Welcome to “Information Literacy: Turning the Page from High School to

College”

Please take a FEW minutes to complete the assessment that you’ll find at your table

Rank your high school seniors (if possible) on the skills listed (1 = low, 5 = high)

Hint: the number 3 is a nice number; but we’re really interested in the highs and lows, maybe avoid 3’s where possible.

We’ll look at this information later in the session, so be ready!

Donna NixMarianne Hageman

Talia NadirUniversity of St. Thomas

Oct. 28, 2011

URL: HTTP://WWW.STTHOMAS.EDU/LIBRARIES/PRESENTATIONS/DOCUMENTS/AASL2011UST.PPT

Information Literacy: Turning the Page from High School to College

Information Literacy: The Bridge From High School

To College

Background for our first study

2009-2010

University of St. Thomas at a glance

Largest private college in MinnesotaRegional Catholic universityApprox. 10,000 students (6,000 undergraduates)96 undergraduate majors + 48 graduate

programs4 libraries in 2 citiesMission: “…the University of St. Thomas

educates students to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good”

The question is…

What expectations should UST librarians have regarding the information literacy skills of incoming freshmen?

A gap in the existing research on high school information literacy

State of the art National trends Public school students State universities’ feeder populations

Our reality Regional focus Significant number of parochial school students

Why look at Catholic schools?

A primary type of feeder school for UST

Mix of urban and rural schools

Enrollment varies – very large to very small

Limited population to study

A niche not covered in the literature

Hypotheses of this study

Larger schools (over 500 enrollment) are more likely to have: A full-time library media specialist able to

develop programs and collections Comprehensive reference collections and more

online resources Formal curriculum for IL instruction Students receiving a formal curriculum will rank

higher in IL skill levels

Methodology: Islam and Murno

Islam and Murno* study of high school librarians: 842 responses – high representation of Midwest and

rural schools Used IL standards of AASL/AECT and ACRL to select of

a list of 23 skill sets Grouped these skill sets into five sections representing

five Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education

*Islam, R. L., & Murno, L. A. (2006). From perceptions to connections: Informing information literacy program planning in academic libraries through examination of high school library media center curricula. College & Research Libraries, 67(6), 492-514.

Data collected

Survey School and librarian profile Resources (print/online and budgets) Overview of instruction Librarian ranks students IL skill levels on 1-5

scale

Site visit See physical library: resources, layout, location in

the building Have in-depth discussion of resources and

instruction with the librarian

Targeted participants

All Catholic high schools in Minnesota (24 schools)

Top UST feeder schools from the surrounding states (6 schools)

Total of 30 schools

Final participants

15 schools (50%) Primarily the larger schools Primarily urban

11 schools from Minnesota 8 from the metro area

4 from out-of-state 1 school each from North Dakota and Iowa 2 from Wisconsin

School size

Grade 9-12 enrollments range from 178 to 1,350 students

5 have fewer than 500 students

10 have over 500 students

Does your school have an Information Literacy curriculum?

Yes: 7 1 qualified with the response: “sort of”

No: 7

Behaving in compliance with institutional policy (netiquette, etc.)

Understanding plagiarism, and using citation style.

Communicating in a style that suits the message and audience.

Selecting and organizing materials to enhance a final project.

High scoring skills

Low scoring skills

Using truncation and wildcards.

Using technologies to conduct comparative analyses.

Understanding and using Boolean operators.

Identifying gaps in research and revising a search.

Investigating footnotes, suggested resources, hyperlinks, etc.

Are your seniors ready for college?

8 - 6 with one “I don’t know”

“[Returning] students always say they were well prepared for college.”

“Better than four years ago when we first created a school goal for literacy.”

“It’s very difficult to compete with Google…it takes time and practice to be a good researcher.”

“Curriculum choice makes a difference.”

General results of first study

First two hypotheses essentially trueLast two—not so much!

Only a couple with a somewhat formal curriculum No assessment activity (1 working on it)

Accidental discovery Importance of databases How they are identified/arranged

Standards ranking: #4, 5, 1, 3, 2Stick around for the full number crunching!

How do UST faculty perceive the information

literacy skills of the students in introductory

research classes?

Existing research

Perceptions of college facultyFocus on subject disciplinesSome based on self-reporting by freshmen

How reliable?

Our goal: compare HS librarian responses with faculty who teach courses with first “research” element

Research questions

Do lower-level undergraduate students at UST have the IL skills they need for their introductory research classes that require the use of library or secondary resources?

If not, do they develop them in their classes at UST?

Survey: data collected

How did faculty introduce the library to their students

How well faculty perceive their students perform on IL skills

Identify skills most important for students to have before an introductory research class

Indicate which skills they expect their students to have already, and which skills they expect students to develop in their introductory course(s)

Do their students have/get the IL skills they need

Targeted participants

Faculty who taught an undergraduate introductory research class requiring the use of library or secondary resources in their discipline in the last 2 years

648 faculty received the survey link via email

Final participants

166 faculty started the survey; 145 completed it

118 full-time, 48 part-time/adjunct122 participants from College of Arts &

Sciences (English, Theology, and Communications/ Journalism had the most responses)

44 from other colleges/schools: business, engineering, social work, applied professional studies (psychology & education)

How do you introduce your students to the library?

