A Guided Active-Learning Activity for Sophomore-Level Library Experiences by Caroline Geck, Kean University Librarian

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A Guided Active-Learning Activity for
Sophomore-Level Library Experiencesby Caroline
Geck, Kean University Librarian

• My presentation describes the process of creating
  an active-learning exercise that can be used in
  place of a traditional library instruction
  session (a lecture and hands-on experiences) for
  sophomore-level Research and Technology general
  education courses, especially when I serve as a
  traveling librarian and visit the students
  classroom labs.

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My Goal

• I wanted to design an activity that meets a major
  learning goal for a research-geared course like
  that of Research and Technology.
• I decided to focus on further developing
  students meta-cognitive schemas or strategies
  for scholarly article identification. (The
  recognition of the difference between scholarly
  journals and trade and popular magazines also
  meets ACRL Information Literacy Competency
  Standards for Higher Education 1.2.d and 3.2.a.)

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Meta-Cognitive Schemas?

• Meta-cognition refers to thinking about ones
  thinking. Meta-cognitive schemas can be defined
  as a process of learning in which individuals
  build upon their prior knowledge representations
  or schemas. New learning occurs when new
  connections are constructed from prior schemas.
• Meta-cognitive schemas or knowledge
  representations are also called mind maps and
  visually represented by concept maps.

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Concept Map for the Definition of a Scholarly
Article
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Lets Team Up to Explore Scholarly and Popular
Articles Online An Active-Learning Activity

• Students work in groups of three to five, and the
  activity has three explicit objectives
• Learning to access electronic resources
  (E-resources) from the librarys homepage.
• Being able to distinguish quickly between
  scholarly and popular articles by noting
  differences in content, writing styles, and
  formats.
• Developing skills in evaluating information while
  working in multi-window environments.
• The objectives are followed by brief directions
  about how to begin retrieving the full texts
  corresponding to an APA-formatted References list
  and then completing the worksheet with critical
  skills questions comparing and contrasting
  scholarly and non-scholarly items. These
  questions are then used to answer the final
  question Define a scholarly article?
• Students are also told to be prepared to present
  their worksheet answers to the rest of the class
  and to give reasons for their choices.

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Initial Observations of Students and the Activity
in Two Library Instruction Sessions for Research
and Technology

• After my initial introductions and assistance for
  a few groups retrieving the first full text,
  students became very engaged with the activity
  and started intensely discussing the questions.
• The guided design of the activity enabled groups
  to complete the activity in 20 to 30 minutes.
• During the presentation phase, the students gave
  well-thought-out answers to the last question
  Define a scholarly article?

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Presentations and My Opportunity to Ask Students
about the Activity

• I asked the students if there were too many
  questions on the worksheet? The overwhelming
  majority of students said either no or that the
  activity had the right number of questions.
• I asked the students whether I should use the
  activity in future classes? Many students
  commented that they liked the assignment and
  encouraged me to use the assignment in future
  classes.
• Students made comments similar to the statement
  that they would find scholarly articles in the
  future to support their research. These comments
  indicate that the students realized that
  scholarly articles would lend more support to
  their research than other types of articles.
• One student even said that he had gained
• new strategies to identify scholarly articles.

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Unexpected Benefits

• The active learning exercise seemed to
  reinvigorate learning and interest in the
  information seeking process
• Teams that finished early became very curious
  about the librarys database page and wanted to
  know if they could use the same databases for
  their own projects. Students also asked for
  database recommendations based on their topic of
  research.
• Several students commented that they were not
  aware of these databases and would have liked to
  been introduced to these databases earlier in
  their careers.
• Other students asked me about their search
  strategies and research topics.
• The overwhelmingly majority of students stayed
  after the activity was completed to conduct their
  own research.

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Some Final Thoughts

• This activity can be adapted to your own needs in
  freshmen-level and sophomore-level library
  experiences and is an example of the integration
  of information literacy skills directly into the
  university and college classroom.
• This activity can also be adapted to an online
  environment, and its learning benefits can be
  further enhanced through a combined process of
  discussion and reflection.
• Learning can be deepened in a physical classroom
  or online by letting students generate their own
  questions for group discussion.

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Constructive Learning in Library Instruction How
Does IT Compare With the Traditional Method?

• Ma Lei Hsieh
• Monmouth University

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Objectives of the Library Instruction Session

• Students will be able to
• Find journal articles in databases
• Find books in the Library Catalog
• Use Library Services

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Surveyed Students

• Include 7 classes (80 students)
• Majors of the classes education,
• communication, computer science, history
• No freshmen students in the study

Method Undergraduate Graduate
Traditional 1 2
Constructive 2 2
No. of students 47 33
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Traditional Method

• Librarian demonstrates, students follow
  alone.
• Students do exercises on journal databases.
  
