- Email: [email protected]
Powerful learning: powerful partnerships
Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
Instruction Librarians on the Road Powerful learning: powerful partnerships University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Center for Teaching, November 11±12, 1999 The goals of the Powerful Learning: Powerful Partnerships conference sponsored by the University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Center for Teaching, November 11± 12, 1999, were achieved or exceeded. Using the theme ``Educating the University Community in a Dynamic Information Environment,'' the conference goals were directed toward exploring collaborations and partnerships in research library user education programs, including the value and impact of collaboration, information literacy efforts, evaluation and assessment, and the sharing of collaboration efforts. Presentations were made via poster sessions and contributed papers, with one poster session period having no scheduling conflicts and five rounds of contributed papers with 12 papers presented each round. Papers were presented in groups of three presentations, organized around themes related to conference goals. Themes included, for example, faculty outreach and development, program assessment, distance learning, working with technology centers, strategies for campus involvement, information literacy, and Web-based library instruction. Post-conference tours of the University of Iowa Libraries Information Arcade and Information Commons were also available to participants. Brian Hawkins, EDUCAUSE President and the speaker at the first plenary session, inspired librarians to be campus leaders, ``setting fires'' on campuses to provide changes needed in higher education. Acknowledging the unique perspective gained by academic librarians concerning learning and teaching, he extolled librarians to identify, create, and model examples of partnerships to enhance student learning, faculty development, and institutional improvement. Program assessment was the theme that organized the first round of three contributed papers that I attended. One paper focused on a comprehensive, 3-year, multi-part assessment project undertaken at the University of Iowa. Two members of the User Needs Assessment Group, Dorothy Persson and Carlette Washington-Hoagland, presented the paper. The project focused on identifying the library service and resource needs of (i) undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, (ii) faculty, and (iii) staff. During the presentation, they focused on identifying library service and resource needs of graduate students; information concerning the project process was also provided. The other two presentations reported on assessment of library skills at the freshman level. Marsha Miller from Indiana State University presented a paper that focused on library involvement in freshman student success efforts through Freshman Year Experience Learning Communities and a new (Fall 2000) information literacy course. These efforts bring focus to assessing student knowledge and assumptions about academic libraries in preparing students for learning fundamental and advanced university 0734-3310/00/$ ± see front matter D 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 7 3 4 - 3 3 1 0 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 2 7 - 6
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Instruction Librarians on the Road / Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
library skills. W. Bede Mitchell and Ann Viles reported on the development and results of an information competency assessment given to freshman students at Appalachian State University for the first time in September 1999. Appalachian State has an Assessment Day into which the library skills assessment was incorporated. The development of the assessment of information competencies was a collaborative project including faculty from a number of different campus departments. Through these papers, it became apparent that becoming involved in student success efforts is an important strategy for librarians; many collaborative projects can develop from these academic success and retention projects. The second round of papers included the one in which I made a presentation on campus learning centers as library partners. That presentation included reasons for viewing learning centers as potential library partners and suggested forms for collaborations such as term paper workshops, library strategies tutors, and student assistant training. The campus learning center at the University of New Mexico has been housed in the largest campus library since the establishment of the center in 1979. Though the presentation included some examples from the University of New Mexico experience, the focus was on collaborations with learning centers regardless of campus location and administration. Also included in this round of papers was a presentation by Margaret Porter from the University of Notre Dame who described the establishment of a Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable (TLTR). Porter introduced the model for TLTRs supported by the American Association of Higher Education (http://www.tltgroup.org/). A TLTR is a campus-wide collaboration, bringing together all groups that shape the campus teaching and learning environment. The broad nature of the collaboration does create some challenges but also provides the opportunity for great benefit. Jon Hufford described collaboration activities focused on distance learning and the use of new technologies in the classroom at Texas Tech University. Effective collaborations resulted in an on-line tutorial that introduces undergraduates to the campus libraries and to fundamental library research concepts. Other collaborative projects, in various stages of development, include a Web-based credit course for distance students. The Texas Tech University's Distance Learning Council, the Distance Learning Team of the Texas Tech Libraries, and the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center provided the leadership for the collaborative projects. During the third round of contributed papers, I attended the Campus Strategies presentations that focused on library involvement in campus partnerships. Lisa Hinchliffe and Pat Meckstroth described library instruction in the general education program at Illinois State University. Librarians were involved in campus-wide efforts to reform and invigorate the general education requirements of the University. Five required general education courses involve information literacy objectives and library instruction components. These collaboration efforts with teaching faculty resulted in the integration of information competencies and related library instruction and assignments into the academic program of all undergraduate students. Sally Kalin and Loanne Snavely from Pennsylvania State University provided a primer for all librarians faced with establishing a central role for the library's contribution to teaching and learning. Eight strategies with representative activities and examples were shared. While examples were primarily based upon the presenters' experiences at their institution, the strategies had the potential for universal application. Scott Davis and Judy Tribble from Indiana State University shared an example of partnership with a very focused goal, the establishment of an information technology course. A previous attempt to establish
