Printable PDF version: WILU 2011 Schedule
WILU 2011 Schedule
June 1
Registration opens (10:00 am) ED109
Hands-on lab concurrent sessions (1:00 pm – 2:30 pm)
(Limited to 30 participants per session – register early!)
W1 DO Get Technical! Using Technology in Library Instruction
University of Regina, LY612
Nicole Eva and Heather Nicholson, University of Lethbridge
Tags: Teaching with technology, Information Literacy, wikis, Skype, Moodle
Today’s post-secondary students are digital natives. Much has been said and written about how to reach this generation and the consensus seems to be that we need to meet them on their turf. In this session two librarians from the University of Lethbridge will share their experiences using technology to engage students in library instruction. The session will include hands-on instruction in some simple tools you can learn quickly and apply to spice up your instruction with technology. Some of the tools discussed will include delivering library instruction to distance students via Skype, using wikis to generate student participation, adding interactive polling to PowerPoint presentations and more!
W2 Creating Screencast Tutorials Using Camtasia
SIAST Wascana Library, 207.25
Catherine Boden, University of Saskatchewan
Tags: Camtasia, on-line tutorials, screencasting
Camtasia is a relatively easy and inexpensive tool for creating online library instruction tutorials in the form of screencast videos. A screencast video is a digital recording of computer screen output, often accompanied by an audio recording. The videos can be shared in a variety of ways, including mounting on a website or within a virtual learning environment such as Blackboard. This 90-minute workshop is designed for complete novices and beginners. Participants will be introduced to the nature and utility of screencast videos, the pros and cons of Camtasia as a tool for creating screencasts, and the basics of generating, editing, and producing a screencast video tutorial. There will be both didactic and hands-on components. By the end of the session, participants will have created and produced their own short screencast video.
W3 Capturing Facets of Institutional Research: Developing an Assessment and Evaluation Toolkit
SIAST Wascana Library, 207.22
Rajiv Nariani, York University
Tags: Research Portal, RSS Feed Readers, Open Access Journals, STM Databases
The hands-on session will cover effective searching in Science, Technology & Medicine (STM) databases that will include Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and PubMed. Participants will refine searches and limit results to research papers from their institutes. They will obtain Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds from STM databases and subscribe to these feeds using Netvibes feed reader. Data from STM databases will be analyzed to identify top journals including journals publishing grant-funded research. The role of Delicious and similar bookmarking tools as a research news aggregator will also be explored. Participants will tag specific research articles from their institutes and export Delicious feeds and web pages into their Netvibes account. Attendees will then compare features available in Open Access (OA) journals from different publishers and understand publishing trends in OA journals at their institutes. They will assess and evaluate OA publishers and journals using defined criteria and key websites. Effective promotion of obtained results plays an important part in a librarian’s liaison role with faculty members, research officers, and graduate students. Ideas for promotion including novel Information Literacy classes and technology sessions designed at the presenter’s institute will be discussed.
Finally, the role of an e-journal and e-book usage data analysis tool developed at the presenter’s university and its relevance to collection development and research support will also be shared with all participants.
W4 Harnessing New Tools to Provide Quality Instruction through Chat Reference.
SIAST Wascana Library, 207.20
https://prezi.com/secure/369c44c24e8dd447f7b611db62ec5b17e8a89c83/
Joanna Szurmak and Lauren Di Monte, University of Toronto Mississauga
Tags: Chat instruction, emerging technologies, multimedia, teaching tips and tools.
The pedagogy of instruction through reference involves giving students a conceptual framework and guiding them through focused active learning. While reference questions are still important in libraries, many institutions are experiencing a drop in in-person reference along with an increase in chat questions. What if more reference transactions are, and will be, conducted through IM or chat than in person? The delivery of reference instruction will have to change to match the constraints of the medium. Chat reference is the first choice for many students, but it is not always the easiest tool for nuanced instruction. The bandwidth of chat is more limited than the bandwidth of in-person contact, thus challenging chat reference providers to develop innovative communication and instructional tools. At the UTM Library, we responded to the challenge of in-depth chat instruction by creating high-bandwidth media. Using UTM chat statistics, we identified the most common and most time-consuming chat questions. To address these questions, we developed a series of modular screen capture videos. We focused on questions that would have been relatively simple to handle face-to-face but required significant context-building in chat reference. Our instructional video segments involve website, catalogue, and database navigation in addition to the unique and elegant Prezi “movies” developed to tackle concepts. Our work successfully combines a new tool like Prezi with a well-known format of the screen capture video. We offer a high-bandwidth instruction solution to enrich chat interactions.
