RESEARCH TO GO: TAKING AN INFORMATION LITERACY COURSE ONLINE John J. Burke Jessie H. Long Beth E. Tumbleson Miami University Middletown

QUESTION: WHO HERE TEACHES AN INFORMATION LITERACY COURSE? How many of those are face-to-face? How many are hybrid? How many are online? How many meet for the entire semester? Shorter time? How many credit hours are offered? 1, 2, 3? Is the course P/F? Grades?

THE COURSE: EFFECTIVE USE OF LIBRARIES, EDT Credit Course Elective Letter Grade Late Start 10 Weeks, Once Weekly for 2 Hours and 40 Minutes Enrollment Cap of 15

A BRIEF HISTORY English Faculty Member Taught for 20 Years 4 Sections of 15 Students per Semester Exposure to Different Sources Finding Tools: OPAC, LCSH, Databases Bibliography as Final Exam Professor Retired Course Handed to Librarians to Teach in 2008 Course Overhauled

PURPOSE Academic, online research Use university library system & statewide library consortium OhioLINK Develop 21 st century information literacy skills Become lifelong learners

EXPOSURE TO: Research process Scholarly communication Mind mapping tools Project calculators Finding tools: OPACS, databases, search engines Time-savers: citation generators, RSS feeds Online presentation tools

COURSE COMPRISES Online textbook and readings Digital videos Lecture Demonstrations Discussion In-class hands-on activities Quizzes Multi-Part Project Wiki, Blog

OUR STUDENTS Regional university campus Established in students Open access Commute Degrees: Associate, Bachelor, Certificates PSEOP, Traditional, & Non-Traditional Average age – 25 Majority work part-time

THE ISSUES Students New to Higher Education Diverse Abilities A Matter of Timing Showing Up Old Habits Enlightenment Dawns

STATISTICS Enrollment Cap of 15 Registration Full Completion Fall 2008 (2 Sections) – 6 students; 11 students Spring 2009 – 16 students Fall 2009 – 15 students Spring 2010 – 7 students Fall 2010 – 14 students Spring 2011 – 10 students Fall 2011 – 10 students Spring 2012 – 5 students

RATIONALE FOR ONLINE COURSE Information literacy is an essential skill academically, professionally Convenient for students with multiple commitments Likelihood of greater outreach and larger enrollment Abundance of online, academic sources and finding tools University-wide push for online courses

TIMELINE: F2F, HYBRID, ONLINE F2F: Fall 2008-Fall 2011 Hybrid: Fall 2011 – Hamilton; Spring 2012 – Middletown Hybrid will continue in Hamilton and Middletown for Fall semesters Online: Spring 2013 Question: How many have taught an information literacy course in multiple formats? How many have adapted an information literacy course?

STEPS FOR ADAPTION: A LOOK AT THE LITERATURE Two main foci Reviewing the content arrangement of EDT 251 and considering the inclusion of new course content Searching for other examples of online information literacy courses and the process by which they were transformed from face-to-face courses ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (Association 2000). 1. Determine the extent of information needed 2. Access the needed information effectively and efficiently 3. Evaluate information and its sources critically and incorporate selected information into ones knowledge base 4. Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose 5. Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

AN ANALYSIS OF ONLINE SYLLABI FOR CREDIT-BEARING LIBRARY SKILLS COURSES Hrycaj, P. L. (2006) Collected 100 examples of syllabi from information literacy courses. Top eight most common topic areas covered are: Periodical databases Web searching Online catalog Web site evaluation Writing citations Monograph evaluation Research strategy Periodical evaluation

ISSUES THAT AROSE Bureaucracy Happens Forms to fill out for adapting the course Approval from the department Moving things along in the slow process of academia MIA Staff Lack of eLearning Director Lack of Educational Technology Coordinator Lack of IT Director Switch to a new LMS From Blackboard to Sakai

INVENTIVE SOLUTIONS Working with Hamilton on adapting the course on both campuses Offering an undercover hybrid

HOW THE UNDERCOVER HYBRID WORKS

EDT 251 COURSE PAGE

SYLLABUS

WEEKLY AGENDA

FORUM

ASSIGNMENTS

QUIZZES

RESOURCES

NEXT STEPS Second offering of the hybrid course (Fall 2012) Develop the online course over Summer 2012 and Fall 2012 Continue to assess the course to shape content and methods Change the name of the course

TRAILS ASSESSMENT

FUTURE PLANS Improve marketing to students Connect with advisors Increase student retention Offering in one-credit version – August and January STEP courses Linking to a specific department or program Sharing modules with discipline-based courses Conversion to a different course

QUESTIONS? Presentation Available

REFERENCES Association for College and Research Libraries (ACRL). (2000). Information Literacy Competencies for Higher Education. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from Badke, W. (2011). Research Strategies: Finding Your Way through the Information Fog. 4 th ed. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from Hollister, C. V. (2010). Best practices for credit-bearing information literacy courses. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. Hrycaj, P. L. (2006). An Analysis of Online Syllabi for Credit-Bearing Library Skills Courses. College & Research Libraries, 67(6), Mery, Y, Newby, J., and Peng, K. (2012). Why One-shot Information Literacy Sessions Are Not the Future of Instruction: A Case for Online Credit Courses. College & Research Libraries (anticipated publication date May 2012). Retrieved December 12, 2011, from Samson, S. (2010). Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student Success. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 36(3), TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills. (n.d.). TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from