Information Literacy in the Classroom

Choosing Learning Goals & Objectives

How do the information literacy competencies fit in with your course objectives? Do you want the students to identify and use key resources in the subject area? Are students laying groundwork for a research paper? What do you want students to do with the information once they have found it?

Start the process by examining a syllabus for information literacy related opportunities. The example will provide you with an idea of what types of opportunities might present themselves.

Another approach is to look at the discipline as a whole and examine which classes might be best suited for integration of information literacy competencies. Examples of how this might be done at Lewis & Clark show the competencies attached to particular classes. Another example of a university that has done a similar examination is Florida International University

Developing information literacy exercises & Assignments

It must be frustrating for a student to be given a research-related assignment, but given no instruction on how to complete it. Make sure that the students are receiving the information they need in order to complete their assignment, and complete it well. Faculty may assume that students will ask for help in the library, but our statistics show that this is not happening.

Work with a librarian to plan the assignment. Have the librarian come into the classroom or have the class attend a session in the library that will cover what they need to know to complete the assignment. Or work with a librarian to develop handouts that will guide the student through the assignment.

What activity will facilitate the learning?

Focus your assignment on the process of finding information which explains a phenomena, clarifies a viewpoint, defines an issue, or answers a question. Depending on your subject area and the level of your students, you might want to focus on a particular kind of information (primary vs. secondary, scholarly vs. popular) or perhaps to find information in a variety of sources.

Tips for developing the best type of exercises and assignments:

Require your students to exercise critical thinking. Pose a problem or question which asks student to develop a strategy to complete the exercise. Once students have found the information, also ask them to evaluate or comment on it. They should analyze it, question it, and compare it to information found in other sources.

Ask students to find information which they can use. Avoid exercises which ask them to find information in particular resources such as in a treasure or scavenger hunt (librarians usually have to to give students the answers). Students are easily frustrated when all of the students your class are looking for the same material. Instead, ask a question which might be found in a number of places and which is relevant to the objectives of your course.

Employ assignments that highlight connections with and between disciplines or to real-world applications. Suggest research topics impacted by interdisciplinary events. Consult the document, Assignment Design Tips, for more information on designing the best kind of information literacy-related assignments and exercises for your class.

---

Example:

1. What do you want your students to be able to do?

Student identifies, consults and evaluates reference books appropriate to the topic in order to locate statistical tables and information on related issues.

2. What does the student need to know in order to do this well?

• LC call number ranges for topics
• Reference books shelved separately/location of collection
• Role of reference books
• Organization of reference books
• Ways to view a purpose statement and what a reference book can tell you about itself
• Criteria for examining a reference book

3. What activity will facilitate the learning?

• Give a statistical reference book to each small group of students. In groups, determine three distinct features of this book; why they would use it, what questions would it answer, what makes it unique from other types of sources in the library.
• Hand out LC class chart. Have students locate their topic and what classification it is in.
• Remind students who have used the library catalog about keyword searching and subject headings. Have students use one of these techniques to locate a reference book on their topic and bring it back to the classroom.
• Record information about the book using a model on the board of the correct citation format.

4. How will the student demonstrate the learning?

Student will write a 1/2-1 page evaluation that describes the scope of the book they used, how it is organized and why it was a good choice for their topic.

5. How will I know the student has done this well?

• Books cited are reference books
• Description of the book includes at least 3 factors that describe the scope of the work
• Organizational pattern for the book is accurately stated
• Student states a minimum of 4 reasons why the book was a good choice for their topic. One may be opinion and three must be from the evaluative criteria list developed in class.

---

Ideas for assignments

Examples of Assignments:

UWill Pilot Project

Geography 100
International Studies 200
International Studies 201
Political Science 270
Psychology 209

Pierce College

100 Level Math Course

University of Wisconsin -- Eau Claire

Anthropology 261

Active learning techniques (Is Learning a Verb or a Noun?)

Active learning involves students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing. (Bonwell and Eison, 1991). This is a particularly useful definition because it focuses on the metacognitive aspects of learning. Metacognition – thinking about our thoughts and actions – is the essence of active and independent learning.

