Asian Studies and Information Literacy: An Integrated Approach

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Asian Studies and Information Literacy An
Integrated Approach

• Researching and Teaching Resources About Asia in
  the New Millenium
• 14 February 2005
• Kris MacPherson and Barbara Reed

2
Tonights Agenda

• National call for action
• Overview of Info Lit and Asian Studies at
  undergraduate level
• St. Olafs process for imbedding info lit in the
  AS major
• AS 275 Interdisciplinary Approaches to Asia

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Greater Expectations The Commitment to Quality
As a Nation Goes to College AACU 2003

• Students must become
• Empowered through the mastery of intellectual and
  practical skills
• Informed by knowledge about the natural and
  social worlds and about forms of inquiry basic to
  these studies, and
• Responsible for their personal actions and for
  civic values

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The Empowered Learner

• Identify, retrieve, interpret and evaluate
  information from a variety of sources
• Transform information into knowledge and
  knowledge into judgment and action

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Information Literacy as a Liberal Art

• Tool literacy
• Resource literacy
• Social-structural literacy
• Research literacy
• Publishing literacy

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Information Competency Standards for Higher
Education ACRL 2000

• Determines nature and extent of info needed
• Accesses need info effectively efficiently
• Evaluates info and sources critically and
  selectively incorporates it into knowledge base
  and value system
• Uses info to accomplish specific purpose
• Understands many of the economic, legal and
  social issues surrounding its use

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Whats old?

• The concerns really arent new
• Weve been doing this together for a long time in
  many cases
• Bibliographic instruction/Library instruction

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Whats New?

• Increasing amount and complexity of available
  information
• Plethora of means to access information
• Variety of quality
• Comprehensiveness
• Variety of levels of difficulty to use
• Inability of our vetting systems to keep up
• National call for info lit by whatever name

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Approaches to Teaching Disciplinary Methods and
Information LiteracyIn Asian Studies

• Using the Introductory Course
• Using a disciplinary focus
• Using a research methods course

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Using a disciplinary focus

• University of Wisconsin Madison, major in Asian
  Studies
• Requires eight credits in one discipline and a
  senior thesis
• http//www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/10lettsci/depts/asian.
  html
•  
• University of California-Berkeley Group in Asian
  Studies, Undergraduate program
• Two courses must be in the same discipline. One
  of the two must be a course whose primary purpose
  is to introduce the theories and methods of the
  discipline.
• http//ieas.berkeley.edu/gas/undergrad_program.htm
  l

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Using a disciplinary focus

• Macalester College, major in Asian Studies
• Requires six courses in a single discipline (not
  necessarily focused on Asia) plus a senior
  seminar or independent research project
• http//www.macalester.edu/academic/catalog/program
  /
• asi_m.html
•  
• Colorado College, major in Asian Studies
• Requires one advanced disciplinary methods course
  outside Asian Studies plus a senior seminar
• http//www.colorado.edu/ealc/aprg.html

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Using a research methods course

• Bryn Mawr College, major in East Asian Studies
• Requires a sophomore seminar on approaches and
  methods plus a senior thematic seminar
• http//www.brynmawr.edu/eastasian/courses.html
•  
• Victoria University (Australia), major in Asian
  Studies
• Offers a course on social science methods
  Research methods and techniques in Asian Studies
• http//www.vu.edu.au/Faculties/Arts/Undergraduate_
  Courses/Asian_Studies/
•  
• University of Albany, major in East Asian Studies
• Offers East Asian Research and Bibliographic
  Methods
• http//www.albany.edu/eas/205/syllabus202004.htm

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AS/Library Collaboration

• Since 1982
• Assignment-specific instruction
• Work with first-years
• Work with senior seminar students

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The Stimulus

• Our own frustrations
• Consultants confirmation
• Freeman Grant librarian focus on collection and
  services overall
• ACM monies

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Actions

• Common readings
• Goal setting
• Our own competency standards for StO students
• Sequential approach
• Assignments coordinated

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Accessing St. Olaf Asian Studies Info Lit
Documents
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Accessing, Part II
 
To bottom of page
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StO AS Competencies

• Asian Studies Information Literacy Concepts by
  Course Level
• http//www.stolaf.edu/library/instruction/infolit
  /AsStudILConceptsRubric.xls

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StO AS Assignments

• Asian Studies Course Assignments Linked to
  Concepts
• http//www.stolaf.edu/library/instruction/infolit
  /AsStudILAssignmentsRubric.xls

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St. Olaf CollegeOur Research Methods Course

• Asian Studies 275
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Asia
• Aimed at sophomores and juniors
• 1.5 hour class once a week

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Asian Studies 275 Course Goals

• To introduce majors to the interdisciplinary
  nature of the field and to provide preparation
  for the senior seminar.
• To provide a grounding in the approaches
  different disciplines make to a common body of
  knowledge

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Introductory Issues

• Disciplinary and interdisciplinary What's all
  the fuss?
• Asian Studies as a field of study History,
  current status, future, as experienced at St.
  Olaf
• Introduction to the common topic Great Wall of
  China and Japanese anime

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The Great Wall and Anime Faculty Presentations

• Questions from the disciplines
• History, Literature, Religious Studies
• Economics, Political Science,
• Socio-linguistics
• Fine Arts
• Sciences
• Interdisciplinary Approaches

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Resources in Asian Studies

• Encyclopedias, annual reviews, statistical
  sources, bibliographies and catalogs in English
  and CJK, biographical materials
• Databases, Newspapers, Journals, Review sources
• Citation indexes
• Websites and digital image collections with a
  quick refresher on evaluating websites

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Presentation skills

• EndNote
• Web portfolios
• Advanced PowerPoint

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• Joining the scholarly conversation in Asian
  Studies
• AAS and the Newsletter
• H-Asia
• Asia-Network, etc.
• Grants and other opportunities for undergraduate
  and graduate work Rotary, Fulbright, Freeman,
  etc.
• Career Paths for Asian Studies Majors,
  Concentrators or Interested Folks

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For more information on this course

• http//www.stolaf.edu/library/instruction/infolit/
  InterdiscApAsiaSyllabus.dochttp//www.stolaf.edu
  /library/instruction/infolit/InterdiscApAsiaTimeli
  ne.xls

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StO AS Assignments

• Asian Studies Course Assignments Linked to
  Concepts
• http//www.stolaf.edu/library/instruction/infolit
  /AsStudILAssignmentsRubric.xls