• Librarian and faculty help.

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Constructive Method

• Three principles
• Students construct their own learning with
  minimum instruction.
• Peer learning and teaching
• Instructor as coach in the learning process.

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Constructive Method

• A. Journal databases
• Librarian explains peer-reviewed vs. popular
  journals / magazines, show databases on Lib.
  Web.
• Divide Students into 4 groups of 2-5. Each group
  work with a database.
• Students search on selected topics.
• Group representatives present their search
• findings to the class (via NetSupport).
  
• Librarian gives critique of the searches and
  explains about the features of the databases.

Continues
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Constructive Method (continued)

• B. Using traditional method to present
• Journal Locator
• Library Catalog
• Library Services

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Evaluation

• All classes give evaluation at the end
• Grade level
• Had a Library Instruction (ILI) Before?
• Three things learned in this session.
• What still confused you.
• Met your expectations?

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Constructive vs. Traditional Methods
Method Had ILI Met Expect. No. of Students
Constructive 60 88 57
Traditional 36 98 23
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Undergraduate vs. Graduate
Method Had ILI Met Expect. No. of Students
Undergraduate 77 83 47
Graduate 29 99 33
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What Did Students Learn?
Constructive Traditional
Journal databases 27 Journal databases 26
Search tips keywd strategies, , Adv. Search, modify searches 12 Search tips keywd strategies, , Adv. Search, Modify searches 17
Peer-reviewed vs. Popular 9 Peer-reviewed vs. popular 9
Search books Catalog 8 Search books Catalog 9
Citation 6 ILL 9
Other 22 categories Other 8 categories
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Still Confused?
Constructive Traditional
Peer reviewed vs. popular Peer reviewed vs. popular
Find journal articles Citation
Catalog Catalog
14 other categories
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Constructive LearningAdvantages / disadvantages
Advantages Disadvantages
Engaging students - Students work with peers and faculty. Time is a challenge discuss, develop search strategies, present
Break learning mode from listening to doing. Students dont discover things thoroughly for lack of experience / time.
Students retain better of what they learned. Exploring new items, some students may feel confused.
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Teaching with Constructive Method

• 2 or 3 a group is more effective than 4 and more.
• A smaller class works better than a large class.
• Its time consuming to use this method. Use one
  part of instruction in this method.
• Use traditional method with it.

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Conclusions

• Both methods are effective if students are
  engaged.
• Students retain more with constructive method.
  But its more time consuming to teach.
• Not everyone likes it. Use traditional method
  with it to meet various learning styles.
• Assessment gives librarians feedback to adjust
  teaching to meet students needs.

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Jacqui DaCosta

• The College of New Jersey

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What is the Cephalonian Method?

• A fusion of color, images, humor and music!
• A way to involve participants in the session and
  to encourage questions
• An attempt to relieve the boredom for all
  involved!

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How does this work?

• There are 8 colored cards around the room each
  with a question or a statement
• Colors are assigned to different types or
  categories of relevant topics
• Related topics are grouped and assigned a color
• Be prepared to address any question from the
  colored topic set and number your PowerPoint
  slides!

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How the Cephalonian Method started

• Cardiff University librarian on holiday
• Developed by Linda Davies and Nigel Morgan
• Used initially for large group orientation and to
  replace tours

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Popularity of the Cephalonian Method

• Revealed to the unsuspecting British librarian
  public in 2004!
• Been used
• For large groups and small groups
• At different types of institutions
• With undergraduates and graduates
• For orientation and other teaching sessions

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My Moms e-mailed me a picture of Miguel, my pet
iguana. Where can I print him out?

• 2 PC rooms (24 hour access)
• Microsoft applications
• Subject databases
• Internet email access
• Network printing accounts
• Laser printing

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What really irritates us?

• Eating drinking
• Excessive noise
• Theft
• Cell phones !
• Cell phones !!
• Cell phones !!!

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Reactions to the Cephalonian Method?

• Students
• They seem to like it its something different
• They laugh with you and are keen to see what is
  coming next
• Faculty
• Wonderful
• Superb
• They like the style

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What can go wrong?

• Need a contingency plan for the technology to let
  you down!
• You are inviting a moderate amount of chaos into
  your classroom
• You cant audition the students
• Shyness
• Audibility
• Color blindness

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Benefits of the Cephalonian Method

• A good icebreaker
• Adaptable for different audiences
• It can make the students look forward to their
  next library session!
• Achieves certain active learning objectives
• Interaction
• Discussion and questions