Information Literacy Resources for Distance Learners
Image courtesy Dana Longley, SUNY Empire State College
"The sheer abundance of information will not in itself create a more informed citizenry without a complementary cluster of abilities necessary to use information effectively" (ACRL, 2000, Information Literacy Defined section, para. 1).
Introduction
As the Distance Learning Librarian for the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Hawaii Community College, part of my locus of control is providing library services, including information literacy instruction, to distance learning faculty and students of both institutions. In today’s information-rich society, information literacy is of critical importance, as so much information is available in “unfiltered formats" which raise questions about "authenticity, validity, and reliability” (ACRL, 2000, Information Literacy Defined section, para. 1).
This web page is designed to assist distance learning faculty and students to understand the need for information literacy and to provide information literacy resources that can assist distance learners.
Definition
As a librarian at a higher education institution, the standards which guide my work are those established by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), which has defined information literacy as “a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" (ACRL, 2000, Information Literacy Defined section, para. 1).
Introduction
As the Distance Learning Librarian for the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Hawaii Community College, part of my locus of control is providing library services, including information literacy instruction, to distance learning faculty and students of both institutions. In today’s information-rich society, information literacy is of critical importance, as so much information is available in “unfiltered formats" which raise questions about "authenticity, validity, and reliability” (ACRL, 2000, Information Literacy Defined section, para. 1).
This web page is designed to assist distance learning faculty and students to understand the need for information literacy and to provide information literacy resources that can assist distance learners.
Definition
As a librarian at a higher education institution, the standards which guide my work are those established by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), which has defined information literacy as “a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information" (ACRL, 2000, Information Literacy Defined section, para. 1).
Information Literacy and Distance Learning Standards
ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
ACRL Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians
ACRL Standards for Distance Learning Library Services
University of Hawaii at Hilo General Education Goals and Outcomes
Resources
LILO – Learning Information Literacy Online – is a web-based tutorial developed by the University of Hawaii Libraries Information Literacy Committee, a group of librarians and English instructors from the University of Hawaii system. LILO takes students step-by-step through the research process. LILO can be used as a whole or in parts; students can use LILO on their own or instructors can use it as an assignment(s). LILO has six main sections:
1. The Research Process
2. Your Assignment
3. Research Strategy
4. Conduct the Search
5. Evaluate
6. Synthesis
These main sections are each divided into subsections, which also sometimes have their own subsections and some students (even some faculty) find LILO overwhelming and confusing, but it can yield great benefits for the students whose instructor has taken the time to select the part(s) most likely to assist a particular assignment.
LILO uses the acronym "DISCOVER" to help students remember the concepts and activities involved in conducting research, the process that leads to information literacy. To access the Information Literacy page in LILO, click on LILO Tutorial, then 1. The Research Process, then Discover Information Literacy.
Define
Inquire
Search
Collect
Organize
Verify
Express
Reflect
However, the video that appears on the Information Literacy LILO page has too many visual elements, too many of which are not related to the narration, which can be confusing. The 12-part "Information Literacy" video series from Bob Baker, the Library Director at the Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona, although not flashy, is substantive and informative. The videos range from 5-10 minutes each.
Unfortunately, the program notes are restricted and the videos do show databases specific to the PCC library, but the videos also encourage students to talk to their instructors and librarians who can show sources available to them. Although the series is designed to help students "become a more knowledgeable information consumer” (Baker, 2008) it also attempts to hook students with a blatant goal of “help{ing} you to get better grades” (Baker, 2008), which should grab the attention of even the most reluctant researcher.
1. Series Overview
2. Selecting a Topic
3. Types of Information Sources
4. Libraries and Library Web Sites
5. Using a Library Catalog
6. Locating Materials in the Library
7. Online Reference Databases
8. Online Periodical Databases
9. Browsing and Searching the Web
10. Evaluating Information Sources
11. Plagiarism and Citation Styles
12. Finding Information about Literature
Anatomy of a Scholarly Article is a basic source that does only one thing, but does it well. This single web page by the NCSU Libraries shows the first and last pages of a scholarly article; by hovering over the different sections of the article, students are shown what "clues" to look for to determine if an article is scholarly. This is an ideal source for a student who has never before had to distinguish between a popular magazine and a scholarly article.
The Journal of Information Literacy is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal published twice yearly which includes an editorial, articles, book reviews, research projects and studies, and coverage of LILAC, the Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference. The articles cover a range of topics connected to information literacy, including instructional design, tools, rubrics, and assessment.
