Merging Technology Literacy with Information Literacy: Smooth Sailing or Rough Waters? Michelle Toth SUNY Plattsburgh

General Education at PSU Information and Technology Literacy -- Courses in this category will ensure that students have mastered the skills and concepts basic to information and technology literacy. Students will demonstrate the ability to “perform the basic operations of personal computer use; understand and use basic research techniques; and locate, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources” (SUNY Required Learning Outcomes). Courses in this category will focus on the ability to use technology effectively and the ability to filter, analyze, and critique information and experience (Plattsburgh General Education Objectives). 1 credit

General Education at PSU Information and Technology Literacy -- Courses in this category will ensure that students have mastered the skills and concepts basic to information and technology literacy. Students will demonstrate the ability to “perform the basic operations of personal computer use; understand and use basic research techniques; and locate, evaluate and synthesize information from a variety of sources” (SUNY Required Learning Outcomes). Courses in this category will focus on the ability to use technology effectively and the ability to filter, analyze, and critique information and experience (Plattsburgh General Education Objectives). 1 credit

Taking the Plunge  No other department on campus stepped forward  Created LIB102 & LIB105 to replace the LIB101 course starting Fall 2004

First, the Integration Issues: Defining ‘basic’ technology literacy  National Research Council’s Being Fluent with Information Technology (1999)

First, the Integration Issues: Technology Literate Librarians  Summer professional development workshops - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, FrontPage

First, the Integration Issues: How to incorporate these new objectives into our existing course.  Collection of shared tutorials, links, datasets, and assignments  ‘Post Mortem’ meetings

Sharing the Experience  Common Course Objectives  Student Survey for the courses

4 Years of running with Info & Tech Literacy …

Time to Reflect & Assess  Are we meeting students’ needs?  Are our original objectives still valid?  What do we need to update/revise?

Assessment Process  Survey of LIB instructors  Survey of Campus Faculty  Review of other campus survey data

Survey of LIB instructors

 What technologies are you including in your course? Software/Tech covered in class (Respondents averaged 5 technologies, with a low of 2 and a high of 7) Word100% PowerPoint89% Excel78% Internet/Search Engines56% Angel44% FrontPage (web pages)33% Publisher22% 22% Wikis11% Blogs11% Graph Pad Prism11% Scanners11%

Survey of LIB instructors  What technology issues are you including in your course? Copyright50% Privacy50% Digital Divide50% Censorship50% Political, Economic & Cultural50% Plagiarism38% Intellectual Property38% Fair Use38% Social Networking38% DMCA13% Illegal Downloading13% ID Theft13% E-Waste13% Technology Issues Covered in Class (Respondents averaged 4 issues, with a low of 2 and a high of 7)

Survey of LIB instructors  Revisions or updates for the course technology objectives? Add to Objectives: Course Management system (Angel) Focus on information management technologies, RSS, citation software, etc… Remove from Objectives: Banner Basic computer operating skills

Survey of LIB instructors  Revisions or updates for the technology questions in LIB student survey? Suggest Removing: Banner, , Online Tutorials Need to Clarify: Use/purpose of Software Economic and Social Issues of Info. Potential and Limits of Tech

Survey of Campus Faculty

 What Software /Technology do you require your students to use for your courses? Word Processing (Word)88% Course Management System (Angel)60% Presentations (PowerPoint)55% Spreadsheets (Excel)29% Other27% Web Pages (FrontPage, Dreamweaver…)11% Databases (Access)9% Statistics (SPSS)9% Photo Editing (PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop...)5% Software Required in Classes

Survey of Campus Faculty  For the basic Microsoft Office products supported on campus, what features/functions do you believe students should know how to use? Top Features in Excel Students Need to Know How to construct and use Formulas and Stats Functions56% Create and modify charts and graphs44% downloading/importing adding data to the spreadsheet20% Formatting cells, rows, columns12%

Survey of Campus Faculty  Please identify what computer/software/ technology skills you think all students at PSU should have before they leave as graduates. By Graduation Students Should Know Word processing (Word)65% Presentation (PowerPoint)37% Spreadsheets (Excel)31% Research Skills (searching, evaluating)27% Access and use of images and media (audio, video)18% Creating web pages, blogs, wikis12% Basic computer and file management and trouble shooting10% Angel10% 6% Information Ethics4%

