CHECK THESE OUT!

by Mary Pagliero Popp, popp@indiana.edu


Evaluation is a key issue for all of us. We teach users to evaluate the materials they find. We try to evaluate our own instruction efforts. We review our standard instructional activities and adapt them to new information about learning, new user groups or new situations. Below you will find guidance in all of these areas:

EVALUATING LIBRARY INSTRUCTION

Fenske, Rachel and Ann Roselle. “Proving the Efficacy of Library Instruction Evaluation.” Research Strategies 16.3 (1998): 175-185.

The authors describe the way librarians at Eastern Washington University evaluate one-hour library sessions with English composition classes and the ways the evaluation data have been used to improve instruction. Instructors complete an evaluation form about the session and about preplanning activities. Students complete two evaluations: one during the next class session after the instruction and the other after the assignment is done. Copies of the pre-instruction worksheet, and the two student evaluation forms are appended. Please note that this issue of Research Strategies was actually published in Fall 1999.

Kansas Association of School Librarians, Research Committee. “Planning and Assessing Learning across the Curriculum.” Knowledge Quest 28 (Sept./Oct. 1999): 10-16.

Describes the Handy 5 Integrated Assessment Model, a tool for planning and assessing learning of information skills integrated into subject area instruction, designed to enable teachers and school library media specialists to collaborate to plan meaningful research assignments. The model covers the following steps: assignment, plan of action, doing the job, product evaluation, and process evaluation for assignments in reading, math, social studies, science, six-trait writing, and the arts. Also included is a rubric for assessing each step. The article concludes with a description of a year-long study of the model’s use in Kansas schools (K-12) and summarizes the major findings of the study.

Stewart, Sharon Lee. “Assessment for Library Instruction: The Cross/Angelo Model.” Research Strategies 16.3(1998): 165-174.

Stewart describes the concepts of classroom assessment and classroom research developed by Thomas Angelo and Patricia Cross, and discusses their application to library instruction. Classroom assessment is the process of gathering frequent feedback in the classroom from learners about their learning and using it immediately to improve student understanding. Classroom research is the systematic study of student learning, using classroom assessment and similar techniques. The article includes the assumptions underlying classroom assessment, a brief description of major techniques, and examples and guidelines for successful classroom assessment and research. These techniques are helpful in any learning setting.

LEARNING AND MEMORY

Banikowski, Alison K. and Teresa A. Mehring. “Strategies to Enhance Memory Based on Brain-Research.” Focus on Exceptional Children 32(Oct. 1999): 1-15.

This is an excellent overview of research about memory for all learners, exceptional or child or not. The authors focus on three issues: 1) an information processing model of memory; 2) practical instructional strategies to enhance memory; and 3) reasons for forgetting. A very useful bibliography is appended.

Callison, Daniel. “Key Words in Instruction: Organizers.” School Library Media Activities Monthly 16(Jan. 2000): 36-39.

Callison reviews writings about advance organizers as an aid to learning and focuses on the theories of David Ausubel. He describes the use of “webbing,” the KWL chart (to list what one Knows, Wants to learn, has Learned), and graphic/visual organizers. A nice companion to the Banikowski and Mehring article above.

Ross, Jonathan L. and Robert A. Schulz. “Using the World Wide Web to Accommodate Diverse Learning Styles.” College Teaching 47 (Fall 1999): 123-129.

Suggests methods for using the World Wide Web to meet the needs of learners with varying learning styles, including sensory (auditory, visual, and kinesthetic), social, and Gregorc cognitive styles (sequential/random and concrete/abstract). Although written for professors who teach a full semester course, this has much to offer instruction librarians. Contains a useful bibliography about learning styles.