McPherson College's Miller Library in Kansas has developed a unique, guaranteed-to-catch-student-attention tool to teach information literacy: a 23-page graphic novel, Library of the Living Dead, available as a .pdf. Two students, fleeing the zombies that are swarming all over their campus, seek shelter in the library, where they are told that the library "contains everything you need to know to survive a zombie apocalypse!" (Hall & Upson, 2011, p. 4). As with the PCC video series mentioned earlier, one of the the graphic novel's goals was an introduction to the Miller Library specifically, which makes some information - the floor plan descriptions and maps - unnecessary to a reader not at that particular library. However, the step-by-step information literacy process is sound, beginning with general periodical and reference sources through the necessity of investing proper time in the research process and sometimes changing research directions depending on the information discovered to finding specific subject-area sources. One warning - defending oneself against zombies apparently necessitates killing zombies, so - like any educational tool - this one may not be for everyone. But given the surge of interest in graphic novels / manga in recent years, this is a good option for reluctant students. And to assuage the skeptical, the graphic novel ends on page 14, followed by straightforward explanations of the Dewey Decimal Call Number System; searching the library catalog, including Boolean operators; finding scholarly journal articles; and a research paper-writing flowchart.
References
Available as a .pdf, because website viewing has too many variables to properly display exactly-formatted citations.
ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education
ACRL Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians
ACRL Standards for Distance Learning Library Services
University of Hawaii at Hilo General Education Goals and Outcomes
Resources
LILO – Learning Information Literacy Online – is a web-based tutorial developed by the University of Hawaii Libraries Information Literacy Committee, a group of librarians and English instructors from the University of Hawaii system. LILO takes students step-by-step through the research process. LILO can be used as a whole or in parts; students can use LILO on their own or instructors can use it as an assignment(s). LILO has six main sections:
1. The Research Process
2. Your Assignment
3. Research Strategy
4. Conduct the Search
5. Evaluate
6. Synthesis
These main sections are each divided into subsections, which also sometimes have their own subsections and some students (even some faculty) find LILO overwhelming and confusing, but it can yield great benefits for the students whose instructor has taken the time to select the part(s) most likely to assist a particular assignment.
LILO uses the acronym "DISCOVER" to help students remember the concepts and activities involved in conducting research, the process that leads to information literacy. To access the Information Literacy page in LILO, click on LILO Tutorial, then 1. The Research Process, then Discover Information Literacy.
Define
Inquire
Search
Collect
Organize
Verify
Express
Reflect
However, the video that appears on the Information Literacy LILO page has too many visual elements, too many of which are not related to the narration, which can be confusing. The 12-part "Information Literacy" video series from Bob Baker, the Library Director at the Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona, although not flashy, is substantive and informative. The videos range from 5-10 minutes each.
Unfortunately, the program notes are restricted and the videos do show databases specific to the PCC library, but the videos also encourage students to talk to their instructors and librarians who can show sources available to them. Although the series is designed to help students "become a more knowledgeable information consumer” (Baker, 2008) it also attempts to hook students with a blatant goal of “help{ing} you to get better grades” (Baker, 2008), which should grab the attention of even the most reluctant researcher.
1. Series Overview
2. Selecting a Topic
3. Types of Information Sources
4. Libraries and Library Web Sites
5. Using a Library Catalog
6. Locating Materials in the Library
7. Online Reference Databases
8. Online Periodical Databases
9. Browsing and Searching the Web
10. Evaluating Information Sources
11. Plagiarism and Citation Styles
12. Finding Information about Literature
Anatomy of a Scholarly Article is a basic source that does only one thing, but does it well. This single web page by the NCSU Libraries shows the first and last pages of a scholarly article; by hovering over the different sections of the article, students are shown what "clues" to look for to determine if an article is scholarly. This is an ideal source for a student who has never before had to distinguish between a popular magazine and a scholarly article.
The Journal of Information Literacy is an online, open-access, peer-reviewed journal published twice yearly which includes an editorial, articles, book reviews, research projects and studies, and coverage of LILAC, the Librarians’ Information Literacy Annual Conference. The articles cover a range of topics connected to information literacy, including instructional design, tools, rubrics, and assessment.
McPherson College's Miller Library in Kansas has developed a unique, guaranteed-to-catch-student-attention tool to teach information literacy: a 23-page graphic novel, Library of the Living Dead, available as a .pdf. Two students, fleeing the zombies that are swarming all over their campus, seek shelter in the library, where they are told that the library "contains everything you need to know to survive a zombie apocalypse!" (Hall & Upson, 2011, p. 4). As with the PCC video series mentioned earlier, one of the the graphic novel's goals was an introduction to the Miller Library specifically, which makes some information - the floor plan descriptions and maps - unnecessary to a reader not at that particular library. However, the step-by-step information literacy process is sound, beginning with general periodical and reference sources through the necessity of investing proper time in the research process and sometimes changing research directions depending on the information discovered to finding specific subject-area sources. One warning - defending oneself against zombies apparently necessitates killing zombies, so - like any educational tool - this one may not be for everyone. But given the surge of interest in graphic novels / manga in recent years, this is a good option for reluctant students. And to assuage the skeptical, the graphic novel ends on page 14, followed by straightforward explanations of the Dewey Decimal Call Number System; searching the library catalog, including Boolean operators; finding scholarly journal articles; and a research paper-writing flowchart.
