we’ve offered these workshops with the focus on assignment templates that we created to address the IL GEO.

The Workshops: Goals

 Expose both full- and part time faculty to Lakeland’s General Education Outcomes  Help the faculty locate, in existing assignments, where they are already teaching the IL GEO  Help them incorporate the IL GEO into assignments where one or more of the Performance Indicators would be relevant  Help them create IL assignments addressing the IL GEO

The Workshops: Publicity & Incentives

 Publicity included posting flyers , emailing to all faculty, encouraging department chairs to contact full- and part-time department members, and word of mouth.

 Incentives were offered: a continental breakfast, a stipend, and a Library Services for Faculty Booklet. Part-time faculty could have the workshop count as a Points-to Certificate class.

Lakeland Library’s IL Gateway

http://library.lakelandcc.edu

1. Library Services 2. For Faculty and Staff 3. Information Literacy (GEO 5)

IL Gateway Page

Left margin links to: 1.

ACRL IL Standards 2.

3.

4.

5.

Faculty Services GEO 5 (IL) Rubric Sample Faculty Assignments OATYC Materials Content: Performance Indicators and their Assignments

OATYC Materials Online

Left margin links to: 1.

Tools of the Trade 2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Library IL Gateway Page Sample Faculty Assignments Lakeland’s Academic Honesty Policy Lakeland’s GEOs ACRL IL Websites Content 1.

Short History of GEO 5 2.

3.

Collaboration with Faculty Implementation

Fact or Fiction? Assignment

Urban legend phenomena applies to all disciplines, is active learning and easy to teach.  PI 2 - Evaluates and selects information  Objectives: search strategy, selection of best information, critical thinking re: persuasive arguments  Preparation: worksheet, scenarios, method for working in groups

Fact or Fiction? English 1120 Test Run

1. Used by English 1120 instructor for oral presentations 2. Class researched their scenario in the library.

3. Class organized the information they had gathered. 4. Each group presented their findings to the class.

5. They told of their

process

in discovering whether the statement was true/false and why. 6. They admitted surprise that what was out there could be false and how hard sometimes it is to prove.

Feedback to Librarians: On instructor’s recommendation, some scenarios were updated. (Go to urban legends and hoax sites for ideas.)

Web Evaluation Assignment

The web has had an incredible impact on scholarly research, every academic discipline affected. More resources than ever in many different formats can be found simply by entering a few words into a search box.

 PI 2 —Evaluates and selects information  Objectives: consider criteria for analyzing the quality of content, apply criteria during evaluation process, find authoritative research resources.

 Preparation: Review web searching; distribute, discuss and apply evaluation criteria.

Web Evaluation Assignment

In Practice  Used multiple times with different BIOL classes  To complete the assignment from demonstrating web search techniques and explaining criteria to evaluating websites took approximately 2 hours  Usually had the class in groups evaluate only 3 websites instead of 5  Rank process allowed us to discuss how they applied the criteria and whether they would use the websites in a research project

Workshop Participants Respond

Evaluation Responses from 11 Workshop Attendees  Were you introduced to an assignment template that you would like to adapt to use with your class?

Y 8 N 1 NA 2  Would you like a librarian to instruct your class in this assignment?

Y 5 N 6  Did this workshop answer the questions you had about information literacy? Y 11  Should this workshop be repeated so more faculty can attend?

Y 11