Building an Information Literacy Requirement from the Ground Up: Embedding IL into First Year Seminar and Beyond Lisa Coats and Anne Pemberton University of North Carolina Wilmington

Outline Background information Overview of “old” First Year Seminar Overview of new General Education curriculum Overview of “new” First Year Seminar and the Information Literacy Experience Assessment Challenges and Opportunities Discussion/Questions

Obligatory Background Information 1 of 17 schools in UNC system Enrollment: 13,733 in 2012/13 12,387 undergrads Full-time Faculty: 639 Part-time Faculty: 388 Degrees: – Bachelor’s (majors): 52 – Master’s: 38 – Doctoral: 2 (Marine Bio and Educational Leadership)

Instruction at Randall Library 21 Librarians / 24 SPA Staff 9 of 21 Librarians teach AY : – Course-related instruction sessions, workshops, and tours 465 sessions Teaching 11,307 users PLUS Credit Courses (LIB 101, 103, 104, 105) /ZqWKx_mESCY/s1600/randal4.jpg

First Year Seminar (Prior to 2011) “UNI” = “First Year Seminar” (to us!) Was called “Freshman Seminar” (UNI 101) 2 credit hours Not required Taken by 70 to 80% of freshmen Similar to other FYE courses Included one face-to-face library instruction session (content changed over time)  Variations: IBEC, TRANSFER, Learning Communities, LINKED to classes

Gen Ed Revision at UNCW Began in January 2004 – Faculty Senate appointed Basic Studies Revision Task Force – Task Force made recommendations in spring 2006 No IL requirement but IL was referenced as a program goal Recommendation to require First Year Seminar New committee in January 2007 – Additional recommendations were made – IL requirement written into curriculum Implemented in 2012 and called “University Studies” LC61ES4mojc/T2aD7QNZumI/AAAAAAAAAyA/Tz6e9j0vRWc/s160 0/man-pushing-rock.jpg

How It Works (We Hope!)

University Studies Requirements (IL) Students are required to take 9 hours from this component. (First-Year-Experience, and at least two additional IL-intensive courses – at least one in the major)

How It Works (We Hope!) - Course in the Major Research Methods or other approved as “information literacy intensive” (3 hours) - English Composition 201 Sophomore level course approved as “information literacy intensive” (3 hours) - First Year Seminar Approved as “information literacy intensive” (3 hours) 9 hours of competency credit (“Double dipping” from other components) Content reinforced throughout curriculum Note about Transfer Students

Information Literacy Intensive? University Studies Advisory Committee reviews all course proposals IL Intensive courses must demonstrate that their SLOs, teaching opportunities, and assessment align with EACH of the ACRL Info Lit Standards (which UNCW has adopted)ACRL Info Lit Standards A rubric is used by members to score proposals

Score One for Librarians! No mention of IL requirement in 1 st report Attended meetings as an ex-officio member Listening & knowing strengths Knowing the curriculum Presentation to committee about IL Standards Tip: Do not refer to these as the “ACRL Standards” – Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education – Standards based, assessable, 21 st century skills A requirement is born!

Why This Was Important to Us “Don’t they get that in ….” 70 to 80% of students were taking “Freshmen Seminar” (20 to 30% weren’t) English Composition concerns

Why This Was Important to Us Concerns in the major Unclear what students are exposed to/when Anecdotal from librarians: – “I am graduating in May and I’ve never had to find a book or article before …” – “Why can’t I use this blog for my paper?” – “I’ve already written my paper but now I need some stuff to cite …” – “My professor said I can’t use the Internet …”

Our Role In University Studies

First Year Seminar (FYS) Now 90+ sections students 9 librarians teaching Librarians/library staff teach FYS Fall 2011/2012 – Single library session replaced by an innovative IL “experience” created by librarians with input from various campus constituencies

Our FYS Learning Outcomes FYS SLO 1. List the differences between websites/broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, journals, and books. FYS SLO 2. Distinguish between popular and scholarly information resources. FYS SLO 3. Select the appropriate tool to find a book and an article on a particular topic. FYS SLO 4. Identify appropriate service points for assistance both in the library and via the library’s website. FYS SLO 5. Apply established evaluation criteria to determine if an information source is appropriate.