High scoring skills (UST faculty)

Using technologies to manipulate various media

Communication in a style that suits the message and audience

Distinguishing between fee-based and freeIdentifying keywordsBehaviors in compliance with institutional

policy (netiquette, etc.)Boolean operators

Low scoring skills (UST faculty)

Identifying gaps in research and revise search

Wide range of viewpointsTruncation and wildcardsInvestigate footnotes, suggested resources,

hyperlinks, etc.Find and identify the value of information in a

variety of formatsBackground and cultural context

Comments

“So much information is available via the Internet, that they understandably need extra guidance in discerning trusted content…There’s even disparity amongst professionals as to whether Wikipedia is a credible source. How are students to know?”

“I don’t see this…as negative or unexpected. Students need to learn these things and they will…Different disciplines have different ways of conceptualizing problems, etc. – so beginning students need to learn this over and over again.”

Skills most important before intro class

Plagiarism and citation styleAuthority, accuracy, timeliness, biasDeveloping a thesis statementSelecting appropriate resourcesBrainstorming broad & specific questionsIdentify the value of the resource

Skills least important (UST faculty)

Truncation and wildcardsDistinguishing between fee-based and freeUsing technologies for comparative analysisBehaviors in compliance with institutional

policy (netiquette, etc.)Using technologies to manipulate various

media

Which skills do you expect students to have already?

Plagiarism and citation styleBehaviors in compliance with institutional

policy (netiquette, etc.)Developing a thesis statementBrainstorming broad & specific questionsIdentifying keywordsCopyright and fair use

Which skills do you expect them to develop in your classes?

Selecting appropriate resourcesCommunication in a style that suits the

message and audienceAuthority, accuracy, timeliness, biasBackground and cultural contextSynthesizing knowledgeIdentifying gaps in research and revise

search

Not applicable to “my” class

Using technologies for comparative analysisPrivacy, censorship, freedom of speechTruncation and wildcardsDistinguishing between fee-based and freeUsing technologies to manipulate various

mediaCopyright and fair use

Comparison with high school librarian responses

Summary of ACRL StandardsAn information literate student:

1. Determines the nature and extent of the information needed

2. Accesses needed information effectively and efficiently

3. Evaluates information and its sources critically

4. Uses information effectively to accomplish a purpose

5. Understands the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information

In general

Standard One – when, how much, and what type of information is needed?

Standard Two – effective and efficient approaches to accessing information

Standard Four – effective, purposeful use of information

Standard Five – information access and use

Do students have/get the IL skills they need?

Faculty Comments

“Many [sophomores and juniors] say that they’ve never been to the library, never looked up an article.”

“I think they’re inclined to just Google their subject matter: easy research.”

“I no longer expect students in introductory classes to have any real skills…we need to teach them everything from the simplest study skills through all academic research skills.”

“The majority of our students have mastered the skills by the time they graduate…but after the introductory classes, they’ve only begun the process.”

What would make a difference?

“All of my students have the benefit of having an embedded librarian in my courses.”

“We do need to build the acquisition of those skills into our teaching.”

“In some ways they are achieving IL skills. They also tend to be open to learning about new technology and quick to learn it. However, they need to learn the boundaries and limitations of IL skills.”

“We need to continue to introduce them to the depth and quality of research expected in college and the professional world.”

Conclusions and Recommendations

Research questions

What expectations should UST librarians have for the IL skills of incoming freshmen?

Do lower-level undergraduate students at UST have the IL skills they need for their introductory research classes that require the use of library or secondary resources?

If not, do they develop them in their classes at UST?

Do students have/get the skills they need?

Skills most important (UST faculty)

Students do well/fairly well

Expect students have already

Develop in class

Plagiarism and citation style

4%

Authority, accuracy, timeliness, bias

6%

Developing a thesis statement

6%

Selecting appropriate resources

7%

Brainstorming broad & specific questions

11%

Identify the value of the resource

7%

Outcomes of the study

Do students have the skills they need? Faculty don’t think so (HS librarians would disagree)

Three of the most important skills, faculty expect students to have already, but few believe students actually have any of them

Two of the most important skills, Authority and Selecting appropriate resources, faculty expect students to develop in their intro classes

Do they develop these skills? Results inconclusive, further research needed

Other Research of Interest

Owen & Oakleaf (2008) Using Evidence to Bridge the 12-13 Gap…

Oakleaf (2008) Once More Unto the Breach… Handout compares UST findings and theirs

Head & Eisenberg (2010) Assigning Inquiry… Study of the information/guidance for doing research,

given to students by college faculty in syllabi, etc. Still mostly assigning traditional individual research

papers

Our plans for the future?

Partnering opportunities: Writing Center, Writing Across the Curriculum

Teaching & documentation?

Survey of UST incoming freshmen & seniors about their IL skills/experiences

Suggested actions for high school LMS

Keep working on citing sources, plagiarism, authority/accuracy, etc.

Raise awareness: talk with teachers about their priorities and expectations

Encourage questions and one-on-one sessionsStandardize naming conventions for

databases, etc.Expose high school students to a college

library catalog and LC classificationBecome familiar with ACRL IL standards

The broader context

Look for partners in the IL process (teachers/faculty, Centers for Writing, college libraries, etc.)

Administration’s rolePick your battles

Questions and comments?

Contact information

Donna Nix (denix@stthomas.edu) Marianne Hageman (mdhageman@stthomas.edu) Talia Nadir (trnadir@stthomas.edu)

Thank you for attending!

URL: http://www.stthomas.edu/libraries/presentations/documents/AASL2011UST.ppt