Natural Allies: Teaching Research Skills to Undergraduates through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration.
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Room 1220 A/B
Abstract
This case study examines a project administered by English faculty and librarians at Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) whose objective was to improve and update English Composition curriculum by redeveloping the English 1010 Master Course.
The majority of library instruction sessions taught by librarians at VSCC are for English Composition courses. Despite our close working relationship, there has been no formal curricula to tie together the English Department and library’s goals to teach information literacy skills. Research assignments vary, requiring librarians to design instruction sessions from scratch, resulting in a “kitchen sink” library session: attempting to teach students all there is to know about research in one 90-minute session. Librarians and English faculty work independently to create courses and sessions, resulting in poor communication and ineffective teaching. When librarians were invited to participate in the English Department’s mission to redevelop the ENGL 1010 Master Course, it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate research skills into the course itself, using a stratified approach to teach students about the research process.
The course redesign introduces research skills early in the semester, preparing students to write argumentative research papers at the end of term. We hope this will result in more successful papers, higher grades and a deeper understanding of information literacy.
This case study presentation will follow the course redevelopment process, including:
- Goals for the project
- Incorporation of research skills into the course master shell, including assignment examples
- Successes and pitfalls of the pilot semester
- Goals, issues and concerns going forward
Presentation Description
In the Fall of 2015, English faculty and librarians at Volunteer State Community College (Gallatin, TN) redeveloped an freshman-level English composition course, incorporating research skills into the course from day one of the semester. This presentation will give an overview of the process, including a discussion of the success and pitfalls of the pilot semester.
Keywords
Course development, Teaching information literacy skills, Library instruction, English composition courses, Faculty and librarian partnerships, Online education, D2L
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Sheets, Laura A., "Natural Allies: Teaching Research Skills to Undergraduates through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration." (2016). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 74.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2016/2016/74
Natural Allies: Teaching Research Skills to Undergraduates through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration.
Room 1220 A/B
This case study examines a project administered by English faculty and librarians at Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) whose objective was to improve and update English Composition curriculum by redeveloping the English 1010 Master Course.
The majority of library instruction sessions taught by librarians at VSCC are for English Composition courses. Despite our close working relationship, there has been no formal curricula to tie together the English Department and library’s goals to teach information literacy skills. Research assignments vary, requiring librarians to design instruction sessions from scratch, resulting in a “kitchen sink” library session: attempting to teach students all there is to know about research in one 90-minute session. Librarians and English faculty work independently to create courses and sessions, resulting in poor communication and ineffective teaching. When librarians were invited to participate in the English Department’s mission to redevelop the ENGL 1010 Master Course, it was the perfect opportunity to incorporate research skills into the course itself, using a stratified approach to teach students about the research process.
The course redesign introduces research skills early in the semester, preparing students to write argumentative research papers at the end of term. We hope this will result in more successful papers, higher grades and a deeper understanding of information literacy.
This case study presentation will follow the course redevelopment process, including:
- Goals for the project
- Incorporation of research skills into the course master shell, including assignment examples
- Successes and pitfalls of the pilot semester
- Goals, issues and concerns going forward
