Teaching & Learning @ Mac Libraries

Colleen MacKinnon compiled this list of active learning activities for use in library teaching and learning. The goal is to load it into a CMS and make it searchable, but the for the moment it exists only as document.

Active Learning activities

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Why Peer Discussion Improves Student Performance on In-Class Concept Questions

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/323/5910/122?eaf

“When students answer an in-class conceptual question individually using clickers, discuss it with their neighbors, and then revote on the same question, the percentage of correct answers typically increases. This outcome could result from gains in understanding during discussion, or simply from peer influence of knowledgeable students on their neighbors. To distinguish between these alternatives in an undergraduate genetics course, we followed the above exercise with a second, similar (isomorphic) question on the same concept that students answered individually. Our results indicate that peer discussion enhances understanding, even when none of the students in a discussion group originally knows the correct answer.”

Filed under: Active Learning, Articles & Research | 85,396 Comments »

When we did the Instructional Design and Teaching workshop in December 2007, we came up with a great list of instructional strategies and active learning activities to use in class. Here’s a link to the list. Instructional Strategies Brainstorm

Filed under: Active Learning, Lecture, Workshops | 2 Comments »

Information Fluency

• Association of College and Research Libraries. Guidelines for Instruction Programs in Academic Libraries. 1997.
• —-. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. 2002.
• —-. Objectives for Information Literacy Instruction: A Model Statement for Academic Librarians. 2001.
• Australian & New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (ANZIIL). Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework. (pdf)
• Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University. Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities. 1998.
• Burkhardt, G., et al. enGauge 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age. (pdf) Naperville, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 2003.
• Jenkins, H., et al. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture:  Media Education for the 21st Century. MacArthur Foundation, 2006.
• Lorenzo, G. & Dzibuan, C. Ensuring the Net Generation is Net Savvy. Educause Learning Initiative Paper 2, 2006.
• Outcomes
  • Gilchrist, D. Information Competency. Puyallup, Washington: Pierce Colleges, 2001.
  • Hong Kong Baptist University. Information Literacy Learning Outcomes for Different Levels of Study in Hong Kong Baptist University – A Chart.
  • Peters, J. Learning Outcomes and Information Literacy. SCONUL Advisory Committee on Information Literacy, 2004.
  • Queensland University of Technology Library, Brisbane, Australia. QUT Information Literacy Framework and Syllabus.
  • —. QUT Information Literacy Syllabus.
  • —. Syllabus Proficiency Map with Acquisitions (xls).
  • Philadelphia University Teaching and Learning Technology Roundtable. A Proposal to Adopt Outcomes Goals for Information Literacy at Philadelphia University.

Filed under: 21st century fluencies | 983 Comments »

Note: Please feel free to add to these notes!

Actively Engaging Students
CLL Workshop
Bob Henderson, Dept. of Kinesiology, McMaster University
Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 2:30-4:30 pm, T-13 125

Activity: Concentration game

• everybody puts 2 pieces of paper on the table, blank side up; one has something about the topic, e.g. “McMaster University President Peter George”, and the other has something that corresponds to it, a fact or opinion, e.g. “distinguished white beard”
• group gathers around and plays concentration with the pieces of paper, explaining theirs when theif pair is revealed

Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) — 3 stages of learning

• romancing (getting the students interested; don’t assume they already are; stage of intellectual excitement; immediate emotional involvement on the part of the learner) — most of these activities are for the romancing stage
• precision (content, discipline, systematic organization)
• generalization (applying it in a broader context; the incorporation of romance and precision into some general context of serviceable ideas)

Classroom management techniques

• something to call their attention back to the present, because they will wander after a while
• “Ho!” “Hey!”; “This is critical…”

Activity: Philosophy Game — to learn different philosophies of teaching

• John Dewey: experience, followed by a period of reflection and integration – try it, then talk about it; reflecting: e.g., how did that work for you? did you have any problems?
• Socrates: students and teachers ask questions of each other: ask how AND why (science and religion)
• Kurt Hahn: working in small groups, sharing a community vision, dedication, the founder of Outward Bound, character skills, generic skills
• Sophos: memorize and recite arguments; students are a vessel into which the teacher pours information
• Maria Montessori: self-directed style, if they don’t want to do it, they don’t have to

Assessment ideas

• how do you assess experiential learning?
• have them do a concept map & grade that
• activity: pass/fail; do it/don’t do it; encourage people to really stretch; people find it liberating
• Jensen: in assessments we deny the mistakes students make, but that is often where the learning happens
• PIGS: group work evaluation; not as one student said “let me do it, you’ll get an A”; evaluation is done by:
  • Peers
  • Instructor
  • Group
  • Self

Activity: Rope & Cards

• map of Canada
• rivers of Canada

Teaching behaviours rather than information

Closure

• closing activities
• Feedback sheets to use at end of class: 3 things I liked; 3 things I didn’t like

Activity: Quote Poker

• everybody gets 2 quote cards relevant to the subject; trade them to get a better hand, then explain to class what you ended up with and why

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• Citation mapping: the one picture that says it all (Thompson Reuters KnowledgeLink Newsletter, October 2008)
• Tutorial: how citation maps can help researchers get the full citation picture
  

Filed under: Curriculum Materials, Online Tutorials | 1 Comment »

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/msoffice/?p=717

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From: Jeannie An
Date: June 29, 2007

Please find below some neat online tutorials presented at the ACRL conference I attended in March 2007.  I particularly like the CLUE site as it integrates much more than the library into the tutorial.  As mentioned at the librarian’s forum, students really like to see things visually and the ones listed below are definitely more visual and interesting.  I’m hoping in the near future we can create more dynamic tutorials as well.

1. You Quote It, You Note It, Acadia University
http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/
Excellent tutorial on plagiarism and you can have a lot of fun with it

2.Beginner’s Guide to Business Research, Baruch College, CUNY
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/tutorials/zicklin/research/
Although we may not have all the resources, it’s an excellent overview for finding company reports and industry information

3. Bruin Success with Less Stress, UCLA College Library
http://www2.library.ucla.edu/bruinsuccess/
Excellent overall, very retro and hip

4.Full Text Finder Wizard, University of Minnesota Libraries
http://www.lib.umn.edu/undergrad/ej-wizard.phtml?direct=1
How to find articles and provides lots of examples

5. CLUE, Library & Information Literacy Instruction Program at UW-Madison
Libraries
http://clue.library.wisc.edu
Award winner and something I really like as it integrates not just the library into the presentation

Filed under: 21st century fluencies, Online Tutorials | 1 Comment »

From: Paul Jones
To: CAUT Librarians List
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008

Hi All,

CAUT has released its first Intellectual Property Advisory. The Advisory encourages academic staff to retain copyright in the journal articles they write to, inter alia, encourage Open Access publishing.

The document can be found at:

http://www.caut.ca/uploads/IP-Advisory1-en.pdf

Paul Jones
Professional Officer, CAUT

Filed under: 21st century fluencies, Faculty Outreach | 969 Comments »

Hi all,

The Booking Learning Spaces document on the staff web site has been updated for 2008/9. The URL is:

http://libstaff.mcmaster.ca/tlr/booking_learning_spaces.pdf

It outlines how to book learning spaces and equipment in the libraries and elsewhere on campus, and gives details about the spaces and the equipment available.

Please let me know if you know of anything else in the document that needs to be updated.

best,
Nora

Filed under: Guidelines & Policies, Wong e-Classroom | 305 Comments »