Components of IL “Experience” Textbook Chapter Chapter Quiz In Library Session: Questionnaire Worksheets (Website/Catalog/Databases, CRITIC) Library Assignment after session Assessment

FYS Resource Pages

FYS Textbook Chapter Textbook includes a Randall Library chapter authored by librarians Students required to read chapter

Chapter Quiz After reading and prior to a face-to-face library session, students required to complete an online Chapter Quiz which: − provides assessment information to librarians − prepares students for the library session

Online Questionnaire At the beginning of the session, students complete an online Questionnaire that: – increases students’ motivation (for students who might feel they “already know this stuff”) – provides information to librarians about students’ knowledge of concepts and previous research experience

Face-to-Face Instruction Interactive instruction on important IL concepts such as: – the difference between “popular” and “scholarly” sources – how to utilize search tools to identify and locate these publications – how to evaluate information (CRITIC) Content connects information sources to the themes of required “Common Reading” Students are engaged through: – questions – discussion – other active learning components

Worksheets Randall Library webpage Database vs. Google Catalog Evaluating a website – CRITIC

Required Assignment After the session, students are required to complete an assignment that builds upon the concepts learned in the session. Assignment is delivered online and requires each student to evaluate a scholarly article, a popular article, and a website using the evaluation model introduced in the session.

Library Tours Every FYS has a “LINK” Tour ‘training’ offered to LINKS Writing and maintaining tour scripts Tour is not a requirement Online walking tour on the way!

Assessment Library Instruction Assessment – Textbook chapter quiz – Analysis of questionnaire – Scoring of worksheets – Scoring of assignment (CRITIC) – Various surveys to FYS instructors and students Information Literacy Assessment – At General Education/University level

Assessment Results Library Chapter Quiz – Average score = % – Difficulty with CRITIC Online Questionnaire (anonymous, in-class, before session) – 59% indicated they READ the chapter – Characteristics of a “scholarly source”: “Factual”, “Real”, “Ends with.edu” In-class Worksheets – 45% had trouble with differences between searching Library databases vs. Google search results All database results “scholarly”/ All internet resources unreliable – Difficulty with CRITIC

Assessment Results CRITIC Library Assignment – Evaluation of sources improved…still much room for improvement! First-Year Seminar Library Session Assessment (University College) – 72% agree that attending Library Session improved knowledge of research process – 56% agree that reading chapter improved knowledge of research process – 50% agree that the CRITIC Library Assignment improved knowledge of research process

FYS Research Projects Survey Online survey given to FYS instructors at end of fall Sample of results: As a First Year Seminar instructor, do you assign a paper or project that requires students to do research? - 13% of respondents indicated that they do not require a research project

More Results Do you specifically require students to use scholarly journal articles in the research paper or project? 33% of respondents who do assign a “research project” do NOT require scholarly sources Do you provide additional instruction about the research process (on your own) in addition to the Randall Library textbook chapter and face to face library instruction session? 41% = Yes, 59% = No

General Education Assessment UNCW Learning Goals are assessed cyclically IL is assessed as part of this process “Student work products” are gathered from a sample of IL courses Faculty scorers participate in the scoring process

AAC&U VALUE Rubrics Text goes here

Results PSY 105 and SED 372, 69 work products (84 students) Courtesy of Linda Siefert, Director of General Education Assessment, UNCWLinda Siefert

Challenges UNI instructors wanting individualized sessions Little application of skills in course Tours are infrequent Librarians who teach irregularly English Composition instructors not signing up for instruction sessions Assessment is…

Opportunities Deeper engagement into IL concepts Richer dialogue with campus community about IL Collaboration across campus and departments Improved IL skills for our students – AND faculty!

Discussions and Questions Lisa Coats First Year Engagement Librarian Anne Pemberton Associate Director, Library Assessment and Instructional Services