For Those Keeping Score: By Graduation Students Should Know Word processing (Word)65% Presentation (PowerPoint)37% Spreadsheets (Excel)31% Research Skills (searching, evaluating)27% Access and use of images and media (audio, video)18% Creating web pages, blogs, wikis12% Basic computer and file management and trouble shooting10% Angel10% 6% Information Ethics4% Software/Tech covered in LIB classes Word100% PowerPoint89% Excel78% Internet/Search Engines56% Angel44% FrontPage (web pages)33% Publisher22% 22% Wikis11% Blogs11% Graph Pad Prism11% E-Reserve11% Scanners11% Word Processing (Word)88% Course Management System (Angel)60% Presentations (PowerPoint)55% Spreadsheets (Excel)29% Other27% Web Pages (FrontPage, Dreamweaver…)11% Databases (Access)9% Statistics (SPSS)9% Photo Editing (PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop...)5% Software Required in Classes

For Those Keeping Score: By Graduation Students Should Know Word processing (Word)65% Presentation (PowerPoint)37% Spreadsheets (Excel)31% Research Skills (searching, evaluating)27% Access and use of images and media (audio, video)18% Creating web pages, blogs, wikis12% Basic computer and file management and trouble shooting10% Angel10% 6% Information Ethics4% Software/Tech covered in LIB classes Word100% PowerPoint89% Excel78% Internet/Search Engines56% Angel44% FrontPage (web pages)33% Publisher22% 22% Wikis11% Blogs11% Graph Pad Prism11% E-Reserve11% Scanners11% Word Processing (Word)88% Course Management System (Angel)60% Presentations (PowerPoint)55% Spreadsheets (Excel)29% Other27% Web Pages (FrontPage, Dreamweaver…)11% Databases (Access)9% Statistics (SPSS)9% Photo Editing (PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop...)5% Software Required in Classes

For Those Keeping Score: By Graduation Students Should Know Word processing (Word)65% Presentation (PowerPoint)37% Spreadsheets (Excel)31% Research Skills (searching, evaluating)27% Access and use of images and media (audio, video)18% Creating web pages, blogs, wikis12% Basic computer and file management and trouble shooting10% Angel10% 6% Information Ethics4% Software/Tech covered in LIB classes Word100% PowerPoint89% Excel78% Internet/Search Engines56% Angel44% FrontPage (web pages)33% Publisher22% 22% Wikis11% Blogs11% Graph Pad Prism11% E-Reserve11% Scanners11% Word Processing (Word)88% Course Management System (Angel)60% Presentations (PowerPoint)55% Spreadsheets (Excel)29% Other27% Web Pages (FrontPage, Dreamweaver…)11% Databases (Access)9% Statistics (SPSS)9% Photo Editing (PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop...)5% Software Required in Classes

For Those Keeping Score: By Graduation Students Should Know Word processing (Word)65% Presentation (PowerPoint)37% Spreadsheets (Excel)31% Research Skills (searching, evaluating)27% Access and use of images and media (audio, video)18% Creating web pages, blogs, wikis12% Basic computer and file management and trouble shooting10% Angel10% 6% Information Ethics4% Software/Tech covered in LIB classes Word100% PowerPoint89% Excel78% Internet/Search Engines56% Angel44% FrontPage (web pages)33% Publisher22% 22% Wikis11% Blogs11% Graph Pad Prism11% E-Reserve11% Scanners11% Word Processing (Word)88% Course Management System (Angel)60% Presentations (PowerPoint)55% Spreadsheets (Excel)29% Other27% Web Pages (FrontPage, Dreamweaver…)11% Databases (Access)9% Statistics (SPSS)9% Photo Editing (PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop...)5% Software Required in Classes

