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Library Instruction and Student Engagement in the Age of Google

Library Instruction and Student Engagement in the Age of Google . William H. Weare, Jr., Access Services Librarian Valparaiso University Michelle Kowalsky, Reference Librarian & Instructor William Paterson University LOEX 36th National Conference: Oak Brook, Illinois, May 1-3, 2008.

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Library Instruction and Student Engagement in the Age of Google

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  1. Library Instruction and Student Engagement in the Age of Google William H. Weare, Jr., Access Services Librarian Valparaiso University Michelle Kowalsky, Reference Librarian & Instructor William Paterson University LOEX 36th National Conference: Oak Brook, Illinois, May 1-3, 2008

  2. If you tell me, I will listen.If you show me, I will see.But if your let me experience, I will learn. --Chinese Philosopher Lao-tse (5th century B.C.) Quoted in Learning Theories A to Z. David C. Leonard. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. (p. 3)

  3. Overview • Acknowledge student searching practices and extend them • Use Google to engage and then activate prior knowledge for memory and internalization • Help users plan search strategy by identifying what they know & want to know • Continue to help students generate questions which are answerable not by Google but by library databases

  4. What is student engagement? • "We define student engagement in academic work as the student's psychological investment in and effort directed toward learning, understanding, or mastering the knowledge, skills, or crafts that academic work is intended to promote." (Newman, 12)

  5. Why start with the web? • “89% of college student information searches begin with a search engine.”(from College Students’ Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, OCLC, 2006) • Why not start where they start?

  6. Course Description: First-Year Seminar: Intersections • Intersections is an interdisciplinary seminar designed to introduce students to the intellectual life at a liberal arts college in general and, more specifically, to academic life at Central.

  7. Lyn Isaacson’s Class: • Begin the instruction session with a web evaluation exercise • Establish that resources found via the open web require evaluation and can be problematic • Move to library-provided electronic resources where less intensive evaluation by user is required

  8. Groups 1 and 3:Materials Found on the Web • “Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin Ice” (from ndrc.org) • “Global Warming and the Extremes of the Earth. . .” (from worldviewofglobalwarming.org) • “Testimony of Michael Crichton before the United States Senate” (from crichton-official.com) • “Climate of 2004. . .” (from ncdc.noaa.gov)

  9. Groups 2 and 4:Newspaper and Journal Articles • “Big Thaw Coming” (from Science News—via ASP) • “Alaska's Changing Landscape. . . ”(from The International Herald Tribune—via LexisNexis Academic) • “The Big Thaw”(from National Geographic—via ASP) • “The Costs of Warming”(from The Berkshire Eagle—via LexisNexis Academic)

  10. Directions: • All four teams will have 10 minutes to view and evaluate the sources. • Be prepared to defend your decision.

  11. Activating Prior Knowledge • Activating prior knowledge also prepares the mind to integrate new knowledge and concepts that become increasingly difficult • Help students associate library searching with their previously 'easy' and 'enjoyable' search engine experiences

  12. Education 203: Introduction to Teaching and Field Experience • Education 203 is for teacher education students and those who wish to explore teaching as a career; it includes an introduction to the profession, what it takes to become a teacher, the role of teachers, standards that govern education, and so forth.

  13. Education 203: Library Instruction Session Overview • Making the research process easier (Topic → Question → Rationale) • Where do you start? (Finding Information on the Web) • So, where do I start? (Reference Resources) • Finding Articles: Techniques (Academic Search Premier + ERIC) • Microforms • APA Formatting • Finding Books (Call Numbers & Subject Headings)

  14. Google and Yahoo! Search Comparison 4/11/2008 11:30 AM

  15. Learning to Plan a Search Strategy • “Talk through” with a partner; what do I know & want to know (social learning theory) • Periodically while searching, ask “what have I learned?” (KWL) • Learn to use keywords from Google results and subject headings from library databases (scaffolding) • Akin to reputation management of Scholar and ISI (transfer)

  16. Google vs. Google Scholar • Demonstrate an exercise in Google Scholar that will help students discover significantly better resources than would be found by using a search engine • Search a selected topic in Google • Repeat the search in Scholar • Compare and discuss the results

  17. Using Scholar to Transition to Library Provided Electronic Resources After setting up a search exercise in Scholar, ask your students, • Can you find full text from here? • Can you find similar articles from here? How? • Do you have time to browse 2,500 or 25,000 or 250,000 articles? Key question: Can you identify a better approach to finding scholarly articles?

  18. Value of libraries and the extensive online and print sources • Introducing library databases by starting with a search on Google Scholar or Google Book Search can help to enhance students' value of libraries and the extensive online and print sources they provide. . . . As students begin to understand that the library pays for full-text access to articles online (and books in print!), they will see the value in using library resources right from the start of their searches.

  19. Keyword searching vs. subject searching • During the transition from open web to library-provided electronic resources, have a “discussion” about the differences of keyword searching vs. subject searching and subject headings • Do a demonstration in a multi-disciplinary database like Academic Search Premier

  20. Conclusion • Use what students know to generate a starting point & work from there • Don’t insult them for inadequate or inaccurate understandings • Help them generate meta-understandings of how information is organized, not just enough skill to do the project at hand

  21. Conclusion • Help them formulate their own questions about search engine results by modeling • Construct examples that favor Google for keywords and library databases for scholarly treatments of those keywords • Show don’t tell

  22. Contact us: • William H. Weare, Jr. william.weare@gmail.com • Michelle Kowalsky michelle.kowalsky@gmail.com

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