1. Teaching Information Literacy: Frameworks and Activities
Trudi Jacobson
Coordinator of User Education Programs
University at Albany

2. Focus of the Day Active Learning: Exploration of the Technique
Motivating Students
Opportunity to Revise an Instruction Session

3. What do you hope to get out of this workshop?
Do as Freewrite, but don’t call it that!
Ask to take a few minutes to jot down their hopes for the session

4. Workshop Goals
Become familiar with advantages (and challenges) of active learning/teaching
Learn a number of ways to incorporate active learning into the IL classroom
Understand affective issues
Explore motivational techniques
Begin to incorporate these techniques into a lesson plan

5. Why should we encourage active learning in our classes?
Get their responses first
DO AS THINK-PAIR-SHARE
Don’t collect responses

6. Constructed Learning Students are not a vessel to fill with knowledge
Active learners work with information to derive meaning and understanding
It is important for students to form new mental representations of the material
Students construct and reconstruct new knowledge based on their experiences

7. The test of a good teacher…is, “Do you
regard ‘learning’ as a noun or a verb?” If
as a noun, as a thing to be possessed and
passed along, then you present your
truths, neatly packaged, to your students.

8. But if you see “learning” as a verb, the process is different
But if you see “learning” as a verb, the process is different. The good teacher has learning, but tries to instill in students the desire to learn, and demonstrates the ways one goes about learning. Schorske, cited in McCleery (1986)

9. If a teacher covers the material, does that
mean that students have learned? Or does
learning mean engaging the students?
Usually, teachers should cut down on what
they cover and find creative ways to engage
students in the subject matter. Oxman-Mitchelli

10. Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do
not learn much just sitting in class
listening to teachers… They must talk about
what they are learning, write about it, relate it
to past experiences, apply it to their daily
lives. They must make what they learn part of
themselves. Chickering and Gamson

11. Advantages of Active Learning
Retention Rates
Attention Span
Affective Factors
Learning Styles
Get THEIR responses first
THEN pass out packets
Retention
Attention span—how long does it take before students’ attention starts to wander? (often hear min)
Affective factors—chance to share their knowledge, feel more a part of the process, have a role
Learning styles—mixed teaching styles reach more learners, in one shot classes (even when see students more than once) often impossible to gauge preferred learning styles

12. Examples of Active Learning Techniques
Ideas from the literature
Ideas for freshmen (and others)
Ideas connected to Internet evaluation
Matching sheet & accompanying bibliography
also flowchart, explain previous version
Ideas for Freshmen (but not only freshmen)
Internet Evaluation
*2002 Stanford study of 2600 people found that most don’t use rigourous criteria in evaluating web sites
most use visual clues (layout, font size, color scheme, and overall appeal) to evaluate the site
Recent Pew study (mid 2004) found that most people can’t differentiate between sponsored ads and actual search results when doing a search engine search (only 38% could distinguish, and of those, not even half could always tell)

13. Examples of Active Learning Techniques
What techniques are you using?
TAKE A BREAK after this discussion if timing is right

14. Active Learning in the Classroom
Drawbacks
Solutions

15. Freewriting Flexible Quick Revealing When What Why
What we did at the beginning, with what you hoped to get out of the session

16. Tips Start small Borrow tested ideas and methods Work with a colleague
Share ideas
Co-teach
Observe and comment
Keep a journal
Enjoy teaching more, even repeat sessions of the same class
Students need to take responsibility for their own learning, we can’t do it for them
Education literature, as well as library literature, helpful for finding ideas, also ILI-L

17. Another Freewriting Example
What one thing from this session did you find most useful?
Please jot down one question you still have.

18. Motivating Students Extrinsic motivation Intrinsic motivation
External and tangible
Intrinsic motivation
Internal and intangible

19. ARCS Model Attention Relevance Confidence Satisfaction
John Keller “Strategies for Stimulating the Motivation to Learn”

20. ARCS—Attention Capture interest and stimulate curiosity to learn
New approaches
Environmental change
Varied activities
New teaching approaches: posing a problem, sharing a short article connected to the topic, give to students as they arrive, not only helps them to focus, but if carefully chosen, can grab their attention and make real (example: if doing a session that include plagiarism, maybe a short article about a professor who has plagiarized, takes onus off students)
(asking students in career class to list types of info they’d want to find out about a career and a particular job, and where they’d look)
Environmental change: even change of voice, rearrange seats if small group work
Varied activities: hands-on, small group work
Even recounting your own experiences can really grab students attention

21. ARCS—Relevance Meet personal needs and goals
Share goals and objectives
Familiar examples
Students need to perceive that the material or subject is related to their personal goals
Works well when we can tie our instruction to the students’ own experiences, and illustrate the connections between the content and the matters than students prioritize

22. ARCS—Confidence
Help learners feel they will succeed and can control their success
What is expected of them
Mastery experiences
Design instruction and related learning activities to match the different skill levels of students, so each student will have a chance to succeed after some effort
“The successful experience will be meaningful and will stimulate continued motivation if there is enough challenge to require a degree of effort to succeed, but not so much that is creates serious anxieties or threatens failure” (Keller, 1987, Strategies..)
EOP assignment from this morning: mastery experience