Break (2:30pm – 3:30pm) Sponsored by Innovative Interfaces
W5 Opening Keynote (3:30pm – 4:30pm) Sponsored by the University of Saskatchewan
RIC119
Brian Thwaits
The Big Learn: Smart Ways to Use Your Brain
Worried the old gray matter just isn’t generating the juice the way it used to? Well, you’re not alone. “Brain drain” can affect us all! But combining what we’ve learned from neuroscience research with what we already know about proven learning methods can lead to startling improvements in the way we use our heads.
Perhaps more than those in any other profession, educators are naturally interested in knowing how brains work. After all, it’s a teacher’s job to train brains – and knowing how they operate will surely make that task much easier! This compelling presentation emphasizes that what neuroscientists tell us about brains harmonizes beautifully with proven strategies and techniques that will lead to academic success.
W6 Opening Reception (6:00 pm – 8:00 pm) Sponsored by SIAST Libraries and the University of Regina Library
RIC Atrium
June 2
T1 Poster breakfast (8:15 am – 9:30 am)
Gym3
T2 Lightning strike sessions (9:30 am – 10:30 am)
Gym3
T2a Engaging High School Students in Library Instruction: 10 Tips for Success
Mary Medinsky, Red Deer College @ Confluence Campus
Tags: Technology, Student Engagement, School Libraries
While we often assume that so-called digital natives are tech savvy, this technological prowess does not necessarily make them information savvy – in fact, the opposite is true. With the sheer volume of information available, high school students need information literacy instruction now more than ever! The trick for success with this “at your fingertips” crowd is to make it easy to find, evaluate, and cite sources. Through demonstrating that effective searching, information evaluation, and citation can be (almost) as quick and easy as a Google search leading to the same old Wikipedia article; you will get the high school crowd on your side, and set the stage for a lifetime of good information practices.
T2b Breaking Conceptual Barriers to Information Architecture: An Online Learning Experience
Catherine Boden and Susan Murphy, University of Saskatchewan
poster: 2011_WILUPoster_Boden_Murphy
Tags: Library instruction, screencasts, on-line tutorials, distance education
A sound literature search strategy is a cornerstone of a systematic review. Introduction to Systematic Reviews, an online graduate-level course offered at the University of Saskatchewan employed screencast videos to teach database searching. This poster presents two librarians’ experiences delivering instruction in this context. Over the duration of the course, we observed the students’ information literacy skills as they moved from a research question to a finalized search strategy. Review of student progress highlighted misconceptions in their understanding of the relationship between their topic and the databases’ information architecture. Although students readily accepted the tutorials as a means of learning, early in the course they expressed an interest in increased student-librarian interaction. As activities and discussions that typically occur in a traditional classroom setting are limited by the online format, open-mic sessions were added. However, there are issues of conceptual understanding that could be addressed in the tutorials at the early stages of search strategy development. In an online environment, the sequencing of instructional components and opportunities for active learning are crucial to a solid foundation upon which search strategy skills can be built.
T2c Learning Citation Format Like It Matters
Ellie Knickman, Delaware County Community College
Tags: Citations, motivation, bibliography, scholarship
We cite our sources for many reasons, but avoidance of plagiarism usually takes top billing when teaching classes. While critical for teaching academic honesty, it may not be enough to motivate students to take the time to cite accurately or retain what they have learned about citation. The recent revision of the MLA Handbook gives us an opportunity to discuss a basic purpose of citation, retrieval of a work, and the potential rewards of accurate citation for the student beyond mere avoidance of punitive action. Positive assessment and personal utility should be stressed as well, and could serve to foster understanding about the functions of the various elements of a citation. Guided interactive instruction can also help students more effectively use citation examples given them. Students want to know why they are being put through the process (“What’s in it for me?”). The answer to their question provides an opportunity to teach the structure.
T2d Brain Dump: Using Mind Maps for Topic Development
Margot Hanson, Golden Gate University
poster: http://www.slideshare.net/muumuulibrarian/brain-dump
presentation: http://prezi.com/egpauhepnbce/brain-dump-using-mind-maps-for-topic-development/
handout: http://bit.ly/braindumpwilu2011
Tags: Online tools, concept maps, mind maps
Mind maps, or concept maps, can be useful ways for students to brainstorm possible research topics, making visual connections that might otherwise be difficult to articulate. They give students the chance to experiment and play, with no right or wrong answers. Mind maps have always been possible with traditional tools of pens and paper, but there are so many new possibilities! Visualization is exploding as a teaching opportunity, and free online visualization tools are proliferating. This session will explore the intersection between visual literacy and topic development by demonstrating several tools librarians can use to incorporate mind maps into instruction.
