LOEX2008: Constructing a 3-credit hour information literacy course
Posted by comartslibrarian on May 2, 2008
Presented by Anne Pemberton and Rachel Radom of UNC-Wilmington
Powerpoint online at: http://tinyurl.com/4yg72z
Anything related to the course (syllabus, student blogs, lectures, tests, etc.) is at: http://lib103.blogspot.com
Course Moodle site is at: http://library.uncw.edu/web/instruction/lib103/radom.html
UNCW has about 12,000 students, 21 librarians - 10 librarians teach; 5 of whom teach credit courses. Over 10,000 sessions total!
@1997: Two 1-credit hour courses were previously taught by librarians, but had low enrollment. Was not offered consistently.
@2004: Computer Science Department approached library about creating a course for a new information technology minor. Library had previous collaborations w. the C.S. department.
There were some logistical questions about how to list this course and how would librarians be paid to teach this library course. Received an “LIB” prefix which made this course easier to spot in registration system (and maybe in Blackboard?). Librarians are not paid extra to teach this course, as it’s considered part of regular duties. :-/
This new course was introduced to Curriculum Committee, and faced some tough questions. Come prepared to answer questions like:
- What is the process of curricular formation within the Library?
- Who will be teaching these courses? Is the MLS the terminal degree? One statement: You don’t have a Ph.D., how can you be ready to teach?
- Don’t academic departments already offer a research methods course?
- How will you determine which classes to teach?
- How many classes will you teach?
- Do we want students to pay for this?
- Will this course be included in the basic studies (core) curriculum?
- Do you have enough material for a 3-hour course?
Approved by Faculty Senate, library curriculum committee was established.
Librarians researched other syllabi, lit review, looked at ACRL standards, and defined their own desired outcomes toward developing the syllabus for this class. Initial goals were as follows:
- Recognize the difference between the Web, catalog, and databases
- Gain proficiency in seeking info on the Web
- Critically evalute information
- Plagairism
One way this was sold, along with the addition of a new faculty position, was that this course could benefit UNCW’s faculty-student ratio and USN&WR’s rankings.
Anything related to the course (syllabus, student blogs, lectures, tests, etc.) is at: http://lib103.blogspot.com
They now have two librarians teaching this course; 5 sections per semester total.
Assessments are blogs, pop quizzes and midterm/final, group database presentation, producing an annotated bibliography.
They use student response system, blogs, and Moodle (wikis, chat, forums) as tech instruments for this course.
Course was promoted on library website, through Computer Science department, and flyers around campus. This is *not* a required course! Classes are consistently full - reasons given: “looked easy,” “recommended,” “doing the info tech minor.”
This course is still taught face-to-face, not yet online other than the assignments in Moodle, etc.
loex2008