[infolit] FW: TBLC - INFO LIT SIG Report on Sept 20 meeting

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 09:59:48 -0400

These are great minutes!  One more detail is that SPC hopes that in the =
future new students will be required to take an information literacy =
placement test along with their math, reading, writing placement tests. =
They hope this will encourage students to take the info lit course =
sooner instead of later.

Also, a related presentation about the process of making info lit a =
graduation competency at SPC will be offered by Melisandre & Carla at =
FACRL's Oct 18th workshop in Orlando.

Judy Born=20

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank, Ilene [mailto:ifrank@lib.usf.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2002 8:25 PM
To: 'infolit@lists.tblc.org'
Subject: [infolit] FW: TBLC - INFO LIT SIG Report on Sept 20 meeting

Hi, here are some notes from the Info Lit SIG meeting from September =
20th,
2002.=20

TBLC-INFO LIT SIG  Meeting September 20, 2002 Gibbs Campus St Petersburg
(See the end of this message for URLs related to the presentation and =
topics
we discussed)

Carla Levesque (SPC - Gibbs Campus) presented "Taking Information =
Literacy
Online". In 1999, St Pete College got a large FIPSE grant to improve
distance learning opportunities for their students.  The grant provides =
for
compensation for faculty who design and/or teach online courses. The
compensation is on a overload basis. Carla took on the challenge of
developing a 1 credit course designed to teach information literacy =
skills.

This course is one component of SPC's Information Literacy/Computer =
Literacy
Graduation
Requirement. Students can test out of the competencies or take a
face-to-face class offered at some of the SPC campuses or take the =
online
class that Carla developed.  Students must complete this set of =
Competencies
in order to get their AA degree.

The SPC librarians think it would be helpful if there were a way to =
ensure
that students got training in these competencies during the first 12 =
hours
they attend SPC. This does not always happen.

After reviewing similar online courses, Carla used WebCt (course =
management
software) and Frontpage in order to create her course.  She urged =
everyone
to make friends with their Information Technologies Department.

Course content includes modules such as "selecting a topic"; =
"identifying
resources"; "citing information". Assignments include activities such as
class participation via WebCT's online discussion board; a short =
annotated
bibliography that includes various kinds of resources; a database
assignment.  The database assignment requires students to become
knowledgable about a database not discussed as part of the course =
content.
Students become the teachers filling out a grid of information about the
database to share with others in the class.  Students report that they =
have
learned a lot from this assignment.

Carla reported on some things she learned as she gained experience in
teaching online. WebCT allows instructors to construct a quiz and then
release it at a later date.  Instructors just have to remember to =
release
it! Using WebCT, Carla noted that with WebCT's statistical information, =
she
can make sure that students are logging into the course and looking at =
the
content. If some students fail to "show up in class", Carla can contact =
them
to learn about their difficulties. Carla also learned to deal with =
students
messages to the discussion board. Sometimes students had misconceptions =
that
they revealed in their postings. She could respond and correct them as
needed.  Carla also warned the group that a course like this needs some
regular attention. For example, EBSCOHost changed their interface. Carla
needs to update her examples of EBSCOHost within the course.

The IT department worked with Carla to add some interactivity to the =
course.
They used Coldfusion to allow for some practice and testing with the =
online
catalog and databases from inside the WebCT course.  They were also able =
to
add some polling features which students liked.  Carla asked them to =
record
their opinions on whether they like using ebooks, etc.

So far registration for the WebCT course has been low, but the SPC
librarians feel that more students will take it online as everyone on =
campus
gets more familiar with this version of the course.

The SPC librarians were also involved in working on the information =
literacy
questions that are part of the Computer/Information Literacy Test.  They
were allowed six interactive questions and 100 multiple choice =
questions.
The test software itself was developed by an outside firm called Kenexa.

The SPC librarians are also excited about using ViewletBuilder (from =
Qarbon
at http://www.qarbon.com) to create animated online tutorials. Carla and
Melisandre both report that this software is not difficult to use though =
it
takes some time to plan the tutorials - and to keep them up-to-date. =
(See
below for URL to the examples of tutorials created by the Carla.)  SPC =
has a
site license for ViewletBuilder.  There is a demo version that's free. =
The
free version lacks some of the features in the licensed version, but =
it's
do-able. Everyone was excited about the option of using this kind of
software.

The group decided to meet again November 1st at 10am at the Gibbs campus =
of
SPC.  Topics will include more about ViewletBuilder and Kathy Whitley =
(USF)
will present her experiences personalizing TILT for the Tampa Campus =
Library
and Susan Silver (USF) will talk about her experiences developing an =
online
tutorial for some Psychology "Research Methods" classes.

URLS:

LIS2001 - Carla Levesque's course
http://wild.spcollege.edu
For guest access
username  levesquem
passowrd  library

SPC Information Literacy/Computer Student Requirements (This page is =
going
through a lot of revisions, so maybe make a note to this effect)
http://www1.spjc.cc.fl.us/central/libonline/instruction/infolit.htm

SPC Library Tutorials - Use of  Viewlets for Tutorials
http://www.spcollege.edu/central/viewlets/

Notes by
Ilene Frank, ifrank@lib.usf.edu
Reference Department
Tampa Campus Library
University of South Florida
(813) 974-2483
http://www.lib.usf.edu/~ifrank/

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