Break (10:30 am – 11:00 am)
Concurrent sessions (11:00am – 11:45am)
T3 Training, Preparation, Engagement: Insights from Acting for Librarians who Teach
ED 191
Sarah Polkinghorne, University of Alberta
Tags: Acting, engagement, pedagogy
Isn’t teaching like acting? Recent library conference offerings have encouraged instruction librarians to play improv games and unleash their inner entertainers, suggesting that the answer is straightforward: “yes.” This session will demonstrate that an exploration of this question is worthwhile, and more fascinating and revealing than a “yes” or a “no.” In this session, this exploration will focus on specific facets of how actors learn to act, how they prepare for roles, how they perform, and how this all relates to the instruction roles of librarians.
Actors and instruction librarians have much in common. They both utilize their bodies, voices, and minds in their work. They both have some form of content to convey. They both negotiate physical (or virtual) space. They both operate within the affective realm. They both measure their successes according to how well they create meaningful experiences for others. Actors and librarians share all of these fundamental challenges. For this reason, the diverse theories and practices relied upon by actors can provide fresh insights for librarians, whether they are learning how to teach or reflecting upon an established teaching practice.
T4 Indigenous Studies Portal: A Virtual Library Born of the Prairies
ED 193
Deborah Lee, University of Saskatchewan
Tags: Indigenous / Aboriginal, culturally relevant services, virtual libraries
The Indigenous Studies Portal (or iPortal) is a virtual library linking to more than 25,000 full-text resources related to the interdisciplinary field of Indigenous Studies. These resources include scholarly peer-reviewed articles, book reviews, theses, e-books, web sites, and archival documents (such as photos, correspondence, diaries, and other textual materials such as the verbatim transcripts of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples’ Round Table hearings). The iPortal also features a blog of news and events of interest to Aboriginal peoples. In addition, it is a strategic initiative of the University of Saskatchewan Library meant to enhance Aboriginal research, scholarship, and engagement. The iPortal supports the research needs of those involved in the renowned breadth of Aboriginal programming offered at the U of S, as well as the high percentage of Aboriginal students attending the U of S.
In addition to linking to both subscription-based and open access resources, the iPortal also creates its own unique content through digitization projects and partnerships that range in scope from archival materials to print-based journals to out-of-print books. This presentation will showcase several value-added components of this research tool and some of the most interesting resources and search features that comprise the iPortal.
T5 Public Library Instruction for Adult Literacy Learners
CK185
Sue Emson, Saskatoon Public Library
Tags: Adult literacy, public libraries, information needs
Public libraries are variously viewed by some with nostalgia as repositories of literature and culture heritage, by others as free sources for popular recreational reading. The role of the public library in civic harmony and engagement, in promoting democracy and social equality is perceived by many as anachronistic in a world where all information is seen as ostensibly free and just a few clicks away. Public library orientation and instruction remains critical for many in Canada who lack the literacy skills needed to function in daily society. Adult literacy learners’ information literacy needs are not very different from other students, but their ability to meet these needs is much more problematic. This session will focus on applied practice in meeting the critical information needs of adult literacy learners in the public library. It will outline systematic barriers to public library use that adult literacy learners face and offer practical solutions to overcome these barriers.
T6 Doing What Real Doctors Do: Engaging Medical Students in Information Literacy by Simulating Continuing Medical Education
CK187
Dale Storie, Sandy Campbell, Brettany Johnson, and Robert Hayward University of Alberta
DStorie_DoingWhatRealDoctorsDo_WILU2011
Tags: Electronic delivery, interactive tutorial, continuing education
At the University of Alberta, undergraduate medical students complete several “searching for and evaluating medical evidence” assignments in their first two years. To increase student engagement, we converted one of our existing paper-based assignments to an interactive electronic format by adapting a continuing medical education (CME) program that many participants will use professionally. In this session, we will describe the project and report on survey results measuring student engagement with the new assignment. The College of Family Physicians of Canada’s ePearls™ CME program was simplified for use by third year medical students beginning their clinical internship. All of the students had completed a similar paper-based assignment within the previous two years. Students completed the interactive electronic assignment during class time. At the end of the session students were asked to complete an electronic survey which was designed to measure their preference for the paper or electronic delivery of the assignment and whether or not the delivery in the context of a CME program was engaging for them. Most of the students preferred the electronic version of the assignment. Most of the students also valued the introduction to the CME environment, with comments indicating that they enjoyed learning about an activity that practicing physicians would do. Based on these results, we will implement the delivery of more of evidence-seeking instruction in this format.
