Abstract

Information literacy skills are necessary for successful completion of graduate degree requirements including theses and dissertations, yet are rarely addressed in college and university curriculums. Distance learners are especially disadvantaged given their inability to attend informal campus workshops and seminars. The information literacy movement represents an effort towards ubiquitous integration of information and research literacy into a postsecondary curriculum, and has its roots in the bibliographic instruction movement within the library community. Students’ development of research, writing, and digital literacy skills within an online graduate course were scaffolded using pre- and post-tests, synchronous webconferencing sessions, weblogs, and embedded librarian support. Curriculum developers, instructional designers, academic librarians, faculty, assessment specialists, and administrators can benefit from an enhanced understanding of the information literacy movement as they consider more holistic and sustainable online curriculum initiatives which address the five Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) information competency standards.

Case Study Purpose

The goal of the initiative was to achieve a ubiquitous presence of information literacy knowledge acquisition and application using a multi-prong approach. Specifically, the objectives of the case study were to:

1) scaffold learners’ introduction to key information literacy concepts with weekly meetings and assignments,

2) incorporate authentic information literacy tasks in a sequential manner as part of a semester writing assignment,

3) foster student reflection on the research and writing process, and 4) create reusable learning objects for future course offerings.

Case Study Methods

The Informational Literacy units were designed sequentially and developmentally, reinforced by weekly assignments. Six of the ten units were supplemented with class webconferences, facilitated by the instructor. Each live webconference began with a review of the agenda and the sharing of a pre-test weblink for individual assessment. The librarian played a central role via lecture, group discussion, and demo-practice via desktop sharing. Each webconference concluded with a question and answer session. All webconferences were recorded for future use as reusable learning objects.

Student Testimonials

“The WordPress blog was the most beneficial IL for me, as it served to organize my notes and ideas throughout the research process, and inevitably was used to present the final piece of work.”

“The WebEx sessions really helped to clarify and explain the use of the library tools, outline format and how to go about writing our papers.”

“The introduction of new information literacy skills helped me personally since I haven’t been involved in higher education learning in awhile. The IL skills helped in the final preparation of the paper and I think the IL lesson that helped me the most was learning about the [university] library system to find research sources.”

“The course instructor did a fabulous job of integrating literacy skills into the course and having exercises to help reinforce the skills. It tied directly into the term paper requirement.”

Technology Used:

Web Ex Software for class Web Conferences

GoogleDrive for collaborative document sharing

Blackboard learning management system for asynchronous discussions

WordPress for student weblogs

Weekly Schedule:

WEEK TITLE DESCRIPTION STANDARD ASSIGNMENT

1 LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS Meet the Librarian; ACRL Standards Overview; source formats + record/fields, classification systems (LCC; SuDoc; ISBN/ISSN; doi)

1.0 PAPER TOPIC BRAINSTORMBEGIN BLOG

2 LIBRARY RESOURCES Libraries overview + How to Find Books: Worldcat + MountainLynx demo, EZ Borrow + ILL + Depository + DE service, Ebooks, Mobile Apps, LibGuide, demo Ask-a-Librarian, Term Paper Clinic

2.0 BOOK CITATIONSEZ Borrow, book depository requests, viewing of eBook

3 SEARCH STRATEGIES search terms, truncation, proximity, Boolean operators, use of thesaurus; intro [ERC and Web of Science demos, plus referral to Summon, Proquest, JSTOR, MUSE, ERIC, PsycInfo, Wilson Education Fulltext)

2.0 JOURNAL CITATIONS W/keywords/phrases employed, search commands, and database identificationILL Request

4 CITATION METHODS Review of record vs. field and possible source types, APA Style, EndNotes, Write and Cite

2.0 ENDNOTES REFERENCE LIST

5 PLAGIARISM Summarizing vs paraphrasing vs quoting

6 ACADEMIC WRITING Purpose, conventions, process, primary vs. secondary resources, scholarly vs. non-scholarly; the writing process in general; Source Credibility: assessment of content for validity and reliability, bias, and timeliness

3.05.0

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

7 CONTENT ORGANIZATION I Using Word outlining tools to add structure to term paper.

4.0 PAPER OUTLINE – BRIEF

8 CONTENT ORGANIZATION II Linking Word headings to outline levels; creation of TOCs; APA bodytext formatting

4.0 PAPER OUTLINE - GENERAL

9 TERM PAPER PEER REVIEW Using guiding questions as a reference, provide paper critique

1.03.0

PEER REVIEW IN TURNITIN

10 REFLECTION end-of-semester deliverable = WordPress Blog 4.0 WORDPRESS BLOG

! Standard Key for Information Literacy Competency Standards:! ! 1.0 ! The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.

! ! 2.0 ! The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently.

! ! 3.0 ! The information literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system.

! ! 4.0 The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

! ! 5.0 ! The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

Pre-test versus Post-test Percentage of Correct Responses by Question Number for IL Sessions 1-4, 6-7:

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EDLS 650: HIGHER EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION ! Lauryl Lefebvre, Assistant Professor, College of Education and Human Services & Martha Yancey, Librarian Evansdale Campus An Information Literacy Case Study Using an Online Graduate Course at West Virginia University.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 304.293.5039 304.293.7330 (fax)! Matha.Yancey@mail.wvu.edu PO Box 6105 Evansdale Drive, Morgantown, WV 26505

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