Instruction Librarians on the Road / Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
69
such a course at Indiana State University had been defeated in the Faculty Senate. The course was seen as too focused on computer skills with more emphasis needed on information skills. Library faculty worked with non-library faculty, the coordinator of the general education program, and a graduate student representative to create an information technology course for Faculty Senate review. The collaboration was successful, with the course scheduled as a pilot project for Fall 2000 and as a requirement for Fall 2001. The presentation included the development of realistic goals for involvement in the institution's curricular approval process. Information literacy was the theme of the fourth round of contributed papers that I attended. Joann Bukhardt, Mary MacDonald, and Andree Rathemacher from the University of Rhode Island described their efforts to move toward credit generating models for the development of information-literate students. They outlined one-credit and three-credit course models. The one-credit model requires concurrent enrollment in a disciple specific course. Their first experience was with an Introduction to Business Management course. The threecredit hour course was designed to meet the needs of continuing education students. Both courses were designed to help the intended audience reduce library research anxiety and to foster collaboration between teaching faculty and librarians. Oskar Harmon and Shelley Cudiner described a one-credit, University of Connecticut-Stamford course that helps students to develop Internet and database search skills and to develop Web-page design skills. Students create Web pages to which they add relevant research links and personal notes and critiques throughout the semester. Marybeth McCartin and Mariana Regalado, New York University, described the efforts of the Bobst Library Instructional Services Unit to begin integrating information literacy competencies into the undergraduate curriculum. Because there are no university-wide core-curriculum requirements, individual courses were analyzed for opportunities for the introduction of information literacy competencies. Of the two courses included in the pilot projects, one did not include a research paper assignment while the other did. The pilot project experiences were developed into models of collaboration between librarians and teaching faculty and models for integrating information literacy into existing courses. During the last round of contributed papers, I attended the Web-based Library Instruction strand. Marsha Forys, University of Iowa, described how the Web-based tutorial, Library Explorer, was created to meet the needs of students enrolled in more than 100 sections of a rhetoric courses. Librarians were paired with teaching assistants to help with the design of assignments and to provide training in the selection and use of course relevant library resources. The teaching assistants, not the librarians, provided instruction to the students using librarian-generated handouts and Library Explorer. Lynne Rudasill, Lori DuBois, and Susan Searing of the University of Illinois at Urbana±Champaign outlined user-support efforts used when a new integrated library system was launched. Before the new system was available, respondents to a user survey indicated that they preferred to learn about the library on their own, with Web pages a second choice. After the new system was introduced, respondents to a second survey indicated that they had primarily used Web pages to learn about the system. Methods of providing instruction for users of the new systems as well as strategies for creating a climate for change were detailed. Melissa Koenig and Eric Novotny of the University of Illinois at Chicago outlined a strategy for using the Internet to deliver library instruction in a series of instruction modules. Using a Communications 100 course as a pilot project, instruction modules were created to replace a series of four workshops on four
70
Instruction Librarians on the Road / Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
library databases. Using their successful pilot project as an example, the presenters outlined a process and detailed technology needs and applications that could be implemented by other academic libraries. Poster sessions on a variety of topics were scheduled between the second and third rounds of contributed papers. Topics included design of Web pages, evaluations of Web sites, faculty training, needs assessment, and problem-based learning. All poster presentations appropriately supported the conference theme and goals. The value of establishing widely accepted information literacy competencies in creating powerful partnerships with teaching faculty and campus technology centers was an apparent theme throughout the presentations that I attended. A campus dialogue concerning information literacy helps to delineate the library's role in undergraduate and graduate education. During the final plenary session, Betsy Wilson of the University of Washington emphasized that, while individual campus environments dictate the form and types of effective collaborative efforts, the conversations inherent in collaboration establish the crucial links between the library and the learning and teaching functions of the institution. Scarecrow Press will publish in 2000 a book of contributed papers, User Education: Powerful Learning, Powerful Partnerships. Susan Deese-Roberts Zimmerman Library, Room 201A, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1466 USA Tel.: +1-505-277-1876. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Deese-Roberts).
