In Fall 2007, the Library developed a lesson plan to support the goals of the Writing Program's first year studio course, WRT 105, which enrolls about 2,000 students each year. The Library provides instructional sessions to about 50% of WRT 105 classes (55/year), based on instructor request. Until this time, librarians have approached each session differently, leading to unnecessary planning time and variation in instruction. In order to establish some consistency of content and instructional method and to ensure that the sessions were meeting Writing Program goals, the Library worked with the Writing Program to design a lesson plan to be used by instruction librarians as well as Writing Program instructors. The lesson plan corresponds to a particular unit involving research and links to both Writing Program goals as well as ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards. The lesson plan provides an outline for instruction librarians and others to follow in face-to-face sessions, and consists of group brainstorming activities, searching demonstrations, and guided research practice. Supplemental instructional materials were provided to assist students in conducting research on their own, including topic-based resource guides. In one instance, this lesson was taught via Elluminate, a web conference tool, to an off-campus group. In Spring 2008, the Library collaborated again with the Writing Program to design a lesson plan for the second year Writing Studio course, WRT 205, which also enrolls about 2,000 students per year. (The Library normally teaches about 75 sessions per year for sections of this course). A lesson plan was created for face-to-face sessions to focus on goals of WRT 205, which include evaluating sources, identifying scholarly sources (through individual and group activities), searching in subject databases, and citing sources.
http://library.syr.edu/instruction/trails/wrt105.html
http://library.syr.edu/instruction/trails/wrt205.html
Generate five keywords/short phrases to use as search terms for their topic.
Evaluate the quality of a resource based on criteria.
Students and faculty were invited to complete the generic feedback forms used to assess instruction sessions. We received student feedback forms from a portion of the students who received instruction, and we received faculty feedback forms from about 9 instructors. Feedback was mostly positive. We also received anecdotal comments from Writing Program administration as well as librarians. One criticism of the WRT 105 lesson was that there was too much content to cover in one session. Overall, librarians appreciated having the lesson plan as an outline and having the flexibility to teach in ways that fit their styles and needs of the individual classes.
Each year since 2006, the Library collaborates with the Office of Residence Life to plan a social/academic event to introduce undergraduate students to library resources and information literacy skills. On one Friday evening in February or March, the Library stays open from 10p.m.-2a.m. to allow students to attend this special event. Pairs of students compete to win prizes by answering research questions requiring the use of library resources. During breaks, the students enjoy refreshments, listen to music, play games, and win raffle prizes. At the end of the event, prizes are awarded to the student pairs who answer the most questions correctly.
Video: http://www.informationliteracy.org/content/showit/Library_Lock_In
Become familiar with range of library resources, both online and in print.
View the Library as a place to connect with other students.
The Office of Residence Life distributed a survey following the first event. Questions related only to the students' satisfaction with the event itself, and not to information literacy skills gained. The Library plans to incorporate some information literacy-related questions on this year's survey.