Lunch (12noon – 1:15 pm)
Education Corridor
Concurrent sessions (1:15pm – 2:00pm) Sponsored by Saskatchewan’s Multitype Library Board
T7 Fu Can Cook: Using Chinese Cooking Techniques to Teach Library Instruction Library Instruction
ED 191
Fu Zhuo, University of Missouri-Kansas City
T7 Fu Can Cook Presentation 2011
Tags: Library instruction, teaching method, and Chinese cooking techniques
Academic librarians always find teaching new college students how to find academic journal articles within a 50-minute time frame a challenge. Part of that challenge is because of the complicated research process. In order to make this teaching moment easy to understand, more effective, and entertaining, Chinese cooking techniques are applied. They include several basic steps such as a careful selection of ingredients (library scholarly resources including print and electronic), seasoning (ways to narrow down topics), preparation and cooking techniques (search strategies), cooking tips (Boolean operators and truncations), and even final presentation (citation styles). The “Master Chef” librarian conducts the library instruction with humor, enthusiasm, and entertainment. Feedback from students indicates that they enjoy such a light-hearted teaching method and hope the librarian to keep such a style in the future.
T8 Grassroots Collaborations and Beyond: Bridging the Gap between High School and Post-Secondary
ED 193
Jennifer Sigalet, Okanagan College, Leslie Barton, Pleasant Valley Secondary School and Sherri Savage, San Jose State University (MLIS)
Handout: WILU-T8-Sigalet-Grassroots-Handout J
Presentation slides: WILU-T8-Sigalet-Grassroots 1.98MB
Tags: Libraries_schools_k-12, literacy_collaboration_college, outreach_transition
Recent surveys indicate there is a widening gap between the information literacy skills of high school students and the information literacy skills expectations post-secondary professors have of first-year university students. In response to this growing concern, a high school teacher-librarian and a college librarian recently collaborated on a joint production of the video Research Skills: Bridging the Gap Between High School & Post-Secondary. The film features interviews of six university professors discussing their research skills expectations of first-year university students. The interviews confirm the results of ongoing studies and reports on information literacy and the significant gap between high school and first-year university student preparedness.
Since its production (2010), Research Skills: Bridging the Gap Between High School & Post-Secondary has become a powerful tool for creating an awareness of the existing information literacy skills shortfalls of students entering post-secondary education. The film has subsequently been presented to key players in education including high school administrators, teachers, teacher librarians, school boards, and university professors and librarians.
The original goal of the film Research Skills was to create an impactful means of advocating for teacher-librarians while reiterating the importance of teaching information literacy skills in high schools in preparation for post secondary education. As well, the film has subsequently stimulated discussions amongst high school teacher-librarians and post-secondary librarians as they continue to explore collaborative bridging opportunities within school districts.
The session will bring together useful information on the current state of bridging the gap between high school and post-secondary and will explore collaborative ways of bridging this information literacy gap.
T9 Build It, Share It, Borrow it: Breaking Down the Barriers to Tutorial Creation
CK185
Hannah Gascho Rempel and Anne-Marie Deitering, Oregon State University
Tags: Tutorials, collaboration, content management systems
Everyone wants to create more tutorials — how do we know this? We asked. We surveyed librarians around the world about their experiences creating tutorials.
What we heard matched our experience at Oregon State University (OSU). Time and technology are the barriers we all face. As instruction librarians we know our colleagues have developed great online resources for teaching the same concepts we teach, but we don’t always know what and where those resources are.
Instruction librarians have widely embraced content management systems, like LibGuides and Library à la Carte, as a way to overcome these barriers. With these tools, any librarian can create course pages and subject guides regardless of their level of technological expertise. Content management systems also allow a librarian to create a repository of shared modules that others can access and refine.
Recognizing that the barriers to creating course pages and subject guides were similar to those we still face in tutorial creation, we examined these content management tools with new intent. Could we extend these existing systems to create tutorials simply and collaboratively? At OSU, the answer was yes.
T10 Mirror, Mirror … Engaging in Reflective Practice for Information Literacy
CK187
Robin Sakowski, University of Guelph
sakowski_t10_mirror_mirror_engaging_in_reflective_practice
Tags: Reflective practice, teaching, learning, professional development, tools
Reflective practice is getting to know ourselves as teachers and applying what we learn to our practice of information literacy in a continuous loop. Knowing more about ourselves as teachers can lead to improved student learning and a richer sense of our professional development as information literacy professionals. This session will introduce participants to different forms of reflective practice, review how this professional development tool is being used in libraries and by information literacy professionals, and offer participants a chance to share their own experiences of reflective practice with peers in order to learn more about how to use reflective practice effectively in our information literacy work.