Instruction Librarians on the Road Powerful learning: powerful partnerships University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Center for Teaching, November 11±12, 1999 The goals of the Powerful Learning: Powerful Partnerships conference sponsored by the University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Center for Teaching, November 11± 12, 1999, were achieved or exceeded. Using the theme ``Educating the University Community in a Dynamic Information Environment,'' the conference goals were directed toward exploring collaborations and partnerships in research library user education programs, including the value and impact of collaboration, information literacy efforts, evaluation and assessment, and the sharing of collaboration efforts. Presentations were made via poster sessions and contributed papers, with one poster session period having no scheduling conflicts and five rounds of contributed papers with 12 papers presented each round. Papers were presented in groups of three presentations, organized around themes related to conference goals. Themes included, for example, faculty outreach and development, program assessment, distance learning, working with technology centers, strategies for campus involvement, information literacy, and Web-based library instruction. Post-conference tours of the University of Iowa Libraries Information Arcade and Information Commons were also available to participants. Brian Hawkins, EDUCAUSE President and the speaker at the first plenary session, inspired librarians to be campus leaders, ``setting fires'' on campuses to provide changes needed in higher education. Acknowledging the unique perspective gained by academic librarians concerning learning and teaching, he extolled librarians to identify, create, and model examples of partnerships to enhance student learning, faculty development, and institutional improvement. Program assessment was the theme that organized the first round of three contributed papers that I attended. One paper focused on a comprehensive, 3-year, multi-part assessment project undertaken at the University of Iowa. Two members of the User Needs Assessment Group, Dorothy Persson and Carlette Washington-Hoagland, presented the paper. The project focused on identifying the library service and resource needs of (i) undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, (ii) faculty, and (iii) staff. During the presentation, they focused on identifying library service and resource needs of graduate students; information concerning the project process was also provided. The other two presentations reported on assessment of library skills at the freshman level. Marsha Miller from Indiana State University presented a paper that focused on library involvement in freshman student success efforts through Freshman Year Experience Learning Communities and a new (Fall 2000) information literacy course. These efforts bring focus to assessing student knowledge and assumptions about academic libraries in preparing students for learning fundamental and advanced university 0734-3310/00/$ ± see front matter D 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 7 3 4 - 3 3 1 0 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 2 7 - 6
68
Instruction Librarians on the Road / Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
library skills. W. Bede Mitchell and Ann Viles reported on the development and results of an information competency assessment given to freshman students at Appalachian State University for the first time in September 1999. Appalachian State has an Assessment Day into which the library skills assessment was incorporated. The development of the assessment of information competencies was a collaborative project including faculty from a number of different campus departments. Through these papers, it became apparent that becoming involved in student success efforts is an important strategy for librarians; many collaborative projects can develop from these academic success and retention projects. The second round of papers included the one in which I made a presentation on campus learning centers as library partners. That presentation included reasons for viewing learning centers as potential library partners and suggested forms for collaborations such as term paper workshops, library strategies tutors, and student assistant training. The campus learning center at the University of New Mexico has been housed in the largest campus library since the establishment of the center in 1979. Though the presentation included some examples from the University of New Mexico experience, the focus was on collaborations with learning centers regardless of campus location and administration. Also included in this round of papers was a presentation by Margaret Porter from the University of Notre Dame who described the establishment of a Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable (TLTR). Porter introduced the model for TLTRs supported by the American Association of Higher Education (http://www.tltgroup.org/). A TLTR is a campus-wide collaboration, bringing together all groups that shape the campus teaching and learning environment. The broad nature of the collaboration does create some challenges but also provides the opportunity for great benefit. Jon Hufford described collaboration activities focused on distance learning and the use of new technologies in the classroom at Texas Tech University. Effective collaborations resulted in an on-line tutorial that introduces undergraduates to the campus libraries and to fundamental library research concepts. Other collaborative projects, in various stages of development, include a Web-based credit course for distance students. The Texas Tech University's Distance Learning Council, the Distance Learning Team of the Texas Tech Libraries, and the Teaching, Learning and Technology Center provided the leadership for the collaborative projects. During the third round of contributed papers, I attended the Campus Strategies presentations that focused on library involvement in campus partnerships. Lisa Hinchliffe and Pat Meckstroth described library instruction in the general education program at Illinois State University. Librarians were involved in campus-wide efforts to reform and invigorate the general education requirements of the University. Five required general education courses involve information literacy objectives and library instruction components. These collaboration efforts with teaching faculty resulted in the integration of information competencies and related library instruction and assignments into the academic program of all undergraduate students. Sally Kalin and Loanne Snavely from Pennsylvania State University provided a primer for all librarians faced with establishing a central role for the library's contribution to teaching and learning. Eight strategies with representative activities and examples were shared. While examples were primarily based upon the presenters' experiences at their institution, the strategies had the potential for universal application. Scott Davis and Judy Tribble from Indiana State University shared an example of partnership with a very focused goal, the establishment of an information technology course. A previous attempt to establish
