Keeping track of books I've consulted

How do you keep track of all the books and ideas you have read about or consulted? I was thinking about posting to this blog about a book I just read, then realized it might fit better on my wiki. or, i could organize all my notes in zotero, but right now that account is limited to just my work computer. Maybe google docs would be a good place, but what if I delete that account and forget to move it? Easybib.com seems like another good place to start.

For today:

Burkhardt, Joanna M., Mary C. MacDonald, and Andre J. Rathemacher. Teaching Information Literacy : 35 Practical, Standards-Based Exercises for College Students. New York: American Library Association, 2003.
The best part of this book is that the exercises are tied to the ACRL information literacy standards. It is a typical book for teaching a research class, if you had a whole semester.
Contents of interest to me: Covers what information is, as a starting point (something that profs here have mentioned... that students have no idea how information goes from an idea to the tv to journals to books)
formulating a research hypothesis
concept mapping
keyword searching/finding synonyms

Session V. "Get the Ideas Flowing:"

Get the Ideas Flowing: Practical Advice for Planning and Hosting Professional Development Programs at your Library
Jennifer Little and Bob Cushman, Brockport (Bob joined us "live" from Brockport... great technology in the room we presented in.)
Dawn Eckenrode and Michelle Dubaj, Fredonia

Librarians from Fredonia and Brockport shared about the planning process for one-day workshops/conferences held at their respective campuses. Fredonia hosted a one-day seminar on library instruction and Brockport hosted a conference on integrating library services into learning management systems. Both programs had more attendees than were expected and were quite successful. Both groups expressed interest in repeating these workshops but with the help or leadership of other campus librarians as well.

For more information about Brockport's part, see my wiki at: http://collaboratory.wetpaint.com
See also the blog that the Brockport organizers started: The One-A-Day Conference Planner
Brockport's conference website, Library-2-LMS

Session N: Session II: Information Literacy Assessment: Assessing Teaching & Learning

Part II of series on information literacy assessment.

Rudy Leon -- Potsdam
Rudy introduced the topic and listed some of the challenges associated with assessing library instruction, especially the one-shot sessions that we all teach so much. She would like to build a one minute assessment instrument to be used after an instruction session by both professors and students.

Susan Kraat – New Paltz
Susan described both peer assessment (within just the librarians), collaborating with the English department to assess info lit skills, and faculty and student evaluation of teaching.

1. Peer assessment:
4 step process – (librarians paired with each other)

1.pre

2. during, after by observee,

3. follow-up with both,

4. repeat for minimum of 2 classes.

Positive feedback is reassuring

2. Info lit is part of ENL1 and 2

Used works cited page of papers to evaluate students' use of resources.

Use a rubric for ENL composition II

3. http://lib.newpaltz.edu/assistance/faculty/facfdbk.html

4. http://lib.newpaltz.edu/assistance/321_eval.html

Sends to all faculty, allows librarians to send it out if they want to.

Kim Davies-Hoffmann, Geneseo
Kim described assessment of students in specific classes and her partnership with an anthropology professor. Several librarians at Geneseo are using an instrument developed by her to assess students' knowledge of databases before they come for a library instruction session. They hope to expand their use.

Tips for assessment:

1. partner with faculty and students
2. Set goals and realize limitations
3. Teach with assessment in mind
Work with factuly to develop course schedule & assessment
Gauge the level of incoming students
Practice makes perfect

4. Assess
5. Results inform further teaching

Do a pre-test for specific disciplines… helps show professors that their students really DON”T know the resources like they think they do.
Powerpoint presentation: http://sunyla08.pbwiki.com/Information+Literacy+Assessment
http://anth229.pbwiki.com

http://anth224.pbwiki.com

Jennifer Little, Brockport
Jen spoke about assessment of librarians' teaching by professors who brought their classes for library instruction. For more information see her wiki at: http://collaboratory.wetpaint.com

Session M: Information Literacy Assessment: Session 1: Program Assessment

The first part of a panel presentation regarding assessment and instruction. Carol Franck was unable to present.

Geneseo:
Bonnie Swoger
SAILS
www.projectsails.org

Incentive: $3 for café OR $3 donation to student group charities.. the second option was very successful.
The results from the survey help reinforce the amount of time and energy that SUNY Geneseo librarians are putting into instruction across the curriculum.

"Negatives:"
No access to individual student data.
Will not use in the immediate future,
Will do a new home-grown assessment for their Freshman writing class.

Walking backwards into Information Literacy Learning
Jim Nichols SUNY Oswego

Tutorial/worksheets
Rubric … meaningful learning
They don't believe in "skills" but rather in big conceptual tools as guideposts to continuing practice; meaningful learning, and care about what students learn "to be."
First year: Rubric applied to worksheets sample in 3 year gear cycle
Capston: Discipline-Specific rubrics applied to capstone project
Integrated into five year program review cycle
Both levels: Information literacy items in NSSE

Session B "Creating a Distant Roar: Virtual Hands-On, Information Literacy Workshops for Remote Campus Students

through a Library- Academic Support Collaboration

Dana H. Langley (librarian) & Linda Hamell (Academic Services) (Empire State College)

Dana.Longley@esc.edu

Linda.Hamell@esc.edu

www.slideshare.net/danahlongley

Link to Handout: http://tinyurl.com/5nct3c

Demo of Wimba Virtual Classroom: http://tinyurl.com/5unpp8

Collaboration between the library and the academic support department resulted in "live" information literacy workshops offered simultaneously across NY State. Students at remote sites had people there to help them with navigation and searching. Interest was quite high and response and attendance rates showed a strong interest in learning more about doing research effectively.