For Those Keeping Score: By Graduation Students Should Know Word processing (Word)65% Presentation (PowerPoint)37% Spreadsheets (Excel)31% Research Skills (searching, evaluating)27% Access and use of images and media (audio, video)18% Creating web pages, blogs, wikis12% Basic computer and file management and trouble shooting10% Angel10% 6% Information Ethics4% Software/Tech covered in LIB classes Word100% PowerPoint89% Excel78% Internet/Search Engines56% Angel44% FrontPage (web pages)33% Publisher22% 22% Wikis11% Blogs11% Graph Pad Prism11% E-Reserve11% Scanners11% Word Processing (Word)88% Course Management System (Angel)60% Presentations (PowerPoint)55% Spreadsheets (Excel)29% Other27% Web Pages (FrontPage, Dreamweaver…)11% Databases (Access)9% Statistics (SPSS)9% Photo Editing (PaintShop Pro, PhotoShop...)5% Software Required in Classes

Review of Other Campus Survey Data  LIB Student Surveys  Gen Ed Assessment results  ECAR Survey: Students & Information Technology in Higher Education (2007)

LIB Student Surveys: Tech Questions Spring 2008 Fall 2007 Spring 2007 Fall 2006 Spring 2006 Fall 2005 Spring 2005 Fall 2004 I am more comfortable using campus and the Banner registration system % I am more comfortable using Browsers, Search Engines and Online Tutorials % I have a better understanding of the use/purpose of different types of software programs such as Word processors and spreadsheets % I have a better understanding of economic and social issues concerning information % I am more familiar with the potentials and limits of computing technology % %79%78%79%82%80%

Gen Ed Assessment: Tech Questions What is the phrase that describes the abilities your computer must have to run a particular program?66.5% When you are installing new software, you first…69.2% * If your software isn't working correctly, the first thing to try is… 58.0% For an assignment, you need to illustrate population and income of potential customers in Essex/Franklin/Clinton counties with census data. What software application would you be most likely to use?71.4% In Windows 95 and more recent versions, the right mouse button has the effect of…65.2% A listserv is…61.2% message written in all capital letters signify…71.9% You receive an unsolicited message from someone you do not know, but it happens to have an attachment with a name relevant to a project you're working on. You should…56.7% To move a paragraph from one part of a word document to another, you…64.7% * To save a document on a floppy disk, you save it to… 58.9% * When you open a Word document and find no standard or formatting toolbars, how do you get them to return to the screen?55.4% 26 Tech Questions, 11 scored below 73%

PSU ECAR Survey  27% of students have family incomes less than $30K (16% nationally)  59% prefer a moderate amount of IT in their classes, 5% full IT, 2% no IT  Students wanted more training on the technology required in courses

PSU ECAR Survey  Spreadsheets & Charts 51% use at least monthly, 16% do not use 51% use at least monthly, 16% do not use 33% rate their skills as very good or excellent 33% rate their skills as very good or excellent 40% first used it in HS, 25% in College 40% first used it in HS, 25% in College  Presentations 50% use at least monthly, 5% do not use 50% use at least monthly, 5% do not use 59% rate their skills as very good or excellent 59% rate their skills as very good or excellent 48% first used it in HS, 34% in College 48% first used it in HS, 34% in College

Assessment Summary

Meeting Students’ Needs?  Good match between software covered in LIB courses and those required in other courses  Students still want and need academic technology instruction

Original Objectives?  Need to match LIB objectives and survey questions to actual course content  Clarify technology objectives and make them more specific

The Smooth Sailing  4 Years of successful LIB courses  Atmosphere of continuing professional development  Generally Positive feedback from Students: “i went into this class because my advisor told me too. I was supposed to have taken it Freshman year but I always thought I knew a lot. I was surprised about the new things I learned from it. Very good class. highly recommended”

The Rough Waters  LIB sections can be vastly different in technologies covered, and what features are taught – can we/should we be more consistent?  A thin and increasingly muddy line between info and tech elements  A thin and increasingly muddy line between info and tech elements  Ongoing Workload Issues

What is Next?  Discussions at Instruction Unit Level Recommendations based on data collected Recommendations based on data collected A schedule for ongoing assessments/updates A schedule for ongoing assessments/updates Framework for discussion with Library Faculty on technology literacy in LIB courses Framework for discussion with Library Faculty on technology literacy in LIB courses

Questions?

Resources & Citations  LIB102/105 Objectives and the collection of Teaching Resources can be found at:  Copies of this presentation, the LIB Student Survey, LIB Instructor Survey and the Faculty Survey are linked on my webpage:

Photo Citations witewater-rafting-17.html _2006.htm uk-and-france.html