Instruction Librarians on the Road / Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
69
such a course at Indiana State University had been defeated in the Faculty Senate. The course was seen as too focused on computer skills with more emphasis needed on information skills. Library faculty worked with non-library faculty, the coordinator of the general education program, and a graduate student representative to create an information technology course for Faculty Senate review. The collaboration was successful, with the course scheduled as a pilot project for Fall 2000 and as a requirement for Fall 2001. The presentation included the development of realistic goals for involvement in the institution's curricular approval process. Information literacy was the theme of the fourth round of contributed papers that I attended. Joann Bukhardt, Mary MacDonald, and Andree Rathemacher from the University of Rhode Island described their efforts to move toward credit generating models for the development of information-literate students. They outlined one-credit and three-credit course models. The one-credit model requires concurrent enrollment in a disciple specific course. Their first experience was with an Introduction to Business Management course. The threecredit hour course was designed to meet the needs of continuing education students. Both courses were designed to help the intended audience reduce library research anxiety and to foster collaboration between teaching faculty and librarians. Oskar Harmon and Shelley Cudiner described a one-credit, University of Connecticut-Stamford course that helps students to develop Internet and database search skills and to develop Web-page design skills. Students create Web pages to which they add relevant research links and personal notes and critiques throughout the semester. Marybeth McCartin and Mariana Regalado, New York University, described the efforts of the Bobst Library Instructional Services Unit to begin integrating information literacy competencies into the undergraduate curriculum. Because there are no university-wide core-curriculum requirements, individual courses were analyzed for opportunities for the introduction of information literacy competencies. Of the two courses included in the pilot projects, one did not include a research paper assignment while the other did. The pilot project experiences were developed into models of collaboration between librarians and teaching faculty and models for integrating information literacy into existing courses. During the last round of contributed papers, I attended the Web-based Library Instruction strand. Marsha Forys, University of Iowa, described how the Web-based tutorial, Library Explorer, was created to meet the needs of students enrolled in more than 100 sections of a rhetoric courses. Librarians were paired with teaching assistants to help with the design of assignments and to provide training in the selection and use of course relevant library resources. The teaching assistants, not the librarians, provided instruction to the students using librarian-generated handouts and Library Explorer. Lynne Rudasill, Lori DuBois, and Susan Searing of the University of Illinois at Urbana±Champaign outlined user-support efforts used when a new integrated library system was launched. Before the new system was available, respondents to a user survey indicated that they preferred to learn about the library on their own, with Web pages a second choice. After the new system was introduced, respondents to a second survey indicated that they had primarily used Web pages to learn about the system. Methods of providing instruction for users of the new systems as well as strategies for creating a climate for change were detailed. Melissa Koenig and Eric Novotny of the University of Illinois at Chicago outlined a strategy for using the Internet to deliver library instruction in a series of instruction modules. Using a Communications 100 course as a pilot project, instruction modules were created to replace a series of four workshops on four
70
Instruction Librarians on the Road / Research Strategies 17 (2000) 67 ± 70
library databases. Using their successful pilot project as an example, the presenters outlined a process and detailed technology needs and applications that could be implemented by other academic libraries. Poster sessions on a variety of topics were scheduled between the second and third rounds of contributed papers. Topics included design of Web pages, evaluations of Web sites, faculty training, needs assessment, and problem-based learning. All poster presentations appropriately supported the conference theme and goals. The value of establishing widely accepted information literacy competencies in creating powerful partnerships with teaching faculty and campus technology centers was an apparent theme throughout the presentations that I attended. A campus dialogue concerning information literacy helps to delineate the library's role in undergraduate and graduate education. During the final plenary session, Betsy Wilson of the University of Washington emphasized that, while individual campus environments dictate the form and types of effective collaborative efforts, the conversations inherent in collaboration establish the crucial links between the library and the learning and teaching functions of the institution. Scarecrow Press will publish in 2000 a book of contributed papers, User Education: Powerful Learning, Powerful Partnerships. Susan Deese-Roberts Zimmerman Library, Room 201A, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1466 USA Tel.: +1-505-277-1876. E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Deese-Roberts).