THE LIBRARY AND THE 1ST YEAR SCIENCE
STUDENTS: COLLABORATION IN TEACHING INFORMATION
LITERACY
Pavlinka Kovatcheva, UJ Faculty Librarian: Sciences
E-mail: [email protected]
Presented at the UJ Faculty of Science First Year Academy
31 October 2012
ABOUT INFORMATION LITERACY:WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
Defining Information Literacy (IL) as applied to the academic environment:
“It refers to skills that enable one to recognize when they need information to solve a problem, how they can formulate their search strategy and skills of being able to identify the correct sources of the relevant information they need from books, journals, on-line databases, indexes, etc., and conducting the search itself to yield useful information. Their ability to evaluate the documents/information they get. How to extract the information they need, make proper references.” (Baro & Keboh, 2012)
INFORMATION LITERACY PRACTICES FOR UJ 1ST YEAR SCIENCES STUDENTS
Library Orientation and Tours in the Library Group Subject specific information skills sessions One-to-one library trainings Help with Searches, Assignments, Lab reports and
Research projects Online support with Subject guides (Portals) Online support via EduLink: Library Resources:
Sciences Online tutorials (Subject portals; EduLink) Assessment methods: Test & Trainings feedback Use Social Networking for communicating and
sharing information and resources with users
LIBRARY & FACULTY COLLABORATION IN TEACHING & LEARNING
According to the literature:“ Subject-specific information literacy and its
integration into curricula, especially in the sciences, benefit students” (Ferrer-Vinent & Carello, 2011)
“ Collaboration between classroom faculty and librarians has been identified as a key element in the success of a library instruction program” (Ferrer-Vinent & Carello, 2008)
“ Competency in science information literacy is an objective of most undergraduate biology programs” (Fuselier & Nelson, 2011)
UJ FACULTY OF SCIENCE: FIRST YEAR ORIENTATION 2012
- THE LIBRARY -
Source
UJ FACULTY OF SCIENCE: FIRST YEAR ORIENTATION 2012 (1)
Library Information sessions as part of the UJ Faculty of Science Orientation
APK Campus DFC Campus
Date: 24/1/2012 Date: 30/1/2012
Number of students: ~ 650 Number of students: ~ 150
Power Point presentation Power Point presentation
Introduction to the: • APK Library facilities• APK Library services• Library Resources (print &
online)• Sciences Subject Portals &
Social Networking
Introduction to the: • DFC Library facilities• DFC Library services• Library Resources (print &
online)• Sciences Subject Portals &
Social Networking
UJ FACULTY OF SCIENCE: FIRST YEAR ORIENTATION 2012 (2) Library Tours as part of the UJ Faculty of
Science Orientation: APK Campus DFC Campus
Dates: 25/1/12 & 26/1/12 Date: 2/2/12
Groups: 11Number of students: ~ 300Assistants: Faculty & Library staff
Groups: 5Number of students: ~ 90Assistants: Library staff
Print-out: Sciences brochure Print-out: Sciences brochure
The APK Library Tour included: • Library security; Information
Point; Lending Desk & Books on Reserve; Computers; Printers & Photocopies; Open Shelves Book Collections (Sciences, Level 3); Journal Collections; ILL & ICL; Reference Collection; Sciences Librarian desk
The DFC Library Tour included: • Library security; Information
Point; Circulation Desk & Books on Reserve; Computers; Printers & Photocopies; Open Shelves Book Collections; Journal Collections; ILL & ICL; Reference Collection; Audio-Visual Collection; Sciences Librarian desk
UJ FACULTY OF SCIENCE: FIRST YEAR ORIENTATION 2012 (4)
Comments: The 2012 Library Orientation was better presented
to the 1st year students than past years It weight more the value of the library, if it is in a
slot after the UJ Faculty of Science Dean’s speech… Thus, it shows student the recognition of the
library as an important component in their studies Better opportunity for the Librarian to meet with
higher number of students, compared to the small groups before EduLink trainings(as in past years)
The Library tours helped students to get to know more about the library, available facilities, services and resources.
BIOLOGY 1A: COLLABORATION IN TEACHING & LEARNING
Discussion with the lecturers to find a way to incorporate the library instruction during the Biology 1A course in the 1st semester of 2012
Purpose: - For students to be able to develop library research skill in finding and applying information for their Lab report. - To learn how to avoid plagiarism by citing and referencing in the correct method
BIOLOGY 1A: LIBRARY RESEARCH SKILLS
Library Training Sessions; Feedback & Assessments Class list (133 students)
Writing Scientific report: Part 1 Finding & Accessing information
Writing Scientific report: Part 2Plagiarism, Citing & Referencing
2 Groups: 15/2 & 16/2Time slot: 1 hour for each groupVenue: LabsNumber of students attended: ~120
2 Groups: 20/2 & 21/2Time slot: 1 hour for each groupVenue: LabsNumber of students attended: ~110
Training content: Steps in Online Searching; Library Resources for Biology; How to write a report; Article structure; Databases for e-books & journals; EduLink access to resources
Training content: What is Plagiarism & Copyright; How to avoid Plagiarism by citing and referencing; Practical examples of citing techniques; how to reference a book; journal article; Internet resource
EduLink : Library Resources; Both presentations; Mastering Biology Online access
Assessment test after the sessions: To reference correctly a book & article
Incorporate library questions in the Practical1 test
Questionnaire feedback for all the training sessions
BIOLOGY 1A: LIBRARY RESEARCH SKILLS
Some of the feedback from Biology 1 students. They found the training sessions:
Informative and helpful; Need more practice; The librarian was good and she met all our
expectations; Pavlinka was perfect The training really helped, because now I know
how to reference a book and also how to search for article and books online
I wish I knew all this earlier. After I saw these presentations everything was easier
The information provided was good and helped with the practical and now we understand the concept of plagiarism
INFORMATICS 1B: ASSIGNMENT
Training sessions were requested by the Academy of Computer Science & Software Engineering.
