“Real Deal” Information Literacy

Designing & implementing meaningful instruction and assessment

Janet Cottrell & Sarah Faye CohenChamplain College, Burlington, Vermont, USA

What does IL instruction look like?

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It looks like.. Databases Catalogs Boolean & keyword searching Citation styles

...otherwise known as libraries.

How does “real deal” IL differ from other IL models?

The focus of instruction.

Library-centric instruction revolves around introducing students to the library, its resources, and how to use those resources in an academic context.

Real Deal IL does not focus on the library

Real Deal instruction is “info-centric”, focusing on the wider information landscape.

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What does that look like in the classroom?

Understanding search habits and preferences

People

25%

The Web65%

TV5%

Other5%

The Web

296

People 97

TV 20

Other 20

Total 393

Where do you like to get information?

How do you search?

Google86%

Yahoo2% Bing

5%

The Li-

brary4%

Other3%

Google 357

Yahoo 10

Bing 20

The Library 18

Other 13

Total 418

Filter Bubbles Getting to know the

real web. Unraveling the

implications of personalization of information.

Familiarizing students with business of information.

Where their idea ends & yours begins Exploring the

ethics behind sharing ideas and content.

Directly related to professional situations.

Plagiarism in wider context.

What else makes it Real Deal?

Students say it matters to them:

2011: Ranked Technology and Information Literacy as most important of 7 college competencies

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Students say it matters to them:

And ranked first in satisfaction with the College’s contribution to their development of this competency

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What else makes it Real Deal?

Authentic Assessment:How can we measure

student progress?

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Measuring student outcomes

We thought we would use standard tests….

But they don’t work well in our environment….

“Real deal” assessment We needed

something less “test-track,” more real-world

Based on actual student work

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“Real deal” assessment

Mirrors the reflective focus of curriculum

Includes evaluation of reflective writing

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“Real deal” assessment “Map” our desired

student outcomes to course rubrics

Allows us to embed our assessment directly in course…and also track our “route”

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“Real deal” assessment

Portfolio-based

Student work, faculty feedback

Allows us to capture and track progress by group or individual

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Results to date

Met or Exceeded Expecations77%

Did not Meet or Nearly Met Expecations

23%

Class of 2012 - Overall Information Lit-eracy Achievement

Results to date

FY SO JR50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%

100%

Class of 2012Information Literacy Developmental Path

Defining the TaskConsidering SourcesSelecting SourcesUsing InformationAttribution

% S

tudents

Meeti

ng o

r Exceedin

g

Expecta

tions

Real Deal asks librarians hard questions Do we want our

students to know something about libraries? Or, something about information?

Do we want our students to have skills that work in every information environment, or just ours?

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Real Deal requires a shift in our thinking Away from

success in an assignment.

Info-centric instruction enables student success when they are no longer our students.

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Thank you.Questions?

Janet Cottrell: cottrell@champlain.eduSarah Cohen: cohen@champlain.edu