Break (2:00pm – 2:30pm) Sponsored by Regina Public Library
Concurrent sessions (2:30pm – 3:15pm)
T11 Holy Google Scholar Batman! Assessing the Needs of Science & Engineering Graduate Students
ED 191
Erin Alcock and Ian Gibson, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Tags: Science & engineering graduate students, needs assessment, underserved user groups, science & engineering liaison
In the fall of 2010 science & engineering liaison librarians at Memorial University surveyed science and engineering graduate students, a group that was well known to be underserved by our instruction programs. We were interested in assessing their preparedness for researching the primary literature, finding out what tools they rely on for their research, and examining their information literacy and library liaison needs. We found that there are no simple answers to what we thought were simple questions, and that there are numerous opportunities for flexible teaching approaches across all of the science & engineering disciplines. Participants in this session will come away with ideas for assessing underserved user groups, tips on effective survey design, and insight into the continually evolving roles of science liaison librarians in the academic literacy of their campus communities.
T12 Faculty Voices on Information Literacy: Interview-Based Research Exploring Information Literacy Instruction Practices, Attitudes, and Perceptions among University Faculty
ED 193
Sophie Bury, York University
Tags: Information literacy, faculty, qualitative research, information literacy assessment
This presentation will share highlights from a qualitative research study at York University, based on semi-structured interviews, and conducted primarily during the researcher’s recent sabbatical leave. Study participants include twenty four faculty in different disciplines including business, social sciences and humanities, and the sciences. Participants in this study all teach undergraduate courses where library research is an expectation in assignments and projects. 50% of the faculty interviewed currently arrange for information literacy (IL) instruction with the library, while 50% do not.
The researcher will review results of this study in aggregate, while also reflecting on differences in perceptions and behaviours of those interviewed based on broad disciplinary affiliation and participation/non-participation in the library’s IL program. The session will also examine the extent to which the findings of this study either corroborate or differ from results of similar studies uncovered by a recent review of the library literature. Implications of the study for research and practice will be shared.
Specific findings emerging from this study to be explored in this presentation include faculty perceptions of the meaning and value of IL instruction and faculty experiences of IL competency levels among undergraduate students. Faculty’s observations on how undergraduate students approach the research process, including challenges they experience, will be shared. The role of the research assignment in fostering IL competencies in faculty’s estimation will be discussed. Findings regarding the level and nature of faculty engagement in teaching IL competencies, either by themselves or in collaboration with a librarian, will also be reviewed. Finally, faculty beliefs regarding optimal models for future planning and delivery of IL instruction in a university context will be shared.
T13 Library Instruction: Success in an Age of Academic Accountability
CK185
Jane Forgay, University of Waterloo
Forgay T13 AcademicAccountability
Tags: History librarianship, online instruction, UUDLEs
Take eighty-five, first-year history students, ask them to complete four easy-to-absorb library modules woven into their introduction to Western Civilization course and you achieve a number of things: the librarian makes inroads in promoting the library and all that it offers; budding historians are exposed to research tools that are fundamental to their chosen discipline; and the professor, by integrating information literacy into her course, puts into practice the guidelines for university undergraduate degree level expectations (UUDLEs) mandated by the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents. This session reviews the project from idea, to creation, to delivery, to student and faculty feedback. Ways in which these modules can be built upon in later courses to achieve the higher-level research expectations will also be discussed.
T14 Understanding IL Through the Eyes of the Teacher: Information Literacy in Secondary Schools
CK187
Jorden Smith (MLIS Candidate), School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta
Tags: Information literacy, teacher attitudes, secondary school instruction
This presentation shares the findings from a graduate thesis study of teachers’ understanding of information literacy (IL). Participants with experience teaching secondary (grade 7-12) language arts and social studies in Alberta shared their experiences, or lack thereof, with information literacy instruction (ILI). Although there is evidence that secondary students are not developing IL skills (Julien and Barker 2009), there have been few studies of why this keeps occurring. This study sought to examine how this IL gap has come to be, from the teachers’ perspective. Teacher understanding of IL is a necessary consideration as teachers teach what they value (Pajares 1992) and they, not the programs, have a significant impact on student learning (Hawley and Valli 1999, as cited by van den Berg 2002.) With the integration of new curriculum and application of the Focus on Inquiry (an information literacy-based support document), teacher perspectives ought to be ascertained to determine how IL may progress in schools at present. Data analysis identified common factors that influenced their ability, as teachers, to offer ILI. Perceived student need, the availability of school resources, and administration/school support played a significant role in ILI. Participants believed that students would passively acquire IL skills over time through addressing their information needs. Participants’ understanding of IL as a concept varied from the very limited to very broad in scope, which is consistent with the literature (Allen 2007; Gibson 2004), but the participants agreed that IL was important for students. These results have implications for libraries and educators involved in information literacy instruction and/or program design.
Library Tours – Meet at 3:30pm at the registration desk (ED109)
‘Dine-Arounds’ – 6pm – A WILU tradition! Socialize over dinner and see more of the city on one of our dine-arounds! We’ve selected a variety of restuarants to fit whatever you’re in the mood for. Get more information about dine-around options and sign up for your prefered venue at the registration desk. Remember, seats will be filled on a first come first served basis.
