Bye Bye Bibliography

Changing how we think about for-credit information literacy

Rosalind TedfordInformation Literacy LibrarianWake Forest Universitytedforrl@wfu.edu

Wake Forest University & Z. Smith Reynolds Library

• Winston-Salem, NC• 4200 undergraduates• ZSR Library is main library for undergraduates and Arts and

Sciences graduate schools• 52 full-time staff members• 22 Librarians; 30 Support Staff

LIB100

• 1 Credit Hour elective LIB100 Course• Average 14 class sessions • Most are half-semester 2x a week • Began in Spring 2003 with 4 sections  • Now 12 sections a semester taught by 23 librarians and staff

members (many in teams) • Adding LIB200 in the Fall for Social Sciences and Sciences • Extremely popular among our students

Development of LIB100 Curriculum

• Original syllabus developed for whole Ref. dept (plus some) to teach together

• Final Project (and 90% of final grade) was an annotated bibliography on a topic of their choosing

• Soon teams of instructors broke away to teach their own sections

• Most kept Annotated Bib but many changed the value it had in the overall grade

2004 - 2005 The Template Begins

• Formal Information Literacy position filled (ME!) • Built template based on how I taught the class• Still used the Annotated Bibliography as the final

project (40% of final grade) • Provided my syllabus, handouts, PPT presentations,

Agendas for each class to all instructors • Most adopted it pretty readily • Some adopted wholesale, others just pieces• Some teaching teams are more experimental

So Why Change?

• Not sure that writing an annotation is a desired learning outcome - is it a necessary skill?????

• Students didn't have to actually produce research - just find the sources for a hypothetical research paper

• Students didn't really 'get' good sources vs. 'bad' sources for their topics unless they were actually writing on it

• Distinct advantage for students who were actually writing a paper on their topic

• LOTS of grading time was spent on individual final projects

• Started looking into Wikis to solve some of these problems

So What is a Wiki?A "wiki" is a type of Web site that allows users to easily add, remove, or edit content. The idea is that this kind of "open editing" allows for easy interaction between users and/or groups and is effective in collaborative authoring.

In the industry, "wiki" is said to be "the simplest online database that could possibly work." It is a server software and its main advantages are ease-of-use, global access, and low cost. Like blogging, it allows anyone the ability to publish their writing directly on the Web, however, this kind of free expression comes with a caveat: DBEYR. The term wiki originates from the Hawaiian word for "quick."

Definition from NetLingo: http://www.netlingo.com

Incorporating Wikis into LIB100

• ZSR Wiki server (Mediawiki) Fall of 2006 • ZSR Web Librarian was beginning to use WIKIs for

some Library Web Pages (student handbooks, etc.) • One LIB100 instruction team decided to use them for

final project in the Spring 2007 semester. • Used group topics (information issues) and had each

group submit assignments and final project in Wiki format.

• I adopted it for my classes in Spring 2007 as well. • Required students to actually write a report for the final

project (and some classes do class presentations, too)• Our Wiki Setup

Benefits of Wiki model for LIB100

• Collaborative• Allowed an easier transition to group projects• Versioning lets you see who edited what when  • All online - no need for MS Word, etc.• Group assignments and final projects reduce the

grading • Can use the format to show students the nature

of Wikis and to encourage discussion of Wikipedia

Drawbacks of Wikis

• Some setup required for instructors• Some learning curve for wiki editing formatting• Adds another place for course content • Some students had technology problems • Some students not a fan of group projects (but

that's not the wiki's fault)

Innovative Use of Wikis

• One of our teams (the first to use Wikis) took their class into Facebook for Spring 2008

• Used the Mediawiki application for Facebook to have all student work done from within the Facebook interface

• Mediawiki not as powerful in the Facebook app

Another Option: Google Docs• http://docs.google.com• 100% web based word processor, spreadsheet

application and presentation software • Access can be controlled to any document• Documents are shared to email addresses• Versioning automatic (saves every 5 seconds or on

demand) • Commenting is easy • Easily published to the web with a permanent URL or

can remain unpublished (default) • Can be used as a communication device, too (emails are

built in when a document is shared)

Google Docs in LIB100

• Fall 2008 another experimental team began using this for their final project 

• Spring 2008 I adopted it for my 2 sections• Kept the group format and established template docs for

each team• Almost no learning curve• Formatting is very similar to MSWord (unlike the wiki) • Most students had Google accounts anyway  • Our Google Docs implementation

Final Thoughts

• Annotated Bibliographies have their defenders and perhaps their place

• We did not get rid of the concept entirely• Is writing an annotation really a learning

outcome for you? • Creation of good research is becoming our goal • Group work has good and bad elements• Google Docs is the future of collaboration