Transcript Library Instruction and Student Engagement in the Age of

Library Instruction and Student
Engagement in the Age of Google
William H. Weare, Jr., Access Services Librarian
Valparaiso University
Michelle Kowalsky, Reference Librarian & Instructor
William Paterson University
LOEX 36th National Conference:
Oak Brook, Illinois, May 1-3, 2008
If you tell me, I will listen.
If you show me, I will see.
But if your let me experience, I will learn.
--Chinese Philosopher Lao-tse
(5th century B.C.)
Quoted in Learning Theories A to Z. David C. Leonard.
Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. (p. 3)
Overview
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Acknowledge student searching practices
and extend them
Use Google to engage and then activate
prior knowledge for memory and
internalization
Help users plan search strategy by
identifying what they know & want to know
Continue to help students generate
questions which are answerable not by
Google but by library databases
What is student engagement?
• "We define student engagement in
academic work as the student's
psychological investment in and effort
directed toward learning, understanding,
or mastering the knowledge, skills, or
crafts that academic work is intended to
promote." (Newman, 12)
Why start with the web?
• “89% of college student information
searches begin with a search engine.”
(from College Students’ Perceptions of
Libraries and Information Resources,
OCLC, 2006)
• Why not start where they start?
Course Description:
First-Year Seminar: Intersections
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Intersections is an interdisciplinary
seminar designed to introduce
students to the intellectual life at a
liberal arts college in general and,
more specifically, to academic life at
Central.
Lyn Isaacson’s Class:
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Begin the instruction session with a
web evaluation exercise
Establish that resources found via
the open web require evaluation
and can be problematic
Move to library-provided electronic
resources where less intensive
evaluation by user is required
Groups 1 and 3:
Materials Found on the Web
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“Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin
Ice”
(from ndrc.org)
“Global Warming and the Extremes of the
Earth. . .”
(from worldviewofglobalwarming.org)
“Testimony of Michael Crichton before the
United States Senate”
(from crichton-official.com)
“Climate of 2004. . .”
(from ncdc.noaa.gov)
Groups 2 and 4:
Newspaper and Journal Articles
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“Big Thaw Coming”
(from Science News—via ASP)
“Alaska's Changing Landscape. . . ”
(from The International Herald Tribune—via
LexisNexis Academic)
“The Big Thaw”
(from National Geographic—via ASP)
“The Costs of Warming”
(from The Berkshire Eagle—via LexisNexis
Academic)
Directions:
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All four teams will have 10 minutes
to view and evaluate the sources.
Be prepared to defend your
decision.
Activating Prior Knowledge
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Activating prior knowledge also
prepares the mind to integrate new
knowledge and concepts that
become increasingly difficult
Help students associate library
searching with their previously
'easy' and 'enjoyable' search engine
experiences
Education 203: Introduction to Teaching
and Field Experience
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Education 203 is for teacher
education students and those who
wish to explore teaching as a
career; it includes an introduction to
the profession, what it takes to
become a teacher, the role of
teachers, standards that govern
education, and so forth.
Education 203:
Library Instruction Session Overview
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Making the research process easier (Topic →
Question → Rationale)
Where do you start? (Finding Information on
the Web)
So, where do I start? (Reference Resources)
Finding Articles: Techniques (Academic Search
Premier + ERIC)
Microforms
APA Formatting
Finding Books (Call Numbers & Subject
Headings)
Google and Yahoo! Search Comparison
Google
Yahoo!
special [AND] education
62,900,000
805,000,000
“special education”
16,100,000
54,6000,000
481,000
8,800,000
1,700,000
5,010,000
261,000
758,000
520
1,400
“special education” [AND] funding
“special education” [AND] funding [AND] federal
“special education” [AND] “federal funding”
“special education” [AND] “federal funding” site:ed.gov
4/11/2008 11:30 AM
Learning to Plan a Search Strategy
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“Talk through” with a partner; what
do I know & want to know (social
learning theory)
Periodically while searching, ask
“what have I learned?” (KWL)
Learn to use keywords from Google
results and subject headings from
library databases (scaffolding)
Akin to reputation management of
Scholar and ISI (transfer)
Google vs. Google Scholar
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Demonstrate an exercise in Google
Scholar that will help students
discover significantly better
resources than would be found by
using a search engine
Search a selected topic in Google
Repeat the search in Scholar
Compare and discuss the results
Using Scholar to Transition to
Library Provided Electronic Resources
After setting up a search exercise in
Scholar, ask your students,
 Can you find full text from here?
 Can you find similar articles from
here? How?
 Do you have time to browse 2,500 or
25,000 or 250,000 articles?
Key question: Can you identify a better
approach to finding scholarly articles?
Value of libraries and the extensive
online and print sources
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Introducing library databases by starting
with a search on Google Scholar or Google
Book Search can help to enhance students'
value of libraries and the extensive online
and print sources they provide. . . . As
students begin to understand that the
library pays for full-text access to articles
online (and books in print!), they will see
the value in using library resources right
from the start of their searches.
Keyword searching vs. subject
searching
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During the transition from open web
to library-provided electronic
resources, have a “discussion”
about the differences of keyword
searching vs. subject searching and
subject headings
Do a demonstration in a multidisciplinary database like Academic
Search Premier
Conclusion
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Use what students know to
generate a starting point & work
from there
Don’t insult them for inadequate or
inaccurate understandings
Help them generate metaunderstandings of how information
is organized, not just enough skill to
do the project at hand
Conclusion
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Help them formulate their own
questions about search engine
results by modeling
Construct examples that favor
Google for keywords and library
databases for scholarly treatments
of those keywords
Show don’t tell
Contact us:
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William H. Weare, Jr.
[email protected]
Michelle Kowalsky
[email protected]