Engineering Information Literacy: Online Course Design for STEM disciplines

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Presenter Information

Michael Saar, Lamar UniversityFollow

Location

PARB 127

Abstract

While there is a great deal of information on best practices for discipline specific one-shot instruction and research on creating credit bearing information literacy courses, there is little information available on the discipline specific credit bearing courses in information literacy. In an effort to increase the pedagogical impact of its information literacy course the Mary & John Gray Library at Lamar University piloted a special section of the course for students enrolled in the Industrial Technology program in the school’s College of Engineering. While this population was identified as an ideal candidate for the pilot, one challenge in this selection stemmed from the fact that the librarian teaching the course did not have a background in engineering. The creation of this pilot section necessitated re-evaluating prior assumptions about the information seeking behaviors of students once they leave higher education.

This presentation will discuss tactics and challenges in developing online, credit-bearing information literacy courses in the STEM fields. The presenter will discuss methods for identifying information literacy learning outcomes and assessments in when the instructor is new to the academic discipline. While still in its infancy, the course has thus far proven successful and has led to discussions with other academic departments on targeted information literacy courses.

Presentation Description

Teaching a credit bearing course is a valuable way to cover information literacy topics in detail. Being able to target such a course for a specific discipline makes the instruction even more meaningful. But what do you do if you are not familiar with the discipline? How can librarians bring the tools of our profession and combine it with the expertise of a specific discipline? This session will discuss tips for creating an information literacy STEM course.

Session Goals

The session will demonstrate how to utilize effect research and assessment to build learning objectives and course assessments for students in a discipline specific information literacy course.

Keywords

course design; STEM; industrial technology; credit-bearing; engineering; assessment

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

Share

COinS
 
Feb 22nd, 10:15 AM Feb 22nd, 11:30 AM

Engineering Information Literacy: Online Course Design for STEM disciplines

PARB 127

While there is a great deal of information on best practices for discipline specific one-shot instruction and research on creating credit bearing information literacy courses, there is little information available on the discipline specific credit bearing courses in information literacy. In an effort to increase the pedagogical impact of its information literacy course the Mary & John Gray Library at Lamar University piloted a special section of the course for students enrolled in the Industrial Technology program in the school’s College of Engineering. While this population was identified as an ideal candidate for the pilot, one challenge in this selection stemmed from the fact that the librarian teaching the course did not have a background in engineering. The creation of this pilot section necessitated re-evaluating prior assumptions about the information seeking behaviors of students once they leave higher education.

This presentation will discuss tactics and challenges in developing online, credit-bearing information literacy courses in the STEM fields. The presenter will discuss methods for identifying information literacy learning outcomes and assessments in when the instructor is new to the academic discipline. While still in its infancy, the course has thus far proven successful and has led to discussions with other academic departments on targeted information literacy courses.