Transcript Information Literacy @ John Jay College

Information Literacy @
John Jay College
Kathy Killoran, Information Literacy
Librarian
Tim Stevens, Chair, English Department
March 19, 2004
Information Literacy defined:
 American Library Association:

Information Literacy is the set of skills needed
to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.
 Middle States Commission on Higher
Education:

Information literacy is an intellectual
framework for identifying, finding,
understanding, evaluating and using
information.
Faculty may think of as the Research Process.
Information Literacy
Goes far beyond library introduction and basic search
skills
ACRL Standards
 Information Literacy Competency Standards
for Higher Education (on web)
 Association of College & Research Libraries
 6 broad standards
 3-7 performance indicators for each standard
 2-7 identified outcomes for each performance
indicator
 Middle States embraces these standards
ACRL IL Standards & Responsibility
 Determine the nature & extent of info needed
(Faculty, reinforced by Librarians)
 Effectively accesses info sources
(Librarians)
 Critically evaluates info sources
(Librarian & Faculty)
 Critically evaluates info content (Faculty)
 Use info to accomplish a purpose (Faculty)
 Use info legally, ethically (Faculty primarily,
Librarians reinforce)
ACRL IL competencies, Middle States responsibilities
Information Literacy Movement in
CUNY
 Middle States
 Developing Research & Communication Skills
(2003)
 University Faculty Senate Committee
 Computer & information technology literacy
 Competencies for students & faculty, 2001
 Council of Chief Librarians
 White Paper, 2001
 Prof. Lucinda Zoe, Hostos,
 Chancellor’s Office - VP Mirrer
 Mandate to each campus’ Provost, 2002
 Gen ED Project
What Middles States Wants
 Institutional IL plan detailing …..
 Strategy for how information literacy will be integrated
into the curriculum

Especially into the general education requirements
 Demonstrable competencies – building in complexity
(learning goals & objectives)
 Outcomes assessment throughout
 At the program-level

Especially important in the senior year
Information Literacy Standards

Association of College & Research Libraries

Information Literacy Competency Standards
for Higher Education (available on Web)

Middle states embraces these competencies!!
Middle States identifies 2 models of IL
plans
 Separate or Compartmentalized Model

Stand-alone course


Unlikely that a single course can satisfy all of an
institution’s IL goals
Skills should be addressed & reinforced at
various levels of sophistication throughout 4 yrs
 Integrated or Distributed Model



Various courses address a core set of IL skills
May be blended into lower & upper-level
courses.
Places IL into the context of the disciplines
Different IL models used in CUNY
 Credit bearing course – so far not required course –
Queens (1 credit), LaGuardia (3 credits), Baruch (8 –
3 credit courses)
 Workshop approach – series of 5 workshops - 2
information literacy workshops required before a
course-integrated library instruction course taught –
Hostos
 IL integrated into curriculum – new Lehman
model – IL is targeted at certain courses:



ENG 110-120 sequence
LEH 300-level core courses
Faculty in other disciplines encouraged to re-engineer
their courses to emphasize information literacy.
IL Plan - Institution specific
 Multiple strategies can and probably should
be employed!
 Many campuses are using pilot programs to
try out their IL strategies
Challenges in Designing IL Program
 Large # of students at CUNY institutions
 Creating strategies that will be scalable to
reach all students
 Administrative support – philosophically and
monetarily, faculty development, ongoing!
 Library cannot do it alone – College-wide issue
 Fostering change
 Faculty buy in – willingness to change what they
do to incorporate some of these concepts, etc.
John Jay’s Evolution - small inroads
 Taskforce on Information Literacy formed


(2002) – response to VP Mirrer,
Associate Provost, Faculty & Librarians
 IL Librarian position –
funded by student technology
fee
 IL Librarian –
member of College Curriculum Committee
 Additional support by Provost
(team teaching)
for courses incorporating critical thinking, intensive writing, &
information literacy
 New course proposal form –
question on what
information literacy skills will be learned/practiced in the course.
John Jay IL Draft Plan
 Add instructional material to library’s Web
page – have section for curricula aids, tutorials, handouts,etc.
 Survey ENG 101 students – self assessment
 Develop module on evaluating information
for SPE 113 classes

Pilot project – 2 sections, using online tutorials, Blackboard
 Revise ENG sequence to be information
literacy-rich


Students will practice research skills throughout these
courses.
Employ active learning techniques
English 101 Student Survey
 Surveyed about 1,700 students
 Received over 1,000 responses

Interim results – 625 responses
First place students look for info
Internet Search Engine
Ask instructor
Textbook
Library catalog
Ask a librarian
64%
11%
7%
6%
5%
How to narrow a Web search
Add another appropriate search term
Enclose search phrase in quotes
Inappropriate response
36%
5%
53%
Writing Ability
Rate writing ability
Not confident
Somewhat confident
Very confident
6%
68%
26%
Writing – Essays
Not confident
Somewhat confident
Very confident
5%
54%
42%
Writing – Research Paper
Not confident
Somewhat confident
Very confident
7%
59%
35%
Citing Sources
When and How to Cite (same results)
Not confident
Somewhat confident
Very confident
18%
64%
18%
How many papers that included a bibliography in last year?
None
1
2-3
4 or more
10%
13%
40%
37%
Amount of pages in longest paper
1-2 pages
3-5 pages
6-10 pages
over 10 pages
5%
46%
32%
16%
Role librarians can play in an
integrated model
 IL plan development
 Curriculum development
 Faculty development
 Workshop teacher/facilitator
 Partner/Team teachers
 Develop support materials for faculty
 Design/Develop online tutorials
 Design/Develop exercises & assignments
Assessment
 Standardized instruments being developed

Project SAILS – Standardized Assessment of
Information Literacy Skills – beta-test
 Developed @ Kent State – Lehman will use
 Allow for comparisons with “like” institutions
 Also looking to develop discipline specific
assessments,

Information Competency Assessment Project -Bay
Area (Ca) CCs

Tied into the ACRL standards
Assessment at varying times of the undergraduate
experience! – Freshman level & upper level

Other assessment strategies
 Research journals
 Annotated bibliographies
 Quality of sources in bibliographies of papers,
etc.
 IL questions and tasks incorporated into
course exams
 Exercises reinforcing learned experiences
 Student receives a grade on the expected IL
outcomes, incorporated into course grade

Rubrics
 Many more I’m sure ……
Questions?
Traditional model – Library Instruction
 Course Integrated – some courses targeted
 One class session
 Wide variation in student abilities
 Too much material
 No common skill set
 No time for active learning exercises
 Usually geared for a specific assignment
 Librarian taught – varying quality
 Conflict in goals between instructor and librarian
 Not all students reached, some reached multiple
times
Information literacy
 Not really a new concept
 Stronger need for this in today’s society
 Information overload / information anxiety /
information smog
 Students today




tech savvy
read less (print/pleasure)
write less (pen and paper)
communicate more/differently
 We do a lot of IL already – not measured as
such