Active learning puts less emphasis on transmitting information in the classroom and more on developing students' skills. Active learning techniques force students to become active participants in the learning process and to take responsibility for their own learning. These techniques engage students in activities which place more emphasis on higher-order thinking (e.g., analysis, synthesis, evaluation).

Basic elements of active learning are talking and listening, reading, writing and reflecting and some common active learning strategies are: small group work, co-operative work, case studies, simulations, discussion teaching, problem solving and journal writing.

Engaging the students in activities gives the instructor less time to present information, a problem particularly for librarians, who see the students only for short periods of time. Some techniques that can be applied in a shorter session include:

Active listening guide: includes questions related to the main points covered in the lecture.

Use questions to stimulate discussion and encorage reflection.

The pause procedure: pause two or three times during the lecture to allow students to consolidate notes or to allow discussions among students (helps them clarify and assimilate the material).

Lecture summaries: At the end of the lecture, give students three minutes to write down everything they remember from the lecture.

Formative (ungraded) quizzes: Give a test or quiz at the end of the lecture

One-minute papers: Punctuate the class with one-minute papers: ask the students to briefly write down their answers to questions such as “What was the main idea presented in this portion of the lecture?” “What are some of the major concepts associated with today’s topic?” “Describe the concept of ________”.

Think-pair-share: ask the group a question and give them time to reflect and perhaps write notes, pair them up and have them discuss the question and their answers, then have them share their results in a large class discussion.

Choose an alternative format for the lecture:

Feedback lecture – two mini-lectures of approximately 20 minutes long separated by a small-group study session where students work in pairs responding to a discussion question focused on the lecture material provided by the instructor.

Guided lecture – students are given the objectives of the lecture, asked to put their pencils down and to listen carefully to a lecture (approximately 20-30 minutes), attempting to determine the major concepts presented and to remember as much supporting data as possible. At the end of the lecture students are instructed to spend five minutes recording in their notes all they can recall. Then they get together in small discussion groups to clarify and elaborate the material. The instructor at this point can resolve questions as they arise.

Student-generated content – before the session the students submit questions and must explain briefly why they considered the question important. Then in the session they can order the questions in terms of general interest and the instructor can cover as many topics as time allows. Another option is to begin the lecture by asking students to brainstorm what they know or think they know about a given topic while the teacher writes all the contributions on the board. The instructor then uses these contributions from students to build a conceptual framework for the topic under discussion and to correct any misconceptions.

Additional active learning strategies.

Bibliography

Bonwell, C. C. & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C.: The George Washington
University.

Bonwell, C. C. & Sutherland, T. E. (Eds.). (1996). Using active learning in college classes: A range of options for faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gradowski, G., Snavely, L., & Dempsey, P. (Eds.). (1998). Designs for active learning: a sourcebook of classroom strategies for information education. Chicago: ACRL.

Grassian, E. S. & Kaplowitz, J. R. (2001). Information literacy instruction: theory and practice. New York: Neal-Schuman.

Jacobson, T. E., & Mark, B. L. (1995). Teaching in the information age: active learning techniques to empower students. Reference Librarian (51-52), 105-122.

Mosley, P. A. (1998). Creating a library assignment workshop for university faculty. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 24(1), 33-41.

Popp, M. P. (1997). Presenting Skills and Classroom Management. Learning to Teach Preconference, San Francisco, American Library Association Annual Conference.

Whitmore, M. P. (Ed.). (1996). Empowering students: hands-on library instruction activities. Lancaster, PA: Library Instruction Publications.

Whitmore, M. P. (Ed.). (1997). Unmasking the Internet for research: using hands-on active learning exercises. Pittsburgh: Library Instruction Publications.

Resources

Share Your Teaching Toolkit: Best Practices in Library Instruction
http://www.ala.org/acrl/is/conference/midwinter00/toolkit.html

Bibliography: Library Assignments
http://library.msstate.edu/li/library_assignments_bibliography.asp