Achieving Information Fluency: The Wake Forest Approach

1
Achieving Information FluencyThe Wake Forest
Approach
David G. Brown VP, Dean (ICCEL) Professor
(Economics) Wake Forest University IT Everywhere
Conference George Mason University Fairfax,
Virginia April 30, 2001
2
Simple Outline

• What is Information Fluency?
• Whats Wake Forest doing to achieve it?
• What might you and others do?

3
Metaphors for Achieving Information Fluency

• Drive a car
• Pass drivers exam
• Use a library
• Write an essay
• Give a speech
• Name State Capitals

• Program a VCR
• Understand tennis
• Play tennis
• Speak French

Check the two that for you come closest!
4
Components of Information Fluency

• Find materials on the web in print
• Evaluate materials on the web in print
• Create a Spreadsheet
• Create a Web Page in html
• Place information on the web in print
• Organize information against hypotheses
• Know where to get help when stumped
• Recognize the perishability of information

Check all that apply add others.
5
DEFINITION Our students will graduate with
information fluency when they can
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
__________.
Your responsibility is to finish the sentence
on one of our 3x5 index cards. When you have
completed your assignment, form dyads
(two-somes), swap cards, And for 3 minutes talk
with each other about what been written on the
cards.
6
MY DEFINITION Our students will graduate with
information fluency when they can find,
evaluate, adapt, organize, and use data!
7
WHY INFORMATION FLUENCY?the institutional answer

• Communication Community!
• Level Playing Field
• After College Use
• Faculty/Students Demand Them
• Customized/Personalized
• Digitized Scholarship
• Marketable Difference

Wake Forest University
8
WHY INFORMATION FLUENCY?the faculty answer

• Interactive Learning
• Collaborative Learning
• Communication
• Visualization
• Different Strokes for Different Folks

David G. Brown, Editor Anker Publishing. 2000
Wake Forest University
9
Whats Wake Forest Doing?

• 3700 undergraduates
• 92 residential
• 500 each Med, Law, MBA, PhD
• 950M endowment
• Winston-Salem, NC
• Baptist Heritage
• 1300 average SAT
• 28th in US News World Report
• Top 35 Privates in Barrons Guide
• Rhodes Scholars

10
THE WAKE FOREST PLANIBM A22e, Pentium III, 700
Mhz, 20GB, 14ActMatrix, 196MB, Re-writable
CD56k modem, 8MB Video Ram, 10/100 Ethernet,
Floppy, USB Serial Parellel Infrared Ports

• IBM Laptops for all
• Printers for all
• New Every 2 Years
• Own _at_ Graduation
• 31.000 Connections
• Standard Software
• 99 E-Mail
• Start 1995, 4 Year Phase In
• 15 Tuition for 37 Items
• 40 Faculty and 30 Staff

ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
11
Computers Enhance My Teaching and/or Learning
Via--
Presentations Better--20
More Opportunities to Practice Analyze--35
More Access to Source Materials via Internet--43
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues,
Classmates, and Between Faculty and Students--87
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
12
Computers allow people----

• to belong to more communities
• to be more actively engaged in each community
• with more people
• over more miles
• for more months and years
• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE

ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
13
With Ubiquity---The Culture Changes

• Mentality shifts-- like from public phone to
  personal phone.
• Teaching Assumptions shift-- like from books in
  the public library to everyone owns a copy of
  his/her own.
• Timelines shift-- like from our class meets MWF
  to we see each other all the time and MWF we
  meet together
• Students sense of access shifts-- like from
  maybe I can get that book in the library to I
  have that book in my library.
• Relationships shift-- like from a family living
  in many different states to all family members
  living in the same town

ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
14
Ways of Thinking About Presidential Campaigns and
Debates A First Year Seminar Introducing Students
to the Liberal Arts
15 Freshmen Meet twice per week All with open
laptops
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
15
Browns First Year Seminar

• Before Class
• Students Find URLs Identify Criteria
• Interactive exercises
• Just-in-Time Quizzes
• E-mail dialogue
• Cybershows Lecture Notes
• During Class
• One Minute Quiz
• Computer Tip Talk
• E-mails to Classmates
• Class Polls
• Team Projects
• Chat During Lecture

• After Class
• Edit Drafts by Team
• Guest Editors
• Access Previous Papers
• Follow Up Discussion
• Other
• Daily Announcements
• Team Web Page
• Personal Web Pages
• Personal Portfolio
• Exams include Computer

ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
16
The Wake Forest Approach

• Integrate instruction with normal classes
• Convince students theyll use it after college
• Use the computer as a primary communication tool
• Declare information literacy as a given
• Use computer to register, participate in
  committee work, be active in the fraternity
• Empower everyone to be a trainer/teacher.

17
What Can We Do to Advance the Cause of
Information Fluency on Our Own Campuses?
Measure/Certify Results
Provide Learning Opportunities
Assure Universal Access
Pilot Programs
Raise Awareness
18
Actions to Raise Awareness

• Define Information Fluency
• Conduct PR Campaigns on Campuses
• Sponsor The Fluency Bowl
• Appoint Blue Ribbon Advisory Group

19
Pilot Programs

• Identify a Lead College
• Coordinate the Eager Departments from All
  Member Colleges
• Research Other Programs

20
Assure Universal Access(Field of Dreams Approach)

• Provide Client Machines (e.g. laptops)---either
  individually or at public stations
• Teach Assuming Access
• Buy Electronic Databases

21
Provide Learning Opportunities

• Fluency Camp
• Non-Credit Sessions (Required or Optional)
• Degree-Credit Course (Required or Elective)

22
Measure/Certify the Results

• Grade for Course
• Threshold Proficiency Test
• Fluency Certificate

23
Possible Roles for the Library

• Politic for Information Fluency
• Purchase Manage Electronic Databases
• Suggest All College Standards
• Train All Students (Just in Time)
• Train Faculty and Staff
• Certify Information Fluency

24
Possible Roles for the Faculty

• Define information fluency minimums
• Set policies for the use of technology
• Teach assuming information fluency
• Judge the wisdom of a requirement
• Politic for adequate funding
• Monitor the quality of fluency training

25
Possible Roles for IS

• Politic for Information Fluency
• Research Recommend Hardware and Software
• Choose back office components
• Implement and maintain infrastructure
• Sponsor Student Technology Assistants
• Enable After College Access

26
Students who have increasingly grown up buying
clothes, reading the news, chatting with friends,
doing research, and applying to colleges and
universities online have come to expect to use
the Internet in all facets of their lives.
Joanne Creighton and Paul Buchanan, Educause
Review, March/April, 2001.

• Our challenge is to make sure that as graduates
  they can find, evaluate, adapt, organize, use
  data!

Lets Go Out Lead The Movement!
27
David G. BrownWake Forest UniversityWinston-Sale
m, N.C. 27109336-758-4878email
brown_at_wfu.eduhttp//www.wfu.edu/brownfax
336-758-4875
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001