Introduction:

Empire State College offers all types of instruction: Online, blended, face-to-face

Offer more than 100 research databases.

ETS study found 87% of our students are information illiterate. (27 Oct. 2006)

Did a study using Historical Studies class --- examined papers to see if the papers met or exceeded research skills and discovered that students didn't know about or hadn't used library databases to access appropriate information.

Which would a student choose? Confusing library web page versus Google interface.

Collaboration:

Most students didn’t even know there was a library, let alone how to use it.

Were on Wimba, moving to Illuminate

Many students are underprepared in technology too

Workshops limited to two or three topics

Preparations:

Dry run so there were no technological glitches.

Hands-on exercises

Interactive exercises had to happen more frequently

Multi-Location Broadcast

Learning Objectives

Info Lit Competencies: SUNY Gen Ed and ACRL

Research @the library

1. Intro to research

2. Search Skills

3. Documenting sources

Question / Evaluate Everything

Doing workshops over the summer too.

Way to market: SAVE TIME and EFFORT

Academic Support – realized that librarians were seldom reached out to by students, so THEY decided to INCLUDE them.

Outcomes

Almost 100% agreed that they could use what they learned today

Should be given when you start Empire State College

CIT2008

I am attending the CIT2008 conference at Genesee Community College.
See my poster presentation done on Wednesday plus many other great programs.

My Podcast

I just looked through my archives, and I have neglected to post my podcast. For those of you who are interested in how instructional designers and librarians are similiar, this is a very short answer to that question.

My podcast

My E-portfolio

I am busy working on the final project for my graduate class in instructional technology. It isn't finished as of today, so you will have to check back later to see the final product.

E-portfolio for ETAP526

The winner for the wiki is...

My colleague and I have chosen to use wetpaint for our blog about instructional design and library and technology issues. We have been so busy with our regular jobs and our class work that we have not started much yet. Hopefully, we will have time this week.

Designer and Librarian Collaboratory

Library-2-LMS conference

The conference was a success! We had over 130 people here at Brockport for one keynote session, 9 workshops, and 13 poster presentations. Honestly, I was so consumed with the details that I didn't get to attend a session in its entirety, but we will have reports from the moderators for each of the sessions. The attendees asked if we are going to do it again next year!

Conference

My big conference is almost here! We are hosting a conference about integrating library services into learning management systems. While mostly librarians will be attending we do have some instructional technology folks coming as well. I want to learn more about instructional design so we can be more effective in the materials we create, whether it be webpages or online tutorials.




See Library-2-LMS website (http://www.brockport.edu/lib2lms)!

Technology... when and when not to use, that is the question

My colleague passed this quote along to me, and I really liked it:

"Technology does not necessarily improve education. Take a simple innovation like the pencil: One can use it to write a superlative essay, to drum away the time, or to poke out someone's eye." (Veenema & Gardner, 1996)

Food for thought!

SnagIt video

Here is a link to a very short video on finding a Literature database on the library web page (http://www.brockport.edu/library)

Choosing a wiki format

My colleague and I have decided to start a wiki to keep track of all of our ideas for an upcoming poster presentation we will be doing for a conference. pbwiki is one that we have learned about in class, but we have looked at other examples too. One professor recommended we look at wetpaint. I recently saw a wiki presentation at a conference and that professor recommened wikispaces. There are already many webpages written about wikis and comparison charts. Check back to see what we decide to do.

Linking to a Google document

My first attempt at a voice thread, a tour of the library where I work

Goal of Education

Cool quote:

The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Swiss cognitive psychologist.

A somewhat skeptical view of technology in the classroom

Oppenheimer, in an interview about his book, The Flickering Mind: The False Promise of Technology in the Classroom and how learning can be saved, brings up several thoughtful points about technology in the classroom. He is by no means, anti-technology, but he does identify some of the drawbacks especially when it comes to funding new technologies and continuing to maintain current ones.

A few of my favorite quotes (you'll see how they relate to a librarian's point of view):

"What should matter is how students think about information, not the quantity of information sources. And one good book or article that stimulates a good discussion will teach a lot more about quality of thought than 20 Internet sites that no one, especially the teacher, has time to analyze."

"The scattered, superficial approach to research and analysis that I described previously is increasingly becoming the norm."

Just yesterday I heard several professors complaining that their students will not read an entire article, in fact they will not even scroll down a webpage to read beyond the first few paragraphs. Is this really progress? Is it moving education and our society forward?

Lest you think the author is completely anti-Internet, read the following quote: "And obviously, the Internet offers valuable resources for research projects. The key is to use computers as a supplement in each of those areas, not as a replacement for traditional studies."
A supplement... I like that. I have to remember that the technology is a means and not an end. Interview with Oppenheimer

Brief overview and history of instructional technology

I really liked this article by Robert Whelan, "Instructional Technology & Theory
A Look at Past, Present & Future Trends." It gave a brief summary of the three major learning styles: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, which was a good review for me. I agreed with what he said regarding new infrastructures: “These emerging infrastructures are, however, useless without content, and trends in content development are characterized by the most interesting innovations.” This is what my library is grappling with, as we determine where and how our electronic services should be delivered.
Whelans' article

My calendar

First post to this blog.

This purpose of this blog is to discuss issues related to educational technology and the library as a part of the ETAP526 class at the University at Albany (SUNY).