References
Available as a .pdf, because website viewing has too many variables to properly display exactly-formatted citations.
etec_612_final_project_references.pdf | |
File Size: | 6 kb |
File Type: |
Instruction Assignment
"For this assignment, each of you will be creating a web site in Weebly on a topic related to an issue of distance education. You will be researching your topic and creating a site that sufficiently covers your topic."
The Weebly page must include:
The Weebly page must include:
- A page or section providing background and explanation of your topic (be thorough and assume we know little about your topic including why it is important to you or your locus of control).
- A page or section providing annotated links to resources appropriate to your topic (for example, links to websites, PDFs, online videos, etc., related to your topic).
- A page or section containing educational and/or professional standards appropriate to the topic.
Feedback
One requirement of this website project is to provide feedback for the works presented. Here are some of the comments I received for this project:
Instructor:
"Nice job of tying everything together and providing a useful set of resources to both the faculty and students. Your wealth of knowledge in the area really shines through in the annotations, providing an "expert" feel to the content that makes it easy to trust. Aesthetically, you did a great job of spacing out your text, clearly differentiating the headers and appropriately using images to accentuate the content. My only suggestion is to remember to account for the varying browsers and font sets of your end users so that you see the same thing that they do.... In your case, there were a few issues with misplaced line-breaks in the references section which could have resulted from any of the situations listed above."
The comment from the instructor prompted me to change the References list to a .pdf not only on this page, but on all my Weebly pages. I also began using .pdf in other situations whenever possible and appropriate, even asking other instructors who requested Word document files if they would consider .pdf instead for its ability to preserve formatting.
Classmates:
"Burned in my memory will be the Zombies of the Living Dead resource. The authors were quite creative in their approach to information literacy. The tricks are very useful, and I especially like the visual van diagram that can help connect terms by widening or narrowing your search. Cool resource!"
"Will you be keeping your site up for the upcoming academic year? I would really like to use your site as a resource when conducting research during this program. I think you did an excellent job of providing resources and what I really appreciate is that you did not put an overload of information which would have overwhelmed me. Your site is very specific and geared to information literacy. Yeah!"
"You clearly identified your locus of control as, “providing library services, including information literacy instruction, to distance learning faculty and students.” In addition, you gave a specific purpose of your web page, which is to assist distance learning faculty and students."
"I definitely noticed that you are an expert with this area of learning and I appreciate you taking the time to share that will us."
Instructor:
"Nice job of tying everything together and providing a useful set of resources to both the faculty and students. Your wealth of knowledge in the area really shines through in the annotations, providing an "expert" feel to the content that makes it easy to trust. Aesthetically, you did a great job of spacing out your text, clearly differentiating the headers and appropriately using images to accentuate the content. My only suggestion is to remember to account for the varying browsers and font sets of your end users so that you see the same thing that they do.... In your case, there were a few issues with misplaced line-breaks in the references section which could have resulted from any of the situations listed above."
The comment from the instructor prompted me to change the References list to a .pdf not only on this page, but on all my Weebly pages. I also began using .pdf in other situations whenever possible and appropriate, even asking other instructors who requested Word document files if they would consider .pdf instead for its ability to preserve formatting.
Classmates:
"Burned in my memory will be the Zombies of the Living Dead resource. The authors were quite creative in their approach to information literacy. The tricks are very useful, and I especially like the visual van diagram that can help connect terms by widening or narrowing your search. Cool resource!"
"Will you be keeping your site up for the upcoming academic year? I would really like to use your site as a resource when conducting research during this program. I think you did an excellent job of providing resources and what I really appreciate is that you did not put an overload of information which would have overwhelmed me. Your site is very specific and geared to information literacy. Yeah!"
"You clearly identified your locus of control as, “providing library services, including information literacy instruction, to distance learning faculty and students.” In addition, you gave a specific purpose of your web page, which is to assist distance learning faculty and students."
"I definitely noticed that you are an expert with this area of learning and I appreciate you taking the time to share that will us."
AECT Standards
1.1 Instructional Systems Design (ISD)
1.1.1 Analyzing: process of defining what is to be learned and the context in which it is to be learned.
1.1.2 Designing: process of specifying how it is to be learned.
1.1.3 Developing: process of authoring and producing the instructional materials.
1.1.4 Implementing: actually using the materials and strategies in context.
1.2 Message Design
1.3 Instructional Strategies
1.4 Learner Characteristics
2.3 Computer-Based Technologies
3.1 Media Utilization
4.1 Project Management
4.2 Resource Management
4.3 Delivery System Management
4.4 Information Management
1.1.1 Analyzing: process of defining what is to be learned and the context in which it is to be learned.
1.1.2 Designing: process of specifying how it is to be learned.
1.1.3 Developing: process of authoring and producing the instructional materials.
1.1.4 Implementing: actually using the materials and strategies in context.
1.2 Message Design
1.3 Instructional Strategies
1.4 Learner Characteristics
2.3 Computer-Based Technologies
3.1 Media Utilization
4.1 Project Management
4.2 Resource Management
4.3 Delivery System Management
4.4 Information Management