interactive il teaching_strategies_day_one

Interactive Information Literacy Teaching Strategies

Resource List

• All print and electronic resources referenced in this class are listed here:

• http://www.delicious.com/eduserv/10_Strategies • http://delicious.com/eduserv/information_literacy

What Do You Call…

…This?

I call it a Coke…but--

• Coke• Pop• Soda• Cola• Tonic • Drink

•Soft drink•Can•Soda pop•Carbonated Beverage• ?

Strategy:Using Language/Figures of Speech

• Great for teaching larger, abstract concepts used in a variety of research contexts

• Uses terminology students connect with

• Creates a conversation, active involvement

• Creates meaning in a fun way • Synonyms, metaphor, simile, analogy

English Class

• Metaphor--a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other

• Analogy--a cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process.

• Simile--A figure of speech comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word "like" or "as"

• Synonyms--“Coke can”– Controlled vocabulary or search term

selection• “pay-per-view” metaphor

– Quality of programming compared to quality of information

– Information as a commodity

• “Garbage can as database” for an identity thief

• Facebook/database

Examples

Common Sources--Metaphors and Analogies

• Sports• Shopping• Food• Cars• Pets

•Technology•Weather•Family•Politics • ?

Fishing for Analogies and Metaphors

• Students are the fish, how do you catch them? (know your students)

• What kind of “hook” are you going to use? (concept(s) you are teaching)

• Put a few lines in the water (brainstorm with colleagues)

• Watch for good fishing spots (look for examples in real life)

Your Turn!

• Let’s take 5 minutes to discuss how you might use language creatively in your class!

• Share an example with the group!

Strategy: Using Humorous Examples or

Images

Make an Impression…

Strategy: (Humorous) Comparisons

• Web page evaluation• Articles • Scholarly vs. popular

Site Comparison:The Onion

vs. CNN

Article Comparison

• Exploding Head Syndrome

Weekly World News

• From the Weekly World News, May 24, 1994:• MOSCOW --• Doctors are blaming a rare electrical imbalance in

the brain for the bizarre death of a chess player whose head literally exploded in the middle of a championship game!No one else was hurt in the fatal explosion but four players and three officials at the Moscow Candidate Masters' Chess Championship were sprayed with blood and brain matter when…

WWN, Cont’d.

• ..Nikolai Titov's head suddenly blew apart. Experts say he suffered from a condition called Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis or HCE.

• "He was deep in concentration with his eyes focused on the board," says Titov's opponent, Vladimir Dobrynin. "All of a sudden his hands flew to his temples and he screamed in pain. Everyone looked up from their games, startled by the noise. Then, as if someone had put a bomb in his cranium, his head popped like a firecracker.”

Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain*

• Evans, R., & Pearce, J. (2001, June). Exploding Head Syndrome. Headache: The Journal of Head & Face Pain, 41(6), 602-603. Retrieved December 2, 2007, from Academic Search Complete database.

• *Ouch.

Comparisons: Classroom Potential

• Give students one source and see what else they can find--is it real?

• Validate (or invalidate) by searching a variety of sources

• Direct comparisons--Search for bias, parody, consistency of facts across resources

• Bias--Fox vs. CNN; different disciplines? Journalism vs. scholarship/Medicine vs. Psychology

• Is there a corporate entity behind scholarly work? Example--positive article about Atkins Diet in scholarly journal, but sponsored by Atkins Corp.

Strategy: Let’s Play with Print!

• Research shows students often have a great deal of difficulty selecting and narrowing their topic*

• Libraries have great print resources that help teach and reinforce information literacy concepts in a variety of ways!

– *Quarton, B. (2003, June). Research Skills and the New Undergraduate. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 30(2), 120. Retrieved December 2, 2007, from Academic Search Complete database.

Useful Print Resources

• CQ Researcher • Subject encyclopedias (Encyclopedia

of Psychology, Religion, Philosophy) • Periodicals

Print Resources: Classroom Potential

• CQ Researcher (or other current, topical resource)

• Excellent for exploring a variety of current topics

• Concise, interesting articles• Other, more in-depth sources are cited • Offers statistical information, pro-con

arguments on controversial issues

Subject/Topic Encyclopedias

• Students are often unaware of these wonderful, scholarly resources

• Generally, sources of this type offer a better, more in depth overview than the web or a general encyclopedia

• Opportunities for students to explore other, cited resources

Periodicals

• Scholarly vs. Popular • Give them criteria have them review

in teams• Evaluate and share, offer feedback• Tricks! Publications like Science,

Nature, New Yorker or Discover can prove challenging to evaluate

• Print vs. online full text

Strategy: Boolehuh?

