Research to Go: Taking an Information Literacy Course Online

1. Research to Go: Taking an Information Literacy Course Online John J. Burke Jessie H. Long Beth E. Tumbleson Miami University Middletown

2. Question: Who here teaches an Information Literacy course? • How many of those are face-to-face? • How many are hybrid? • How many are online? • How many meet for the entire semester? Shorter time? • How many credit hours are offered? 1, 2, 3? • Is the course P/F? Grades?

3. The course: effective use of libraries, edt 251 • 2 Credit Course • Elective • Letter Grade • Late Start • 10 Weeks, Once Weekly for 2 Hours and 40 Minutes • Enrollment Cap of 15

4. A brief history • English Faculty Member Taught for 20 Years • 4 Sections of 15 Students per Semester • Exposure to Different Sources • Finding Tools: OPAC, LCSH, Databases • Bibliography as Final Exam • Professor Retired • Course Handed to Librarians to Teach in 2008 • Course Overhauled

5. Purpose • Academic, online research • Use university library system & statewide library consortium OhioLINK • Develop 21stcentury information literacy skills • Become lifelong learners

6. Exposure to: • Research process • Scholarly communication • Mind mapping tools • Project calculators • Finding tools: OPACS, databases, search engines • Time-savers: citation generators, RSS feeds • Online presentation tools

7. Course Comprises • Online textbook and readings • Digital videos • Lecture • Demonstrations • Discussion • In-class hands-on activities • Quizzes • Multi-Part Project • Wiki, Blog

8. Our students • Regional university campus • Established in 1966 • 2700 students • Open access • Commute • Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Certificates • PSEOP , Traditional, & Non-Traditional • Average age – 25 • Majority work part-time

9. The issues • Students New to Higher Education • Diverse Abilities • A Matter of Timing • Showing Up • Old Habits • Enlightenment Dawns

10. Statistics • Enrollment Cap of 15 • Registration Full • Completion • Fall 2008 (2 Sections) – 6 students; 11 students • Spring 2009 – 16 students • Fall 2009 – 15 students • Spring 2010 – 7 students • Fall 2010 – 14 students • Spring 2011 – 10 students • Fall 2011 – 10 students • Spring 2012 – 5 students

11. Rationale for Online Course • Information literacy is an essential skill academically, professionally • Convenient for students with multiple commitments • Likelihood of greater outreach and larger enrollment • Abundance of online, academic sources and finding tools • University-wide push for online courses

12. Timeline: f2f, hybrid, online • F2F: Fall 2008-Fall 2011 • Hybrid: Fall 2011 – Hamilton; Spring 2012 – Middletown • Hybrid will continue in Hamilton and Middletown for Fall semesters • Online: Spring 2013 • Question: How many have taught an information literacy course in multiple formats? How many have adapted an information literacy course?

13. Steps for Adaption: a look at the literature • Two main foci • Reviewing the content arrangement of EDT 251 and considering the inclusion of new course content • Searching for other examples of online information literacy courses and the process by which they were transformed from face-to-face courses • ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (Association 2000). • Determine the extent of information needed • Access the needed information effectively and efficiently • Evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base • Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose • Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

14. An Analysis of Online Syllabi for Credit-Bearing Library Skills Courses • Hrycaj, P. L. (2006) • Collected 100 examples of syllabi from information literacy courses. • Top eight most common topic areas covered are: • Periodical databases • Web searching • Online catalog • Web site evaluation • Writing citations • Monograph evaluation • Research strategy • Periodical evaluation

15. Issues that arose • Bureaucracy Happens • Forms to fill out for adapting the course • Approval from the department • Moving things along in the slow process of academia • MIA Staff • Lack of eLearning Director • Lack of Educational Technology Coordinator • Lack of IT Director • Switch to a new LMS • From Blackboard to Sakai

16. Inventive Solutions • Working with Hamilton on adapting the course on both campuses • Offering an “undercover hybrid” http://www.facebook.com/IntlSpyMuseum

17. How the undercover hybrid works

18. EDT 251 Course page

19. Syllabus

20. Weekly Agenda

21. Forum

22. Assignments

23. Quizzes

24. Resources

25. Next Steps • Second offering of the hybrid course (Fall 2012) • Develop the online course over Summer 2012 and Fall 2012 • Continue to assess the course to shape content and methods • Change the name of the course

26. TRAILS Assessment http://www.trails-9.org

27. Future plans • Improve marketing to students • Connect with advisors • Increase student retention • Offering in one-credit version – August and January STEP courses • Linking to a specific department or program • Sharing modules with discipline-based courses • Conversion to a different course

28. Questions? Presentation Available http://www.slideshare.net/longjhmum/research-to-go

29. References Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL). (2000). Information Literacy Competencies for Higher Education. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency Badke, W. (2011). Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog. 4th ed. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://acts.twu.ca/Library/preface.htm Hollister, C. V. (2010). Best practices for credit-bearing information literacy courses. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. Hrycaj, P. L. (2006). An Analysis of Online Syllabi for Credit-Bearing Library Skills Courses. College & Research Libraries, 67(6), 525-535. Mery, Y, Newby, J., and Peng, K. (2012). Why One-shot Information Literacy Sessions Are Not the Future of Instruction: A Case for Online Credit Courses. College & Research Libraries(anticipated publication date May 2012). Retrieved December 12, 2011, from http://crl.acrl.org/content/early/2011/08/26/crl-271.short Samson, S. (2010). Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student Success. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(3), 202-210. TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills. (n.d.). TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from http://www.trails-9.org