23. ARCS—Satisfaction
Reinforce accomplishment with rewards (internal and external)
Application opportunities
Application opportunities: case studies, simulations, experiential learning activities
UNL 205: Searching assignment class 6

24. Practical Motivators Teaching behaviors Course design elements
Active engagement
Autonomy
Authentic assessment

25. Teaching Behaviors Enthusiasm Clarity Interaction
Enthusiasn: can show this through your voice, gestures and movement, facial expressions, eye contact (we can all think of teachers who spoke to the board, or to their notes, and we probably didn’t think them the most enthusiastic of instructors!)
Clarity: be clear in your speech and how you present topics
It helps to provide an outline of what you plan to do
Emphasize major points, make them, where possible, of high interest to students and be very careful to link topics together. Steel yourself to limit the number of topics you introduce (3-4 per hour)
Provide examples
Review the material, and summarize it
Interaction: if teaching a course, address students by name, encourage student participation, praise good responses, handle mistakes tactfully , use various types of activities and teaching methods (such as we talked about earlier)
You will notice that many elements that promote motivation are just good teaching techniques!

26. Course Design Elements
Course topics
Course goals & objectives
Methods of instruction
Course assignments
Syllabus
First impressions: first day of class
For those who do not have the opportunity to teach a full IL course, think about how some of these elements might be worked into course-related classes
Topics: capture the interest of the learners, more engaging topics front-loaded (we switched internet searching before db)
G & O: have different types, different levels, Quote Lowman (next page)
IL courses easily allow the range that he mentions
Methods of Instruction: diverse teaching techniques, throughout the course and in each meeting of the class (as we addressed earlier, this will help with attention span, varied learning styles)
Course Assignments: enhance student motivation through discovery assignments, hands-on, let students choose their topics (changed one assignment from assigned topics to students’ own topic)
Syllabus: be very clear, very descriptive, highlight the things you included to enhance motivation (topic choices, grading choices, extra credit); emphasize the practical outcomes of the course
First Day of Class: describe from attached page: what I did wrong early on; even on first day I use a variety of teaching techniques (introductions help to develop a sense of community, many of the other courses these students are taking are large do-able since I have 23 students or fewer)

27. Active Engagement
Can you learn how to ride a bicycle or how to kiss from a lecture?
(variation on a quote by Eric Sotto, When Teaching Becomes Learning)

28. Active Engagement Active Learning Active Engagement and the ARCS Model
Cooperative Learning
Writing to Learn
Discovery Learning
Active Engagement and the ARCS Model
Active learning methods, which allow students to interact more closely with the material, can be extremely effective moitvators. They rank highly on all four of Keller’s elements: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction
Writing to learn: particularly effective for attention and relevance

29. Autonomy What autonomy do students generally have in a course?
Autonomy and the ARCS model
Giving students the opportunity to make their own decisions regarding coursework is said to make students more active, independent learners. When I first read about student autonomy being a motivator, I felt threatened. How could I turn control of our course over tomy students and still accomplish what I needed to do? Wouldn’t they just vote not to hold class? Or spend their time surfing the web if they did come to class? No, my initial reaction was, I just couldn’t do this. Anarchy would ensue.
consider what autonomy students have in my class
They can decide to come to class or not.
They can participate during class if they so choose.
They can do their homework, or not.
In some cases, they can select their own topics to use for class projects or class assignments.
Not really meaningful choices
When I have choices, I know I am much more engaged
Allowing students choices is even more important in a required course than it would be in a course in a student’s major, or in an elective course. Students often do not have an inherent interest in information literacy, as they might in one of these other types of courses.
Allowing students autonomy meets several of Keller’s Motivation Model requirements. Depending on the amount of autonomy you give to students, you may very well get their attention. Students often aren’t given much autonomy in their courses, so if you are breaking the mold, they will sit up and take notice. You will also be making the course more relevant to them, as they will be able to make their own decisions in some aspects of the course. Keller states that allowing students to assume personal control is one way to build confidence.
Caveats
Consider your comfort level, and start building autonomy into your course slowly. Your changes will not be effective if you have bitten off more than you can or would like to chew. Your students will sense your lack of commitment, which will lead to difficulties. Also, you don’t want to promote anarchy in your course!
Consider your students’ developmental level, and gauge what you think they will be able to handle. Choices can be threatening (consider those students who don’t even want to choose their own paper topic), so don’t overwhelm them.
Consider asking students to make choices as part of a group, rather than by themselves. This will result in a more manageable number of possible changes, will provide students with a support group, and will facilitate discussion about the changes prior to their proposal. Something that initially sounds good might not be so great once students toss the idea around.
Consider the impact your class size will have on some of the changes that you might be thinking about. Significant aspects of autonomy can be instituted even in large classes, though others are easier with smaller classes.
Consider that this partnership model of teaching does not have to be an equal partnership (Ramsey and Couch, 1994: 149). Don’t feel shy in pointing this out to your students.

