New Frontier in Research Methodology Instruction for Latin Americanists Jana Krentz Dept. for Spain, Portugal and Latin America University of Kansas Libraries

Explosion of the internet and complex database searching Need to promote information literacy skills Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL) – set of standards for instruction for Higher Education

Teaching faculty recognize the need for more library instruction. Poorly researched papers Over dependence on the internet Students find library databases too complicated.

Solutions One shot subject-specific or generic instructional sessions Curricular reform on university campuses Collaborative efforts of faculty, librarians and administrators Information literacy credit courses

University of Kansas 27,000 undergraduate students. 6,000 graduate and professional students. 2,000 research and teaching faculty. 133 faculty affiliated with Latin American studies. One of 18 title VI centers for Latin American studies. Dept. Of Spanish and Portuguese ranked 3 rd by NRC.

Dept. for Spain, Portugal and Latin America 42 one shot subject specific sessions Reaches 1,000 students per year Research methodology course for Latin America Core course with the Latin American Studies program.

Close relationship with the Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese Integrated library component into Spanish 300-level courses.

LAA700-Research Methodology for Latin America 25 year history Help students develop and refine search skills Overview of principal research methodologies and resources Develop a transferable strategic ability

Follows ACRL standards Students encouraged to acquire evaluating skills

Case study scenarios Partnering with teaching faculty Historical, current events scenarios, business prospectus Mock trial

Pedagogical advantages Difficulties – partnering with teaching faculty

Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese 2004 – discussion on lack of literacy skills in undergraduate majors Solutions More one-shot sessions in 400 and 500-level classes Online tutorials Integrating library component in 300-level classes

Library Components in 300-level classes Assessment of information literacy skills Redesigned Span 324/328 Online/onsite course redesign grant

Spanish 324/328 Composition and grammar for majors Taught every semester 200 students per semester Dissatisfaction with its instructional strategies Desire to include integrated technology components 6-7 Teaching Assistants, 2 faculty members, subject specialist librarian

Course redesign Lecture-breakout section format Addition of conversation practice and small group work Implementation of technology Film clips, music, art, images, online tutorials Blackboard Personal Response Systems (CPS)

Library modules 2 modules integrally connected to course content and writing assignments 2 large lecture presentations Accompanying supporting written assignments Online tutorials Librarian works with instruction team to train in evaluating activities and assignments.

First module – Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao Students use Spanish newspapers, databases and internet. Evaluation of websites

Online tutorials 3 online tutorials created using Viewlet How to search Spanish language newspapers in LexisNexis How to search Google effectively in Spanish How to search ¡Informe!: Revistas en español

Active learning techniques Graphics Multiple choice pop-up quizzes Text boxes

Second module focuses on Latin America– Bilingualism Online tutorials HAPI – Hispanic American Periodical Index HLAS – Handbook of Latin American Studies ClasePeriodica Online Catalog

Outcome Ground-breaking course within the Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, within the Libraries, within the University Feedback and comments positive Feel their confidence and skills were enhanced Fosters departmental goals