Information Literacy Discussion Notes, May 31, 2006
Attendees:
Dieter Bingemann (Chemistry), Cecilia Chang (Asian Studies), Paula Consolini (Experiential Education), Andrea Danyluk (Computer Science), Edan Dekel (Classics), Charles Dew (History), Lori DuBois (Reference and Instruction Librarian, Sawyer Library), Joyce Foster (Academic Resource Center), Tom Garrity (Mathematics and PET), Molly Magavern (Special Academic Programs), Christine Ménard (Head of Research and Reference Services, Sawyer Library), Gail Newman (German, Comparative Literature, Summer in the Humanities and Social Sciences), David Pilachowski (College Librarian), Olga Shevchenko (Sociology), Stefanie Solum (Art), Bill Wagner (History, incoming Dean of the Faculty), Helena Warburg (Head, Schow Science Library)
Presentation
For background to the discussion, Lori defined information literacy, reviewed the results of the study of students' information literacy skills, and presented information and statistics on the library's current instruction activities.
Discussion
Questions posed:
- How do we move from individual faculty requests for instruction to a more holistic approach to information literacy?
- What information literacy skills are important for any Williams graduate to have? What skills are important for particular majors?
- When is the best time to teach basic information literacy skills?
General observations about student research discussion participants shared:
- When given a writing assignment, sometimes students don't realize that they need information to support their ideas.
- Often students do not see themselves as part of a scholarly conversation.
- Students may not know how to read for argument, or how to make their own argument.
- Students may not approach reading a book the way scholars do--reading the introduction, table of contents, etc., as a way of getting a sense of the work before reading the entire book
Ideas for integrating information literacy into the curriculum/courses:
- Meet with CEP to talk about incorporating information literacy into the curriculum.
- Tweak writing-intensive courses, by having one of the two required writing-intensive courses include an information literacy component.
- Have professors voluntarily include information literacy into writing-intensive courses (or other courses) and mark those courses in the course catalog.
- Have an information literacy sub-track of Critical Reasoning and Analytical Skills (CRAAS) courses.
- Go to Chairs meeting to raise issue to the departments.
- Bring members of departments together to share syllabi and discuss common problems (History has done this with 100-level courses) .
- Talk about information literacy issues in PET.
- Invite experts to meet with departments to discuss how to create paper topics, integrate information literacy into courses (like the workshops by writing experts the Dean of the Faculty has sponsored for departments during Winter Study).
- Create information literacy checklist for majors.
- Hold retreats across the curriculum to discuss pedagogy, writing, and information literacy.
Ideas for encouraging student research outside courses:
- Provide funding for students to attend professional association conferences so that students can see what it means to be a scholar.
- Have thesis writers (or seniors in a department as a capstone experience) organize a mini-conference featuring their research and invite an established scholar as a keynote speaker.
- Sponsor a First Year student research paper competition.
- Use the new housing system to create a research challenge with competing houses.
Next Step
Lori proposed creating a working group of interested faculty and administrative staff to continue brainstorming ideas and to work on a proposal/presentation to bring to CEP. Contact if you are interested in joining this group.