THE BIG 6 (TEACHING TECHNOLOGY AND INFORMATION SKILLS)

The Big 6 Newsletter is no longer published separately. Beginning in January 2000, two contributions each year will be published in Library Talk and in The Book Report. The authors, Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz, also plan to begin publishing the newsletter in electronic form on their web site, if they can garner vendor support. Watch for details. For those unfamiliar with the Big 6, it is a popular method of teaching library and information skills. The first of the articles in The Book Report deals with evaluation of sources:

Spitzer, Kathleen L. “How to Use Soda Pop, The Blair Witch Project, and Other Methods to Help Students Learn to Evaluate Web Information Critically.” Book Report 18 (Jan./Feb. 2000): 22-23.

Spitzer details a lesson on web evaluation that begins with a discussion of the factors that influence a student to choose a particular brand of soda and leads to a discussion of ways to evaluate information found on the Web. She describes the presentation to the class and a follow-up assignment that asks students to evaluate sources.

IDEAS YOU CAN USE TODAY

Bernnard, Deborah F. and Yolanda Hollingsworth. “Teaching Web-Based Full-Text Databases: New Concepts from New Technology.” Reference & User Services Quarterly 39.1 (Fall 1999): 63-70.

Presents the results of an examination of five major web-based full-text databases, LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe, JSTOR, Project Muse, EBSCO through FirstSearch, and EBSCOhost Academic Elite, to identify universal concepts that users should learn to be able to search any of the databases. These are: scope, Boolean logic, hypertext linking to outside resources vs. navigational hypertext links, and critical evaluation.

Germain, Carol Anne, Trudi E. Jacobson, and Sue A. Kaczor. “A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Presentation Formats for Instruction: Teaching First-Year Students.” College and Research Libraries 61.1(Jan. 2000): 65-72.

The authors compared the effectiveness of a web tutorial to instruction by a librarian. Working with students in freshman year experience classes at SUNY at Albany, the authors reviewed pre-test/post-test results for the two kinds of instruction. Results showed both methods were equally effective, and a significant difference was found between pre-test and post-test scores, showing that library instruction made a difference. The authors discuss their plans to use the web tutorial for the first class session and a presentation by a librarian for the second.

Simoneaux, Laverne, D’Angelo, Barbara J., and Orgeron, Elizabeth. “The Library and You: Curriculum Integrated Library Instruction via the WWW.” Campus-Wide Information Systems 16.3(1999): 89-94.

Discusses the use of the Web for library instruction at Southeastern Louisiana University. Strategies included a web tutorial, email reference service, and a MOO (multi-user object-oriented environment) for real-time tutoring. The article lists objectives of the tutorial and design decisions, and summarizes the evaluation process. The MOO is described and the authors explain why this part of the project was abandoned.

IN BRIEF

Arlitsch, Kenning. “Building Instruction Labs at the University of Utah.” Research Strategies 16.3 (1998): 199-210.

Bishop, Ann P. et al. “Public Libraries and Networked Information Services in Low Income Communities.” Library & Information Science Research 21.3 (1999): 361-390. [Research results include suggestions for planning training activities.]

Caspers, Jean S. “Hands-On Instruction Across the Miles: Using a Web-Tutorial to Teach the Literature Review Research Process.” Research Strategies 16.3 (1998): 187-197. [The tutorial can be found at: .]

Johnson, Doug. “Designing Research Projects Students (and Teachers) Love.” MultiMedia Schools 6 (Nov./Dec. 1999): 36-42. Also available at:

Ohlrich, Karen Browne. “An Active Staff Orientation, or How to Get Your Staff to Remember 90% of What You Want Them to Know about the Library Media Center.” School Library Media Activities Monthly 16(Jan. 2000): 22-24. [Instruction for teachers.]

Rader, Hannelore B. “Library Instruction and Information Literacy - 1998. RSR: Reference Services Review 27.4(1999): 376-403.

Westbrook, Lynn. “Passing the Half-way Mark: LIS Curricula Incorporating User Education Courses.” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 40.2(1999): 92-98.

Mary Pagliero Popp, Information Technologies Public Services Librarian, Indiana University Bloomington Libraries n

LIRT News, March 2000. Volume 22, number 3.
To report problems, please contact the LIRT News Production editor at ronan@mail.uflib.ufl.edu

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