INTEGRATING COURSE AND ARCHIVES L ITERACY ASSIGNMENTS ONLINE

Guided Resource Inquiries:

Steve Kutay, Digital Services LibrarianPilot Design by Ellen Jarosz and Steve Kutay

California State University, Northridge

August 15, 2016Endless Images, Laguna, CA

Trends at CSUN (and beyond)

Electronic resources Expensive eTexts Learning Management Systems Online and hybrid courses Higher student enrollments 2 of 5 Core Competencies (WASC*):

Information Literacy Critical Thinking

* Western Association of Schools and Colleges (accreditation)

Objectives

Integrate primary sources into course learning Stimulate critical thinking and analysis Contextualize course subject matter Emulate non-linear research process Motivate students to visit archives

Leverage Digital Learning Objects Targeted information literacy instruction Modular and programmable Extend reach of archives to more students online

Guided Resource Inquiry Tool (GRI)

o Pilot instructional tool (template)o Conceived as sandbox to deliver:

Prompts Primary media External resources

o Utilizes Document-Based Questions (DBQ) Requires document analysis Uses primary and secondary sources Synthesizes knowledge

Example DBQ

Consider documents A, B and C. What evidence do you find that supports or challenges claims made by the founders of the United Farm Workers (UFW)?

Credit: Max Mont

GRI Delivery Platform

Scalar Alliance for Networking Visual Culture Open Source semantic web publishing Media rich Full metadata Visualizations http://scalar.usc.edu/

GRI Front Page

Sections/Chapters

Media

Instructions Prompts

GRI Resource Links

Links to item, collection and repository information

GRI Info Lit Tutorials

Links to tutorials and databases

GRI Media Viewer

Scalar Visualizer

GRI Courses

Lower division English (2)

Upper division English (1) History (1) Communication (1)

Graduate English (1)

Method

1. Instructors select source materials for prompt

2. GRI tool (Scalar) populated with sources, prompts, and links to tutorials and databases*

3. Assess prior knowledge (Pre-Test)4. Complete GRI assignment5. Assess knowledge and feedback (Post-Test)*Some instructors requested in-class primary source literacy instruction

Data

Results

Primary source identifications – ratio of correct to incorrect IDs

Pre-Test (overall) 1/1 (1 correct/1 incorrect)

Post-Test (overall) 3/1Subgroups: In-class instruction 7/1 Tutorials only/No instruction 1.8/1 Lower division 1.2/1 Upper division/grads 4.8/1

Student Feedback

6-point Likert scale (1=disagree, 6=agree) GRI tutorials helped me locate materials in Special Collections.

GRI tutorials helped me to understand primary sources.

GRI tool helped me integrate archival sources into assignments.

I’m more likely to use primary and historical materials in the future.

1 62 3 4 5

1 62 3 4 5

1 62 3 4 5

1 62 3 4 5

4.8

4.8

4.6

4.8

General Lessons learned

Successes Assignments are challenging, but rewarding Effective for helping teach primary sources Mediates the primary research process Students generally like primary sources!

Needs work Streamline GRI assembly process Simplify/customize GRI tool for Freshmen Create & test specialized tutorials Does not replace in-class instruction

Thank you!

Stephen D. KutayDigital Services Librarianstephen.kutay@csun.edu

California State University, Northridge