Teaching Information Literacy in the Context of Interdisciplinary Problem Solving: Faculty-Librarian Collaborative Instruction for the Literature Review
Type of Presentation
Poster Session (45 minutes)
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Room 212
Proposal
Considerable pedagogical scholarship addresses the problem of teaching students how to write field-specific literature reviews. Far fewer studies, however, have assessed the impact of training students in discovery and selection methods designed to help them identify appropriate literature to consult, particularly in the service of interdisciplinary problem solving. This case study assesses the impact of faculty-librarian collaborative instruction on the literature discovery and selection methods employed by two classes of first-year engineering students. With the objective of investigating solutions for design problems with multidisciplinary dimensions, student teams were tasked with conducting secondary research. Pre- and post-course surveys for a course section with the library collaboration and a control section without it obtained data on student knowledge and confidence levels for secondary research strategies. Following the conclusion of the course, student literature reviews and team reports were analyzed to assess the breadth and variety of sources (e.g. publications from regulatory agencies, peer-reviewed journals, and the popular press) consulted by each group. Results indicated that students whose class sections included structured guidance in literature discovery and selection consulted a greater number and variety of sources than those in courses that did not include partnered instruction. Control classes, by contrast, showed greater reliance on primary research. Student post-course confidence levels, however, did not clearly correlate with performance as documented in final work products. Future research should investigate whether student confidence levels are an appropriate proxy for student information literacy.
Short Description
This case study assesses the impact of faculty-librarian collaborative instruction on literature discovery and selection methods employed by teams of engineering students in a first-year experience program. The study analyzes pre- and post-course survey data on student knowledge and confidence levels as well as individual and team work products.
Keywords
Literature reviews, Information literacy instruction, Embedded librarian, First-year experience program, Information literacy framework, Interdisciplinary problem solving
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Carmichael, Kathleen PhD and Moss, Jeannette A., "Teaching Information Literacy in the Context of Interdisciplinary Problem Solving: Faculty-Librarian Collaborative
Instruction for the Literature Review" (2016). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 81.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2016/2016/81
Teaching Information Literacy in the Context of Interdisciplinary Problem Solving: Faculty-Librarian Collaborative Instruction for the Literature Review
Room 212
Considerable pedagogical scholarship addresses the problem of teaching students how to write field-specific literature reviews. Far fewer studies, however, have assessed the impact of training students in discovery and selection methods designed to help them identify appropriate literature to consult, particularly in the service of interdisciplinary problem solving. This case study assesses the impact of faculty-librarian collaborative instruction on the literature discovery and selection methods employed by two classes of first-year engineering students. With the objective of investigating solutions for design problems with multidisciplinary dimensions, student teams were tasked with conducting secondary research. Pre- and post-course surveys for a course section with the library collaboration and a control section without it obtained data on student knowledge and confidence levels for secondary research strategies. Following the conclusion of the course, student literature reviews and team reports were analyzed to assess the breadth and variety of sources (e.g. publications from regulatory agencies, peer-reviewed journals, and the popular press) consulted by each group. Results indicated that students whose class sections included structured guidance in literature discovery and selection consulted a greater number and variety of sources than those in courses that did not include partnered instruction. Control classes, by contrast, showed greater reliance on primary research. Student post-course confidence levels, however, did not clearly correlate with performance as documented in final work products. Future research should investigate whether student confidence levels are an appropriate proxy for student information literacy.
