Utilizing WebQuests for Information Literacy Instruction in Distance Education

ABSTRACT

The increasing use of problem-based learning in higher education affords librarians new avenues for promoting the development of information literacy skills among students. Information literacy instruction supports problem-based learning activities by providing students with skills to locate relevant resources for developing solutions to these exercises. The author created three WebQuests (together with tutorials) aimed at promoting faculty-librarian partnerships to deliver information literacy instruction through a problem-based learning approach in the context of course work in a distance learning environment. These problem-based learning WebQuests can be adapted to various disciplines as well as to traditional learning environments. Lastly, these WebQuests promote the development of information literacy skills in students as well as increase their exposure to problem-based learning. doi:10.1300/J106v14n03_03     

Taking Library 2.0 to the Next Level: Using a Course Wiki for Teaching Information Literacy to Honors Students

ABSTRACT

How do educators capitalize on students’ comfort with ubiquitous communications in order to develop information literacy skills required in the 21st century? A curriculum materials librarian and a professor in the School of Education present an approach that uses library instruction, online research scaffolds, and peer evaluation within a class wiki to enhance student research practices and academic achievement. The explosion of information sources and access to networked technologies has provided the opportunity to “ratchet up” the expectations for student research in higher education. The Association of College & Research Libraries's information literacy standards for higher education provide a framework for setting these expectations. The authors describe features of an introductory education course that seeks to enhance honors freshman students’ knowledge of library research resources, efficient research skills, and scholarly writing, as described in these standards.     

Library Databases as Writing-Course Anthologies

Abstract

At the University of Colorado Libraries, thousands of students are using a collection of readings drawn from our full text online databases. These readings were prepared in close collaboration with a large campus writing program. They are used in place of, or in addition to, a course textbook. Other libraries may want to consider similar projects, which will allow them to make use of the rich resources available from the library, familiarize students with library resources, and foster collaboration with campus programs. Projects like this encourage outreach from libraries to the university community, and help build strong ties with potential campus allies. This project may also have implications for course packs, e-re-serves, and student textbook sales.     

E-books for the Classroom and Open Access Textbooks: Two Ways to Help Students Save Money on Textbooks

ABSTRACT

To help students withstand the rising cost of textbooks and in turn support the mission of student success, the University of South Florida (USF) has implemented two electronic resources–based initiatives as part of the Tampa Library’s Textbook Affordability Project. Through the E-books for the Classroom program, the library purchases electronic versions of texts required for coursework, providing equitable access to needed materials at no cost to the students. For the past 5 years, this program has evolved into a highly successful textbook affordability measure, acquiring hundreds of e-books and serving thousands of students. Additionally, the library, with the support of the Office of the Provost and in collaboration with Innovative Education, is publishing a faculty-authored multimedia Open Access textbook to be used by hundreds of students each semester in USF’s children’s literature courses. The USF institutional repository, Scholar Commons, will host the textbook, making it freely available on a global scale. This program effectively uses library expertise and skills, coordinating university-wide faculty, professional, and technical resources, to create library-as-publisher for the benefit of the students and textbook affordability.     

Outreach to Distance Learners

Summary

It is the responsibility of any institution offering distance education programs to provide library resources and services for its students. In contrast to traditional students who can find the library on a campus map and go there, distance learners need orientation in order to “find their way” to their library. Librarians must be proactive in their efforts to make the library visible and accessible to these students. Library resources and services must be made available in ways compatible with the needs of students in these programs. The processes of designing, marketing, providing and evaluating appropriate library services demand continuous outreach to the distance education community.     

Going the Distance (and Back Again): A Distance Education Course Comes Home

Summary

University 300, a course on research and Internet skills, was originally developed at Washington State University for the distance education program. Using a critical thinking approach to the contemporary information environment, the course has grown, evolved, and been transformed into a general education course for the main campus at the university. The course's history shows how strong administrative support and beneficial collaborations across the university transformed the course into an emerging key component of the university curriculum.     

Library involvement in health informatics education for health professions students and practitioners: a scoping review

Objective:The purpose of this scoping review is to evaluate the extent of library or librarian involvement in informatics education in the health domain.Methods:We searched eight databases from their inception to 2019 for reports of informatics educational activities for health professionals or health professions students that involved library staff or resources. Two reviewers independently screened all titles/abstracts (n=2,196) and resolved inclusion decisions by consensus. From the full text of the 36 papers that met the inclusion criteria, we extracted data on 41 educational activities.Results:The most frequent coded purposes of activities were “teaching clinical tools” (n=19, 46.3%) and “technology” (n=17; 41.5%). Medical students were the most frequent primary audience (34.1%), though 41.5% of activities had multiple audiences. Evaluation was reported for 24 activities (58.5%), only a few of which assessed short or post-activity impact on attitudes, knowledge, or skills. The most common long-term outcome was applying skills in other courses or clinical experiences. Thematic analysis yielded three areas of outcomes and issues for the library and organizational partners: expanded opportunities, technology and resource issues, and value demonstration.Conclusions:Limited published examples of health informatics educational activities provide models for library roles in informatics education. More librarians should report on their informatics educational activities and provide sufficient details on the interventions and their evaluation. This would strengthen the evidence base about the potential impact of libraries within informatics education.     

Providing Library Services to Distance Education Students

Abstract

This article documents the development of library services to distance education students in conjunction with the growth of online distance education courses at the University of Scranton. Personal computers and the development of the Internet have had a significant impact on the delivery of library services to patrons and have given academic libraries the ability to provide distance education students with library services and resources equivalent to those provided for campus students.     

