bringing information literacy into the social sphere: a case study using social software to teach...
DESCRIPTION
Presentation at LITA National Forum, Cincinnati, OH. Co-presented by Susan Sharpless Smith and Erik Mitchell, WFUTRANSCRIPT
Bringing Information Literacy into the Social Sphere
A Case Study Using Social Software to Teach
Information Literacy at WFU
Plan for Today
• Overview• History/Background• Theoretical Framework• Case Study• Findings• Future Plans
Who is Wake Forest University?
• Private, co-ed liberal arts institution
• Located in Winston-Salem, NC (since 1956)
• Total enrollment: 6700• FT faculty: 487 / Adjunct
faculty: 267
History of IL @ WFU
• One-credit elective class began in 2003 with 9 sections
• 14 classes covered traditional IL topics
• Curriculum template developed for Blackboard
• Increased demand – now 12 classes per semester
• Over 1500 students so far
What is IL?• A foundational approach to
learning and education?• Skills and competencies related
to information seeking and use?o Contextual skillso Generalized process knowledge
• An dialogue between individuals, social contexts, and technology?
Models & meta-models
• Popular Modelso ACRL
Know, access, evaluate, use, and ethical/legal
o UNESCO Process, information consumer
o Socio-technical model Communication, connections, interactions
• Meta-modelso Shapiro-Hughes
Tool, resource, social- structural, research, publishing ,emerging tech, critical)
o Sundin Source, behavioral, process,
communication
Who are our Students & What Do They Know?
• Next generation information seekingo "Why Professor Johnny can’t read"o "Is Google making us stupid?"o The Google generation
• Our philosophical assumptionso They have specific but not generalized
IL skillso Research has changed, format driven
IL is not relevanto Focus on info current issues/context,
use skills to connect conceptso The course should occur in student’s
information space
Our Emerging Model• Our first classes
o “instructors lacked enthusiasm for the topic”o Tech-centric, but skill based
• EndNote Enters the Pictureo Continues to be “most valued” skill
• Student-Driveno Attempt to leave instructor managed CMS
behindo Student shaped research on Information
Issueso Incorporated theoretical content
• Rapid course developmento Current issueso Shared editing
Our Current Model
Technologies Used in ZSR • Google Docs• Clickers• Videos• Skill quizzes• Libguides• Blogs• Endnote• Zotero
• Freemind• Jing• ZSR Library Too
lkit• Flickr• Google Image la
beler• Wikis• Facebook
facebook Case Study
CMS Components
• facebook componentso facebook group as our primary locationo The Wiki Project as our course syllabus
& student work areao Discussion boardo facebook applications
• Non facebook componentso ZSR wiki for Freemind presentationso Endnoteo Blackboard for grades
Class Content Highlights
• Class 6 - Remix Class o Concept: Intellectual property,o Skill: Citation
• Class 7 - Research Management o Concept: Research managemento Skill: Endnote
• Class 8 -Information Organizationo Concept: Indexing impacts discoveryo Skill: Connecting the descriptive act &
complex searching, Google image labeler
Assessments
• Mix of individual & group worko Define a research questiono Scope statement/background
informationo Find/evaluate/cite information
resourceso Presentation and essay
• Blog posting/class discussion
Reactions – What did they like?
• Research tools, organization/searching, scholarly vs. popular resources
• EndNote, privacy, evaluation, research process
• Alerts/RSS, overviews, presentations, remix culture
Reactions – What is IL?
• Emphasis on skillso Resource discovery, working with
electronic formats, citation• Conceptual knowledge
o Direct relationship to skillso Evaluation (90%), information issues
(76%), organization standards (62%)
Reactions – Tool familiarity
Pre-course Academic facebook use
Post-course facebook reactions
• 67% would encourage facebook use in classrooms
• Themeso Familiarity with technologyo Novelty/funo Interface designo Academic vs. social space
Observations & Next Steps
• Building on overall positive feedback• Problems with free platforms • How are we approaching this fall?
o Moving back into library owned/licensed space
o Keeping distributed CMS modelo facebook as launch point, blog platformo Libguides as syllabuso Wiki as collaborative workspace