June 3
Breakfast / Problem-solving round ideas sign-up & final registration (8:15am – 8:45am)
Gym 3
Concurrent sessions (8:45am – 9:30am)
F1 Storytelling: Protocols and Boundaries
Session with Ending Keynote Speaker, David Bouchard
ED 191
Storytelling is a critically important part of Aboriginal culture, teaching, and learning that is often misunderstood by those not familiar with its traditions and intent. This presentation will outline some of the ways that librarians can implement storytelling components into their instruction. A key aspect of this talk will be a frank discussion of the etiquette, protocols, potential dangers, and great benefits of storytelling. Participants will be given two to three stories that they can use and take-away to include in their own instruction.
F2 Who’s Learning?: Using Library Instruction and Office Statistics to Plan for the Future
ED 193
Naomi Lederer and Louise Feldmann, Colorado State University
F2LedererFeldmann_Who’sLearningWILU2011
Tags: Tracking instruction and reference statistics, office interactions
With no reference desk since the end of 2006, librarians at Colorado State University (CSU) have been interacting with students and faculty members in the classroom and one-on-one in an office, not in a public service desk setting. Office interactions include those via the telephone, instant messaging, and e-mail contacts, as well as in-person side-by-side research assistance; the classroom includes online-only learning. Who has been arranging for library instruction classes? Who is making the effort to contact individual librarians? How do they find out about the service? The presenters for this session, the business librarian (liaison to 7+ departments, including maps) and the primary liberal arts librarian (7 departments) will describe the centralized mechanisms CSU librarians are using for tracking this information (separate databases at this time), and then, using the information gathered, identify their primary audiences. They will then discuss how they use this information to promote additional one-on-one or library instruction sessions, to develop Web pages/LibGuides, and create multimedia tutorials. Identifying trends by time of year, length of interaction, and discipline helps plan for future interactions—and, when the interactions are too numerous to easily handle, help identify which topics are candidates for alternative instructional means such as the aforementioned Web pages. The gathered statistics also serve as a uniform means of informing administrators of the workload librarians are carrying.
F3 Creative Collaborations: Learning Commons Workshops for Student Success
CK185
Peggy Warren, York University and Justin Harrison, University of Victoria
Tags: Learning commons, collaborative teaching, collaboration
Academic libraries across North America have opened their doors to Learning Commons partners, welcoming other service providers (writing counselors, learning specialists, career advisors, numeracy specialists, etc.) into a redesigned, collaborative space in the traditional library. Much of the research on Learning Commons focuses on library as place, where students seek assistance from multiple partners in a redesigned knowledge commons. However, the opportunity for “seamless learning” offered by Learning Commons requires seamless teaching. It is time for Learning Commons partners to extend their collaboration into the library classroom, dropping disciplinary silos and combining information literacy instruction with other skills in truly collaborative workshops. Joint workshops knit together several components of the learning, research, and writing processes, providing more authentic assistance to students by closely paralleling student needs. Joining forces with Learning Commons partners to offer joint workshops for undergraduate students can ease the transition to university and boost student success.
The speakers will present the results of a Canada-wide study of Learning Commons teaching collaborations, conducted via online questionnaire of Learning Commons coordinators and partners in college and university libraries in spring 2011. The goal of the study was, first, to inventory existing types of collaborative teaching ventures in Canadian academic Learning Commons and, second, to understand the experience of collaborative teaching from various partner perspectives. By identifying and analyzing the advantages and challenges of collaborative teaching ventures, the researchers have devised a set of “best practices” for effective collaborative workshop development and delivery in academic library Learning Commons.
F4 Let’s Get Active! Using Active Learning Techniques in a One-Shot Library Instruction Session
CK187
Amy Fyn, Bowling Green State University
Prezi for the presentation: http://prezi.com/jur6xfvfzsl-/wilu-2011-lets-get-active/
Blog begun to continue the conversation: Active Librarians: http://activelibrarians.wordpress.com/
Handout: WILU Active Learning handout
Tags: Active learning, instruction, activities
Instruction librarians have a lot of ground to cover during a one-shot instruction session, not only teaching students how to find materials but also how to evaluate those materials. Additionally, librarians have to “sell” library resources to students who may not value library materials or find them difficult to use. Educational theory indicates that students retain more knowledge when actively engaged. Active learning engages students by allowing them to teach themselves, what Graham Gibbs refers to as “learning by doing.” This presentation will show how letting go of some content the librarian would normally review in a one-shot session lets students discover the information for themselves, aiding retention and providing efficient use of limited session time. The time of everyone involved in the library instruction session, including that of librarians and students, is precious. Use that time well; take some pressure off of librarians and hand over learning to the students. Using a constructivist approach, participants in this presentation will learn new activities to take home to their own library sessions.