• Boolean searching is an essential concept for effective database searching

• I learned it via Venn diagrams. Ugh. • What are some other, more effective

ways to teach students about this idea?

Boolean Operators

AND -- NOT -- OR --NEAR

cars AND trucks library OR libraries

dolphins NOT football

Boolean Shoes

• Use the students, get them up and moving and illustrate boolean concepts based on the kinds of shoes they are wearing:

• Black AND brown shoes (NO Results!) • Flip flops OR sandals• Sneakers NOT Reebok

Strategy:

Make it Memorable With Mnemonics

• The Five W’s of Information Evaluation

• The ABC3 of web page evaluation• SQ3R-for critical thinking • CRAAP test • Others?

Five W’s

• Who-authority• What-topic, consistency• Where-where did you find it? • When-when was it published? Last

updated? • Why-Bias- is it trying to influence or

inform? Persuade, sell, entertain?

ABC3

• Authority• Bias• Content• Consistency• Currency

Discussion: Do you ever?

Helpful Resources

• Perdue University OWL• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/• OWL Materials-Writing a Research

Paper• http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

resource/658/01/

Helpful Method-SQ3R for Critical Thinking

• Survey• Question• Read• Recite• Review• WRITE!

Strategy: Use a Game

• Information Literacy Game • Information Literacy Jeopardy • Word search• “Information Literacy Bingo”

Information Literacy Game

• General concepts in board game format from UNC-Greensboro

• Multiple players• Fun, interactive--students can chose

an avatar/identity• UNC-G makes files available for other

libraries to share

Information Literacy Jeopardy

• Any popular game is adaptable • Really helps reinforcing concepts like

Plagiarism• Example of “answer” from Murphy

Library/UW LaCrosse Library Jeopardy: • To take or disguise ideas or words of

others as your own; to use another’s idea without crediting the source.

• Question: “What is plagiarism?”

http://www.uwlax.edu/murphy/nonweb/searchsoup/jeopardy/

Discussion: Competition!

• Competition=engagement• How else might we engage students

in competitive endeavors in the classroom?

• Contests, Trivia, “Battles,” Teams

Strategy: Use an Online Tutorial

• Yours, or, well, ‘borrow’ one!• There are lots of good ones out there• Great for exploring topics in a hands-

on process• Excellent for use with difficult or time

consuming topics like plagiarism

Online Tutorial: Example

• Acadia University • “You Quote it, You Note it”• http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/

plagiarism/

Strategy: Concept to Search Terms

• Frustration: You’ve spent time teaching boolean searching, search terms, etc.--then you move to hands on searching.

• Still, students type in their topic as a complete sentence!

Topic

• The role of women in the Civil War• “Mindwalking through”

Key Concepts

• Women Role Civil War

Keywords

Women Role Civil War

•Gender•Wife

•Wives

•Home•Family•Nurse•Spy

•War btw. The States

•United States

•History•American Civil War,

1861-1865

Strategy: Make a Logical Leap

• Everyday information leads to scholarship• Instructor prompts discussion with students about

different information needs in a typical student’s life, different information sources they might use to fill that need, and why a source is useful.

• Example: Where do you look when you need info about--

• A movie you might like to see?• The weather for the upcoming weekend?• Information about a celebrity or political figure?

Then…

Magazines/Newspapers

Books/Monographs

Scholarly Journals

•Most current info•Good for topics in the news

•Thorough treatment•Written by experts

•Present research•Review articles•Very specialized

Instructor explains that, similarly, there are different sources of academic information and each has its uses. List each source and its characteristics.

Icebreakers or…This One Goes to 11!

A Few Icebreakers to Get Your Class Going!

• Use candy as an incentive/prize for responses• Inform students that it's "o.k." to interrupt

librarians• Ask students about their previous

experience(s) in using the library, good/bad, successful/unsuccessful, etc.

• Begin with a library orientation video

– 3 Letter body parts!

• Discussion: How do you break the ice?– ACRL Brainstorm,

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/about/sections/is/eventsconferences/brainstorming.cfm

Video-Be careful!

• Queue it up carefully!• Make sure it works• Test ahead of time• Make sure it is still there

– http://www.watchcartoononline.com/the-simpsons-episode-206-dead-putting-society

– 12:31

Icebreakers

• Use icebreakers to set the tone for your lecture

• If you get students attention from the beginning, it's easier to keep it

• Students stop listening after the first seven minutes of class, so keep icebreakers on hand even for use in the middle of a session

Questions? Comments?• What strategies do you use?

End of Day One!

Questions?Questions?Russell Palmer1.800.999.8558x4916russell.palmer@lyrasis.org