Embedding General Education Competencies into an Online Information Literacy Course

ABSTRACT

Assessing core competencies for students who are enrolled in purely online programs poses a challenge to colleges and universities. Our institution has chosen an existing online information literacy course to incorporate and assess general education competencies for an overseas cohort of transfer students. This article presents a brief overview of the course and describes the way in which the course was redesigned to embed and assess the five general education competencies (critical thinking, information literacy, critical reading, quantitative reasoning, and writing).     

Technological Mediation: Reference and the Non-Traditional Student

Summary

The growth of adult education on college campuses is significantly affecting college and university libraries which now must deal with issues surrounding adult and distance education, along with the proliferation of information resources and unprecedented technological change. Desktop provision of licensed electronic library resources, along with Web-based tutorials, Web-based pathfinders, and skillful mediation of electronic reference questions can help alleviate anxiety, saving valuable time for non-resident, non-traditional students by enabling them to access and utilize remotely accessible electronic library resources effectively.     

Faculty-Librarian Collaboration to Teach Research Skills: Electronic Symbiosis

SUMMARY

This article discusses faculty-librarian collaboration to integrate technology in a course that focuses on teaching empirical research methodologies and library research skills to elementary and early childhood education graduate students. Vygotsky's theory, standards in teacher education, and information literacy standards form the conceptual framework that supports this collaboration. The purpose and procedures of this collaboration, as well as student, faculty, and librarian outcomes, are discussed. This present collaboration on bibliographic instruction and the use of Blackboard courseware is framed within the context of past history of collaboration and future plans to expand this collaboration.     

A Survey of Cataloging Education: Are Library Schools Listening?

ABSTRACT

In recent years a number of surveys of cataloging education have been conducted, and each of those surveys has suggested changes in library education. This survey reviews the current state of cataloging education by evaluating courses taught by 47 ALA accredited programs and compares the results to previous studies. This study examined the types of cataloging courses offered in LIS programs to determine if the type of course taught has changed over time. Additionally, this study examined course offering frequencies to determine if LIS programs are making the kind of courses needed to train cataloging librarians available to their students. It is concluded that although LIS programs are continuing to offer and require introductory courses in cataloging and bibliographic control, they are relying more heavily on these introductory courses to provide the bulk of cataloging education.     

Essential Skills for Corporate and Special Librarians

Abstract

Library science programs must be responsive to the wide variety of workplace needs to ensure that graduating students are prepared with appropriate knowledge and skills regardless of where their career path brings them, and to do so they must understand the various needs and expectations of the field. Through a nationwide study of over 2,000 current professionals and LIS faculty, this study examines the knowledge, skills, and abilities identified as core for special and corporate librarians. The results help establish a baseline of skills for corporate and special librarians, which will be of interest to current and emerging professionals interested in a career in these settings and could have implications for LIS education.     

Information Literacy in Pre-Service Teacher Education

Abstract

This annotated bibliography presents a review of articles published on the topic of information literacy in teacher education since the late 1980s. Many of the articles outline concerns about pre-service teachers who graduate with insufficient information literacy skills, who are unprepared to teach these skills to their future students, and who do not understand the role of the school librarian as an instructional collaborator. On the other hand, many articles describe innovative and successful programs where exposure to librarians, integration of information literacy instruction, attention to library research, or introduction of a process approach to information use can produce new teachers who are equipped to collaborate with school librarians and to teach information literacy skills to their students.     

Who's Out There in CyberSpace

Abstract

Colleges and universities are expanding their offerings through distance education courses and programs. One challenge associated with these offerings is defining the remote learner. Emporia State University offers several distance education programs with students scattered throughout the United States. Although the university moved quickly into providing remote education, the library has struggled to provide equitable access to services and resources for distance learners. This paper reports the results of a project undertaken to profile the distance learner enrolled in the School of Library and Information Management of Emporia State University.     

Increasing information literacy with a librarian as the class research mentor

Courses: This semester-long collaboration occurs in an introductory public-speaking course, but could be applied to other communication courses that emphasize research and information literacy skills.

Objectives: This semester-long collaboration between a communication professor and campus librarian is designed to increase the information literacy and research skills of students in the introductory speech course. Upon completion of the course, students will demonstrate their ability to: locate, assess, and effectively use a variety of credible supporting materials in their presentations; effectively assess the credibility of supporting materials used in classmates’ speeches; and make full use of library resources.     

You Can Lead Students to Sources,but Can You Make Them Think?

ABSTRACT

In developing and teaching a new first-year psychology course that integrates information literacy skills, a librarian and a psychologist learned the importance of teaching critical thinking skills explicitly, rather than implicitly. Students learned how to use the library resources and learned concepts in psychology, but until critical thinking was taught explicitly, students did not understand the value of what they were learning. In this article, implicit versus explicit learning is defined, and psychological principles are applied to demonstrate how critical thinking can be used to teach library and information skills.     

Voices and Choices: Critical Information/Media Literacy and Behrman’s Practices

ABSTRACT

Studies on information and media literacy focus on describing activities and frameworks individually, and most of the time, connect within the field of library science. However, other frameworks and practices can be used. This case study presents the application of Behrman’s Critical Literacy Practices to information and media literacy to engage students to think critically about information within their field of study. The purpose of this research is to model the information behavior of education students through the perspective of constructivist learning. The study used a qualitative method with six upper-level undergraduate education majors. Activities that comprise practices and theories in both education and library sciences are presented to form a continuous exposure to critical thinking. Factors that influenced how students perceived the validity of information came from personal, educational, and societal factors. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion about critical thinking skills in undergraduate students, presenting a model that describes how practices from other fields can be used and incorporated with information and media literacy.