Break (9:30 – 9:45 am)
Concurrent sessions (9:45am – 10:30am)
F5 Let’s Talk Books!
Session with Ending Keynote Speaker, David Bouchard
CK187
This interactive and engaging session will discuss key titles and books that all libraries should have to ensure that Aboriginal voices are represented. Examples of important works will be given and discussed, but this will also be an opportunity to make suggestions and recommendations yourself. Be prepared to walk out of this session with a long list of books your library NEEDS to have!
F6 New Horizons: Information Literacy Skills of Incoming University Students
ED 193
Anne Carr-Wiggin, University of Alberta, and Jorden Smith (MLIS Candidate), School of Library and Information Studies, University of Alberta
Tags: Information literacy, undergraduate students, information behaviour, academic environment
A unique longitudinal study of students transitioning from high school to university examines student ability to adapt to course work at the post-secondary level in the digital age. The first phase of the study included an audit of a large university library and faculty programs and documents, and the LibQual and the InfoLit surveys. The Information Literacy Test (ILT) was also administered to more than 100 high school students. The results indicate a very low level of information literacy (IL) among high school students which is consistent with previous studies (Julien and Barker 2009). An item content analysis identified student strengths (such as using traditional library resources) and weaknesses (such as Boolean operators). The second phase of this study follows undergraduate students as they enter university and adapt to the new academic environment which builds upon a study of faculty and librarian perspectives of undergraduate information behaviour (Given, 2007). These participants are completing the ILT and are creating Photovoice journals of their information seeking activities. These journals will be used as prompts for focus group discussion and provide a visual representation of the participants’ information seeking habits. This study has implications for library IL instruction program design, as well as the possible redesign of MLIS courses to reflect student needs, and a redesign of teacher education program to support pre-service teacher IL skill development so that they may, in turn, offer IL instruction to their students.
F7 Showcasing Undergraduate Research: The Role of the Instruction Librarian
CK185
Merinda Kaye Hensley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tags: Undergraduate research, dissemination of scholarly work
A decade after the Boyer commission report “Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities” was released, the academy is leading the way to institutionalize formal undergraduate research programs. In addition to hands-on, inquiry-based learning in the classroom, these programs are natural mechanisms for publishing and disseminating original student work. Given these developments, how can librarians support undergraduate research outside the typical information literacy rubric?
As undergraduate research symposiums gain momentum, librarians are uniquely situated to assist students through the final phase of research, getting to know themselves as true scholars. Librarians are equipped to lead a discussion that will assist students in understanding the publication process, intellectual property issues, and the significance of archiving collections of student research. This presentation will outline a framework of complementary instructional opportunities: teaching students how to craft a presentation proposal, how to design a compelling research poster, effectively working with data visualization tools, and considering issues surrounding the scholarly communication process.
In order to address an identified gap in the library literature, the presenter will briefly share the results from a survey that characterizes the current range of library support for undergraduate research programs in the US. To illustrate success in working with an undergraduate research program, the presentation will also highlight several recent research symposiums including images of student research posters as well as anecdotes and commentary from students and faculty.
F8 “I Learnt A Lot”: Results of a Library/FYE Collaboration
ED 191
Betty Jeffery, University of Prince Edward Island
Tags: Collaboration, first-year experience, information literacy outcomes
First year undergraduate students are often overwhelmed as they enter university. The Robertson Library at the University of Prince Edward Island collaborates with the institution’s groundbreaking First Year Experience credit course, University 100, to ease that transition, and to help students develop information literacy skills. The collaboration seems a logical one, given the complementary goals of the First Year Experience course and the Library’s Instructional Unit, but that collaboration did not exist during the first thirteen years of the course. Discover how the mutually-beneficial collaboration was established, and how it continues to evolve and expand. The students develop essential information literacy skills — from classes taught by librarians, from locally-developed online tutorials, and from the Library presence in the campus course management system. The Library gains valuable insight on freshman information-seeking behavior, and librarians affirm their role as educators. While anecdotal and written feedback from course instructors and students has been overwhelmingly positive about the collaboration, there had been no attempt to gauge whether students’ grasp of outlined information literacy outcomes does change over the term. During the winter term of 2011 a research project was carried out to obtain data to measure this. Results of that study will be shared.
Break (10:30am – 11:00am) Sponsored by Adam Matthews Digital
Concurrent sessions / Problem-solving rounds (11:00am – 11:45am)
F9 ‘Problem-solving’ roundtable discussions
See the problems and solutions discussed here: http://sites.google.com/site/wilu2011solutions/updates
CK187
Do you have a nagging library instructional “problem” that you would like to pick your colleagues brains about? Now is your chance! Come to this session to engage in small-group discussions to brainstorm with colleagues and (hopefully!) find solutions. Contribute your discussion topics to the growing list during the first two days of the conference.
