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Providing Information Literacy Instruction to Graduate Students

Providing Information Literacy Instruction to Graduate Students. Hannah Gascho Rempel Graduate Student Services Coordinator, Oregon State University OLA/WLA Conference April 18, 2008. Where We’re Headed Today. Who are our graduate students anyway?

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Providing Information Literacy Instruction to Graduate Students

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  1. Providing Information Literacy Instruction to Graduate Students Hannah Gascho Rempel Graduate Student Services Coordinator, Oregon State University OLA/WLA Conference April 18, 2008

  2. Where We’re Headed Today • Who are our graduate students anyway? • What are their information literacy needs? • Some ideas for providing instructional services (Example – OSU Libraries)

  3. Why Focus on Graduate Students? • Traditionally underserved • Future faculty • Part of our strategic direction • Personal interest

  4. Who Are They?

  5. dsandler – Rice University

  6. Grad Student Facts & Figures • 13.9% of all students enrolled nationally(2001 – U.S. Dept. of Ed., Pontius & Harper, 2006) OUS 2006 Factbook

  7. Grad Student Facts & Figures • 28% are members of minority groups (U.S. citizens) – (In Oregon 10.6%) • 13% - African-Americans • 8% - Hispanic • 6% - Asian/Pacific Islander • 1% Native American • 16% are international students Council of Graduate Schools, 2007

  8. Grad Student Facts & Figures • 59% are female (65% at master’s-only institutions) – Oregon 58% F, 42% M Council of Graduate Schools, 2007; OUS 2006 Factbook

  9. Grad Student Facts & Figures • Oregon 58% F, 42% M OUS 2006 Factbook

  10. Grad Student Facts & FiguresAreas of Study • Education (74% female) and business (55% male) were the most popular disciplines • Health sciences is the fastest growing field • 53% of international students studied either engineering or sciences; only 16% of U.S. students did Council of Graduate Schools, 2007

  11. Grad Student Facts & Figures • Grad students are adults OUS 2006 Factbook

  12. Grad Student Facts & Figures • 33 – average age at dissertation completion (Brus, 2006) • 25% - have at least one minor dependent (U. of Iowa study, Brus, 2006) • Only at the largest doctoral universities did a majority (67%) attend full-time (CGS, 2007) leahleaf

  13. Brus, 2006

  14. Brus, 2006

  15. Brus, 2006

  16. Grad Student Facts & FiguresDepressing Facts • 49% of humanities students finish their dissertation in 10 years (as opposed to 63.8% of life science and 64.4% of engineering students) • 38% of humanities students finish at least $35K in debt vs. 12% of engineering and 18% of life science students Council of Graduate Schools, 2007

  17. Ph.D. Completion Factors • 80% - financial support • 63% - mentoring/advising • 60% - family support • 39% - social environment & peer support • 39% - program quality • 30% - professional and career guidance Council of Graduate Schools, 2007

  18. Working with Adult Learners

  19. Working with Adult Learners • Adult learners bring their own learning preferences and needs • Expect to be accountable for more self-directed learning • Prefer learning through hands-on experience • Enjoy learning that addresses a specific problem • Typically have many more demands on their time, when compared with traditional-age students, due to family and work responsibilities. • (Dewald 1999; Ross-Gordon 2003)

  20. Graduate Student Info Seeking Behaviors • Learn from their peers (Brown 2005; Kuruppu and Gruber 2006) • Lack of time impacts willingness to try new library tools and techniques (Parrish 1989; Sadler and Given 2007) • Primarily use journal articles rather than books (Chrzastowski and Joseph 2006) • Prefer electronic access (Chrzastowski and Joseph 2006) • Desire cross-database searching (Maughan 1999) OSU Libraries

  21. Graduate Student Needs • Increase information literacy skills • Space to study/research/ write/collaborate • Community to interact with (“Community of Scholars”) cayce.vanhorn – Auburn University Libraries ARL/CNI Fall Forum 2007 Report

  22. Why Grad Students Are Often Underserved • The undergraduate population is so much bigger • Undergraduate student development arguably requires more attention and resources • The perception that academic programs and departments already meet the needs of grad students • Grad students are experienced students – know how to navigate the higher ed system Pontius & Harper, 2006

  23. Traditional Barriers • Assumptions about level of familiarity and knowledge • By librarians • By faculty • By students themselves • Lack of a traditional access point

  24. Traditional Service Points • Orientations • Tool-specific classes • Research consultations • Reference Desk spencerselvidge

  25. Creating a Graduate Student Services Program Departmental Shifts Surveyed Student Needs Appointed a Coordinator Looked for the point of greatest impact Chose an instructional style Evaluated Workshop Promoted Workshop Expanded Options

  26. Why the Literature Review? • Survey results • Our own experiences as grad students (and librarians) • Common across departments • Specific, required information need • Great lead in for many IL competencies • Determining info needed, accessing, evaluating, incorporating, using effectively

  27. Why a Workshop? • Separate from a specific course • Broad reach • Interactive environment • Realistic post-school setting • Elements we included • Pre-registration, confirmation reminders, personalized packets, name tags, food and drink, seating, conversational tone, group work

  28. Workshop Promotion • Find the most effective means for your setting • Try multiple avenues • Posters, handouts, emails from subject librarians, emails from grad advisors • Evaluate what actually worked

  29. Definition and purpose of the literature review Communicating with your advisor Comprehensiveness Strategies for conducting a literature review Learning how to read and recognize patterns in the literature Effective database searching Useful library services (e.g. interlibrary loan) Organizing searches and results (e.g., saving searches, bibliographic management software) Keeping up with the literature (RSS feeds, Table of Contents alerts, social bookmarking, search alerts) Contacts for further help and participant evaluation of workshop What We Cover

  30. Evaluation • Pre-Assessment • Length of time at OSU? • Masters or Ph.D. student? • ILL use? • Summit use? • What article databases have you used? • What do you want to learn?

  31. Pre-Assessment Findings

  32. Pre-Assessment Findings

  33. Pre-Assessment Findings

  34. Pre-Assessment Findings

  35. Evaluation – Post Workshop • Self-assessment of learning • Review of how we did • What they would like to learn in the future

  36. Post Workshop Findings

  37. Future areas to explore • Target specific audiences • international students, older than average students, or distance learners • Offer classes for a range of skill levels • Involve faculty • Increase thesis writing support for graduate students (based on requests on student evals) • Partner with writing center, academic departments to explore options • Make other library workshop offerings available to graduate students • Provide resources for grad students in their role as teachers and researchers (not just students)

  38. Screenshot of Current Workshop Offerings

  39. Summary • Consider your audience • Create programs that meet a need

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