Students were given an assignment to find 2 articles and answer the research question
Informatics 1B: Library training “How to find Information for your Research project”
Training sessions: 31/7/12 & 2/9/12 (2 sessions)
Time slot: 1 hour eachVenue: Lecture Halls
Training content: How to access library resources (Subject Portal; EduLink); How to Search for print & Online books; How to search for journals; How to search the Databases for articles; Citing & Referencing
Comments: There was no formal assessment or feedback
STATISTICS 1B: LIBRARY ASSIGNMENT
The Statistics 1B students had no formal library training.
The lecturer requested that I’m available for students to meet and help.
+- 80 students First 2 weeks in October 2012 2 Assignment topics:
- Find the name of the Science librarian @ APK; which floor are the statistics books; the Classification number range- To find a scientific article on a topic (hypothesis testing).
EDULINK LIBRARY RESOURCES: SCIENCES2012•Library presence at the Virtual Learning Environment: EduLink
•EduLink Statistics
Click icon to add picture
SCIT02 COURSE: PLAGIARISM & COPYRIGHT (1)
Discussed at the UJ Faculty of Science Teaching and Learning meeting and the Deans’ Committee meeting to present the workshop to Sciences First Years
The only classes where we reach all our students will be in the Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and Computer Science.
An hour of lecturer’s time, where the Faculty librarian: Sciences & Copyright officer will do training sessions.
This is a credit bearing and the students will complete an Edulink test after the sessions.
(Melanie Jacobs, Faculty of Science)
SCIT02 COURSE: PLAGIARISM & COPYRIGHT (2)
The trainings took place in the first 2 weeks of October 2012
With my colleague Thapelo Mashishi, UJ Copyright Officer we trained 12 classes – 804 students
Both APK & DFC Campuses 1st year Science students
Power Point Presentation that covers:- What is Plagiarism & Copyright- How to avoid Plagiarism by Citing & Referencing - 4 videos were played to enhance the presentation and to provide visual explanation
SCIT02 COURSE: PLAGIARISM & COPYRIGHT (3) Created on EduLink test- 30 questions, which
students needed to complete and have a minimum of 50% to pass the course, by 31st October. The questions were equally distributed to cover all the training material
The Presentation and additional Plagiarism Resources were added to EduLink
Link to the UJ Sciences Librarian Plagiarism Portal is available to students to watch relevant videos and practice their knowledge.
EDULINK PLAGIARISM STATS: TEST RESULTS
780 registered students for the CSIT02 course 436 completed the Plagiarism test by 30/10
10097
9390
8783
8077
73
67
21
64
70
111
82
48
16 16
2 1
Pass %Students
EDULINK PLAGIARISM STATS: TEST RESULTS
Most of the students who completed the test, answer correctly between 25 and 29 questions
1 17 33 49 65 81 97 1131291451611771932092252412572732893053213373533693854014174330
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Grade Value
Grade Va...
UJ SCIENCES LIBRARIAN PORTALhttp://
ujsciencelibrarian.pbworks.com/w/page/6193643/FrontPage
IN CONCLUSION:
Way forward and recommendations: Close collaboration and partnership between
the Faculty and the Sciences Librarians Need to look at all possible ways to improve
the teaching of IL skills for undergraduates To adapt 1st year Orientation to more practical
and efficient training and assessment To work closely with lecturer and implement IL
into the subject instructions, such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, etc.
To provide throughout the year training courses based on need analysis
REFERENCES:
Baro, E.E. & Keboh, T. 2012. Teaching and Fostering Information Literacy Programmes: A Survey of Five University Libraries in Africa. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 38(5):311-315
Ferrer-Vinent, I.J. & Carello, C.A. 2011. The Lasting Value of an Embedded, First-Year Biology Library Instruction Program. Science & Technology Libraries, 30:254-266.
Ferrer-Vinent, I.J. & Carello, C.A. 2008. Embedded Library Instruction in a First-Year Biology Laboratory Course. Science & Technology Libraries, 28(4):325-351
Fuselier, L. & Nelson, B. 2011. A Test of the Efficiency of an Information Literacy Lesson in an Introductory Biology Laboratory Course with a strong Science-Writing Component. Science & Technology Libraries, 30:58-75