F10 Mobile Technology and Learning: Information Literacy Beyond the Classroom
ED 191
Robin Canuel, McGill University and Chad Crichton, University of Toronto Scarborough
Tags: Mobile technology, mobile learning, smartphones, information literacy
Modern mobile technology challenges academic librarians to connect to their communities in new and exciting ways, fostering patron outreach and new avenues for instruction in information literacy. This session will explore means of expanding the use of mobile technology by our students to leverage the technology’s potential to facilitate teaching and learning. Discussion will focus on how mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets can be used to support information literacy instruction.
Mobile technology can facilitate the delivery of content and services to users at their point of need and it allows us to engage students in a medium in which they are already interacting in a non-academic context. Libraries can take advantage of what is now nearly ubiquitous mobile internet access to move our information literacy instruction beyond the classroom. We can help our students to leverage their mobile devices to take advantage of a wealth of developing services formatted specifically for these tools to facilitate anytime, anywhere access to information contextualized to the user’s current environment and activities.
The complementary concepts of mobile learning and mobile librarianship will be explored to give participants a sense of the current state of the integration of mobile technology in our academic libraries and the consequences of this development for our instructional practice. Attendees will gain an understanding of the implications of these technological developments for information literacy programming, and be introduced to new methods of information access that have developed in conjunction with the unique technological capabilities of modern mobile devices.
F11 New Learning Spaces: Collaborating with Faculty to Align Course Outcomes with Information Literacy Objectives
ED 193
Jill Boruff, McGill University
Tags: Course integration, faculty collaboration, instruction
Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) competencies are an essential part of the education of Physical and Occupational Therapy (P&OT) students. The importance of Information Literacy (IL) skills to these EBP competencies provides an excellent means for integrating IL into the P&OT curriculum. Librarians and faculty members must work in collaboration to design effective instructional strategies that will promote the development of these two sets of skills. Methods: The P&OT liaison librarian and a faculty member designed an instructional activity that included a lecture, workshop, and assignment that integrated an introduction to EBP skills and IL skills in the first year of the academic program. Within the framework of EBP competencies, students learned about the notion of choosing the appropriate resource for their information needs and the basics of searching Ovid MEDLINE. The assignment was designed to assess students’ ability to conduct a search independently. The librarian’s collaboration with another faculty member in the 3rd year of the program led to more in-depth searching workshops that further reinforced EBP skills and IL skills and aligned with course assignments. Results: EBP competencies and IL skills are linked throughout the P&OT academic programme. Students make heavy use of the services that the librarian and the library have to offer. Discussion: The collaboration between the faculty member and the librarian was crucial to the success of integrating the IL skills into the program. Future work will include the evaluation of students’ long-term retention of IL objectives and better integration of IL instruction across academic years.
F12 The Best of Both Worlds: Creating Teaching Moments in a Blended Learning Environment
CK185
Marcie Jacklin and Silvia Vong, Brock University
Tags: Learning management systems, online learning environments, in-person instruction
In today’s technological landscape, traditional methods of teaching seem ineffective in retaining the attention of university students. The implementation of online learning systems and tools at universities and emerging theories in online active learning demonstrate the need for librarians to have a strong presence online. However, students have unique learning styles; some are dependent on the presence of an instructor while some students prefer autonomy. At Brock University, the first year course in Biology has one of the largest class sizes on campus. Through collaboration with senior lab instructors, the biological sciences librarian has developed a quiz that teaches and tests students’ abilities in research and information literacy. In a unique approach, the session marries the physical classroom with the online environment and learning can simultaneously occur with in-person and online instruction. This session will describe the results of the “hybrid classroom” experience through the perspective of the biological sciences and e-learning librarian with a review of quantified feedback from students.
Lunch (12noon – 1:00 pm)
RIC Atrium
Final speeches, thank-you’s & introducing next year’s committee (1:00 pm – 1:15 pm)
F13 Closing keynote (1:15pm – 2:30pm) Sponsored by the Regina Hotel Association, and the University of Saskatchewan Library
RIC 119
David Bouchard
Aboriginal Success: A Crack in the Door
Aboriginal students face numerous challenges to their personal and educational success. This presentation will discuss these challenges, recent “cracks in the door” that show change is possible, and highlight what librarians and educators can contribute to the process. The steps needed to contribute to Aboriginal engagement with reading and learning – as well as what is holding people back – will also be covered in-depth.
F14 Informal networking (2:30pm – 3:00pm)
RIC Atrium
WILU 2011 ends @ 3:00pm