30. Autonomy Course activity Course policy Course content
Projects/assignments
Student assessment
Some areas in which you might give students autonomy are:
Course Activity: You might ask students what their preferred learning styles are, and then see if there are several that predominate. Tell students will use when feasible. Midway through course, ask if working. Another way: develop two or three ways to meet a class objective.
If you are teaching Boolean operators, you might let students select from these possibilities
Work through a web-based tutorial
Read a chapter from their textbook on the topic
Work within a small group to teach themselves (provide resources)
Course Policy: Willing to negotiate # of unexcused absences? Able to make up for an absence through a online tutorial? Or have students help you determine the reward structure for coming to class (extrinsic motivator!), if they have a stake… Quizzes—would they like all to count, or drop the lowest grade? (no brainer, but does give sense of control and sense of confidence)
Course Content: If too many subjects to include, ask students to help you determine which of the important but not essential topics should be included. Which would be most useful to them? Less radical: provide students with list of all the course topics, but say you’ll spend the most time on those they feel most important or that they need the most help with. Easy way to connect student interests to class material is to use examples that are meaningful to them. Ask about their interests and hobbies, use these. Makes more relevant.
Projects/Assignments: easiest area for autonomy: paper/presentation topics. Could develop 2-3 assignments that meet the same objectives, allow students to select the one they prefer (teaching session vs. final presentation)
Student Assessment: differing levels of anxiety about various graded elements of the courses. Could provide an additional, optional assignemt for given # pts., offer to reduce the pts. for the anxiety-causing assignment an equal number of points; extra credit assignments help to promote confidence
You control the process of giving students autonomy. Think through exactly which area or areas are most comfortable for you to experiment with. Select one or two ways to start, based on your own sense of comfort and your feelings about how your students will react. Don’t be shy of asking your students, part-way through or at the end of the course, how these non-traditional elements of the course worked for them.

31. Authentic Assessment
Students able to demonstrate what they know and what they are able to do
Formative
Summative
A course using traditional assessment tools might use tests (midterm and final, probably graded on a curve), quizzes, and a paper or papers
A course using authentic assessment tools might include some quizzes, a number of short writing projects, and solution of a case study. In addition, the directions for these assignments, their supporting material, and the grading scheme would be different
AA not measuring discrete, isolated skills, but emphasizing the application and use of knowledge. “AA includes includes the holistic performance of meaningful, complex tasks in challenging environments that involve contextualized problems. Authentic tasks are often multidimensional and require higher levels of cognitive thinking such as problem solving and critical thinking.” Montgomery, 2002: 35
Formative assessment is an ongoing process, directed toward improving student learning. Assignments that include the submission of a draft are a type of formative assessment. The feedback allows students to learn from their mistakes and to revise the work they have done. Formative assessment also provides useful information to you as the instructor
Summative a. is a final assessment of students’ knowledge or skills. Designed to evaluate a finished product.

32. Authentic Assessment Rubrics Concept mapping Minute writing Cases
Portfolios
Authentic assessment and the ARCS model
Rubrics make grading easier, more equitable, help students to succeed, and increase student confidence. One component of confidence is personal control: if you provide grading criteria, such as rubrics, it will helps students feel in control—many instructors do not give clear criteria of what distinguishes an excellent paper from a middling one, for example
Concept maps, a form of cognitive assessment, can be used for either formative or summative assessment. I’ve used for formative, to allow me to see how students are structuring their understanding. This method also requires students to reflect upon what they know, and to determine how various aspects are connected. Can use before (get students’ understanding of a topic to be taught) or after instruction
Minute writing, very flexible, can have students put their names on sheets if want to get back directly to them. Generally topics of minute rights are very relevant to student and will increase their confidence that they are learning what they should and gaps (as identified through the minute writing) will be addressed
Cases have a multitude of motivational benefits: pique students’ interest, describe actual scenarios, so relevant , can engender confidence and satisfaction as students grapple with them
Portfolios,a purposeful collection of student work that shows their efforts, progress and achievement, are an excellent AA method: demonstrate what students know and are able to do, are holistic, multidimensional, and require higher levels of cognitive thinking. Can be very appropriate for IL courses that last long enough. Students seeing their own progress can get a powerful boost to their confidence and satisfaction
Start slowly, may have an assignment for which you could develop a grading rubric. Can easily add minute writing to either a course or a stand-alone session. Keep in mind your comfort level with change. Successes will boost your confidence and satisfaction!

33. Work that really counts pushes us to the brink of confusion.
Finishing thought
Work that really counts pushes us to the brink of confusion.
Peter Carruthers, Physicist

34. Time for Your Scenarios
Session selection and revision (15-20 minutes)
Brief reports: Pairs (10-15 minutes)
Share a few of your ideas

35. What questions do you have?

36. Thanks to Lijuan Xu, co-author of Motivating Students in Information Literacy Classes, for permission to use and adapt several of the slides in this presentation