DUAL CREDIT: SKILLS THAT TRANSFEROr, how to make dual credit students love your library so much they just have to enroll in your university!

NGAIRE SMITHREFERENCE AND INSTRUCTION LIBRARIAN - MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

MISSOURI LIBRARY ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 4, 2012

Why Dual Credit?

• Universities attract good students and ease their transition to college

• Teachers challenge their students with college level curriculum (Burhanna and Jensen, 2006)

• Students earn college credits, helping them to graduate early (and save moula!) (Smith, 2007)

• Senior year ≠ prom planning and yearbook committee

Purpose of Dual Credit Instruction at Meyer Library

Help students complete assignmentThe “Wow!” factorMotivation to attend college (Cosgrove, 2001)Students are “more systematic and purposeful in information gathering” (Goodin, 1991, 35)87% of students reported that library instruction helped them complete their assignment (Jones et al. 2012)

Barriers to Information Literacy

The Google effect I used Wikipedia in a paper last year and

got an A! Everything’s Online, right?

The “Bones” Effect “Satisficing”

Those first two articles will work!

The Culture of Dual CreditBurhanna and Jensen (2006)

Close peer groups Open to group work Focused and

attentive Excited to be here Limited time to find

information Academically

advanced

Newly independent

Distracted by new roles and responsibilities

Range of academic abilities

Have a lot of new information to absorb

Dual Credit Students College Freshmen

Structuring the Class

Usually 1 ½ hours long Get to know your students Articulate learning outcomes:

what do you want your students to be able to do?

Reminder: College = study

Learning Outcomes

Students will search a variety of sources in order to find high quality information for their papers

Students will employ different search techniques in order to narrow and focus their searches

Making the Session Count

Active learning and hands-on activities Students “need to interact more closely

with the course material than simply listening to it or reading about it.” (Jacobson and Xu, 2004)

Extra scaffolding for off-campus learners

Introductions

Distribute index cards Ask students to respond to a question

How can the library help me do my assignment?

Describe a time when you used research to help you make a decision

Discuss answers as a class Overview of the session

1. Emphasis: The Library HomepageOr, the Magical Portal to Free Information

58% of students “not sure” whether library offers access to online databases (De Rosa et al. 2006)

Google v. Library Homepage Library pays for information so that

you don’t have to! Get help from the experts – Ask a

Librarian

2. Finding What’s Out There

Basic catalog searching Keyword Searching

Remember to use “And” to join terms Play around with keywords to expand your search Use subject terms to find other similar items

Call numbers What they mean, and how to use them to find

books Activity

In groups, students find two books on a topic in the catalog and text them to their phones, go to the stacks, and take a photo of the book. Prize for first!

3. Scholarly v. Popular

Kimbel Library video Group activity

Each group gets one example of a scholarly journal and one example of a popular journal

Using the criteria in the video, each group will decide which is which, and why

Report back to the class

Databases

Click on Articles and Databases link Ask students to find the top three

databases for Literature Research Pick one and demonstrate a few

features, such as narrowing by full text only, narrowing by date, and emailing articles

Database Searching Activity

Sample Assignment: Comparing MLA International Bibliography and JSTOR

Group Assignment: Each group will find two full text, scholarly articles, one from the last five years, on gender in The Yellow Wallpaper

Worksheet Describe articles What makes them scholarly? Discuss helpful database features Describe obstacles encountered

Report back to class

Self-Directed Search Time

Students focus searches on their own topics Librarian and instructor available for help Students retrieve books from stacks, save pdfs,

or email them One-on-one consultation with each student

Wrap-Up

Review what was covered in class Ask students to share what they have

found on their topics (either to the class or in a one minute paper)

Reemphasize the library homepage and Ask a Librarian

Remind students that the library is vital to a successful college experience

Make sure they all now want to attend MSU!

Skills Acquired:

Students can now: Find books in the catalog and in the stacks Distinguish between scholarly and popular

articles Use a variety of search techniques Identify ways to get help with research

when needed

Signs Point to:

Library instruction helps students achieve at a higher level Can produce work at the college level when

given the right tools and resources (Goodin, 1991)

Library use improves student retention Haddow and Joseph (2010) found that

students who used the library in their first semester were more likely to stay in college

Reference List

Burhanna, K. & M. L. Jensen. 2006. “Collaborations for Success: High School to College Transitions.” References Services Review, 34(4), 509-519.

Cosgrove, J. 2001. Promoting Higher Education: (Yet) Another Goal of Bibliographic Instruction of High School Students by College Librarians.” College and Undergraduate Libraries, 8(2): 17-24.

Goodin, M. Elspeth. 1991. “The Transferability of Library Research Skills from High School to College.” School Library Media Quarterly. 20(1): 33-42.

Haddow, Gaby, and Jayanthi Joseph. 2010. “Loans, Logins, and Lasting the Course: Academic Library Use and Student Retention.” Australian Academic and Research Libraries, 41 (4): 233-244.

Jacobson, Trudi and Lijuan Xu. 2004. Motivating Students in Information Literacy Classes. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc.

Jones, C.G., T. Stout, R. Thompson, and L. Cline. 2012. Library Constituency Survey: Interim Report. Springfield: Missouri State University Libraries.

Smith, D. 2007. Why Expand Dual-Credit Programs?” Community College Journal of Research and Practice. 31:371-387.