Browsing by Author "Russo, Michael F."
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Item An Assessment of the Stand-Alone Information Literacy Course at Louisiana State University: the Students’ Perspective(Elsevier, Inc., 2011-02-09) Daugherty, Alice L.; Russo, Michael F.The purpose of this paper is to convey the results of a web-based survey given to 2147 Louisiana State University students who are currently matriculating and who have completed the one-credit information literacy course, LIS 1001 (Research Methods and Materials). The survey respondents reported their use of information literacy skills and resources both within university courses they were taking as well as outside of university life. A further objective of the survey was to define the academic rank at which these skills were being used most and in which disciplines.Item Embedded Librarianship: What’s it Worth?(Libraries Unlimited, 2013-09-23) Russo, Michael F.; Daugherty, Alice L.In the ongoing evolution of the academic library, embedded librarianship has become an important topic of debate across levels and departments. This book delves into the concept, examining everything from theory to best practices. Is the embedded librarian an equal partner in the course, or is the librarian perceived as a "value-added" extra? What is the place of technology in this effort? Is there a line librarians should not cross? Taking into account both theory and practice to discuss multiple facets of the subject, Embedded Librarianship: What Every Academic Librarian Should Know thoroughly examines these questions and more from the perspectives of experienced embedded librarian contributors who have worked in higher education settings. The chapters illuminate the benefits and challenges of embedding, explain the planning required to set up an embedded course, identify the different forms of embedding, and consider information literacy instruction in various contexts. Readers who will benefit from this work include not only academic librarians but any professor who wants their students to be able to do better research in their fields.Item Reinforcing Critical Thinking and Information Literacy Skills through Assignment Design(Louisiana Libraries, 2010) Daugherty, Alice L.; Russo, Michael F.Being information literate hinges on, among other skills, the ability to locate, access, evaluate, and use information effectively and ethically.1 As the backbone of the research process, it improves the quality and efficacy of students’ research. To achieve information literacy, librarians and educators must develop lesson plans and assignments that develop the critical thinking skills necessary to guide learners through tortuous and daunting information seeking processes. According to Whitmire, “The combination of a new generation of computer–literate undergraduates and the vast amount of information available by way of computers and electronic resources has increased the necessity for the development of critical thinking skills.”2 Pascarella and Terenzini note the interrelatedness of the two, writing that such “cognitive competencies” as information literacy and critical thinking together permit individuals to, among many other things, “process and utilize new information” and “evaluate arguments and claims critically.”3 Generally, students often overestimate their own research abilities because they equate their knowledge of computers and technology with information literacy and critical thinking. In order to address this problem, the design of any assignment used as a teaching strategy and assessment tool must reinforce information literacy skills. And since students often perceive themselves as information literate and not merely technologically savvy (based on the simplest notions of access), this assignment also needs to challenge their critical thinking abilities, so that they themselves come to understand the vast difference between the two competencies. This article explains efforts to embed such critical thinking and information literacy skills into the design of a course assignment for college students. Critical thinking is defined as “the intellectual and mental process by which an individual successfully conceptualizes, analyzes, synthesizes, evaluates, and/or applies information in order to formulate judgments, 2 conclusions, or answers.”4 While information literacy focuses more on navigating oceans of information, critical thinking concentrates on developing independent reasoning about that information. But just as information literacy must be accompanied by critical thinking in order to be meaningful, critical thinking abilities are dependent on information literacy skills. Alluding to the 1945 Harvard report “General Education in a Free Society,” Albitz argues those authors may have been shortsighted, believing that “effective [critical] thinkers could do the following three activities: communicate, make relevant judgments, and discriminate among values.”5 Ward addresses this shortsightedness, observing that “critical thinking is not always sufficient in itself as a strategy for navigating through the information universe.”6 What the two argue is that only by meshing, in one operation, the gears of critical thinking with those of information literacy, can a modern researcher produce a satisfactory result. We therefore designed an assignment to measure and encourage both information literacy and critical thinking in our students.