Assessing Classroom Instruction for Librarians

Here's a great little tool described as an Classroom Instruction Project Cycle. You click on any of the "pies" for some basic and helpful information on each step in the assessment cycle.

Guess the Google

There is a lot of talk about using games to teach and librarians who have gaming "cred" seem to attract media attention. Here's a simple game, called Guess the Google aimed at teaching keywords. I wonder how much time it takes to create something like this?

Communications in Information Literacy

Communications in Information Literacy (CIL) is new open access journal which describes itself as an independent, professional, refereed electronic journal dedicated to advancing knowledge, theory, and research in the area of information literacy. CIL is committed to the principles of information literacy as set forth by the Association of College and Research Libraries. CIL is also committed to the principles of open access for academic research.

The first issue has three interesting articles, one on the Augustana credit based IL courses, the second oabout British librarians using Blackboard for a curriculum integrated course in IL and the third questioning the idea of using "champions" in attempting to establish an IL environment.

Mini-Instruction Idea

Here is an interesting idea for when you are given a very short time (15-20 min) in a class - one that actively engages the students and shows in just a four steps how the library resources compare to Google/Wikipedia:

1. Ask the class what they think of the potential of Google and Wikipedia to deliver information beyond the basics. Correct false perceptions.

2. Use a topic, relevant to the class, in the catalog, showing how a keyword search can identify some relevant titles, but teaching them how to use subject links in records to go beyond the limitations of title terminology.

3. Choose one journal database and demonstrate the quality and extensiveness of information available on the chosen topic. Emphasize the value-added of subscription databases.

4. End it.

Courtesy of William Badke of Trinity Western University

Term Paper Alternatives

Lots of ideas here if you are working with departments or professors to find alternatives to term papers.

Journal of Information Literacy

Journal of Information Literacy (JIL) is an international, peer-reviewed journal that investigates Information Literacy within a wide range of settings. The latest issue has a review of the Miller and Pellen edited book titled: Libraries and Google.

Tips and Trends - YouTube

Tips and Trends is a newsletter for new or emerging tech trends of relevance to Information Literacy. The latest one is on YouTube for library instruction - examples are cited.

UNESCO-SALIS e-Learning Portal for Awareness Raising on Information Literacy

The Society for the Advancement of Library and Information Science (SALIS), India, in collaboration with UNESCO, has just launched a six-month project entitled Interactive E-Learning Portal on Information Literacy Competency Development Skills for South Asia.
The project aims to raise awareness and enhance information literacy competency skills of laymen as well as information professionals and educators. Its objectives are fully in line with UNESCO’s mandate to bridge the digital divide and UNESCO’s vision of Knowledge Societies.

Gaming for Information Literacy

Gaming is a trend in information literacy. Here’s a link to a new article on information literacy that has been posted at Library Philosophy and Practice entitled Games for Teaching Information Literacy Skills by Felicia A. Smith of the University of Notre Dame. The author includes examples of crossword puzzles, wordfinds, and other methods that worked well in the classroom.

Interviews with Databases

This is quite an idea - the database is a persona, who is interviewed by the librarian. Try the Interview with JSTOR or the Appointment with CINAHL.

Electrified.ca

Electrified.ca focuses on e-learning and digital libraries in a short,quick to read articles that give you advice you can use immediately. Think well written articles that are longer than the regular blogposting and it's Canadian!

G is for Google

Interesting article in latest issue of University Affairs by Alan MacEachern, a history prof at UWO.

Starting the Dialogue - Promoting IL Through Academic Integrity Workshops for Faculty (WILU 2006)

This session was presented by two McGill librarians. They basically presented us with the workshop that they present to the faculty. There were several active learning exercises (small group work, case studies, large group work) that engaged us in discussion with other participants and I have the handouts for these. The slides (excluding the exercises) are available. Their argument was such - "While the concept of information literacy may be less familiar to many faculty members than librarians might like, academic integrity and plagiarism are issues of major concern for faculty. Academic integrity workshops and discussions provide a platform for librarians to open a dialogue with faculty about students' information literacy skills in familiar terms." I imagine that this workshop might resonate at StFX. These McGill librarians began by doing an hour at the Brown Bag lunch venue and from there the workshop grew to 3 hrs.

WILU 2006 - Keynote

The keynote speaker at WILU 2006 was Patricia Senn-Breivik. She has a new book coming out, Higher Education in the Internet Age. One of the best parts of her presentation was the viewing of a short video called What is Information Literacy? It was developed by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. It's a good lead in to talking about information literacy although we might take issue with one of the final statements - "information is information - no more, no less".

Bright Ideas

The Instruction Section's Management of Instruction (MIS) Committee held it's Bright Ideas session at the San Antonio Midwinter Meeting on the topic of outreach (from instruction librarians to the campus community). These notes take the form of a list of ideas , including the "Dunk the Librarian" suggestion, for outreach to students, faculty and other groups on campus.

PRIMO

PRIMO: Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online, formerly known as the Internet Education Project (IEP), is a means to promote and share peer-reviewed instructional materials created by librarians to teach people about discovering, accessing and evaluating information in networked environments. There is a Site of the Month feature - Acadia's You Quote it, You Note It was Site of the Month in Septmember 2004.

The Information Cycle - a video

This is very US centric, as they use the Columbine incident of 1999 to illustrate The Information Cycle but I found it very effective, mostly because they focus on the one incident and use visuals of the actual information along with voice over to make their point. Could we do something like this for a Canadian news event that had long lasting coverage in the media and in the scholarly literature?

e-literate - a video

Pacific Bell/UCLA Initiative for 21st Century Literacies commissioned the production of e-literate, a 15 minute educational video to be used by teachers, librarians, community leaders and parents to introduce 21st century literacies to young people. Produced by noted writer/director Thom Eberhardt (HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KIDS, CAPTAIN RON), e-literate addresses facts versus opinions, bias, and information reliability in a humorous yet provocative tone that makes it appropriate for multiple age levels, including children, teens, college students and adults. The report E-literate: Promoting 21 Century Literacy Skills is also very interesting in terms of who has used the video and how it plays to various audiences for various purposes.

How to Read a Newspaper Tutorial

The creators of the How to Read a Newsaper Tutorial say that it focuses on how to read a newspaper, rather than why read a newspaper or how to locate newspaper articles. It is designed to complement the University Libraries’ News Room collections and the Newspaper Readership Program at Pennsylvania State University.

Charting a New Course for Information Literacy at York

Over the course of the summer of 2005, York‘s librarians came together to develop a common vision and plan for library teaching and instructional efforts. Impetus for this exercise came as a result of the increasing demand for library instruction from faculty members and students, and as result of the strong support for our Information Literacy program in the University’s most recent Academic Plan. The UAP notes the critical importance of libraries to the research infrastructure of the university and the importance of access to professional librarians to provide intensified instruction in information literacy competencies to faculty and students alike.