Date: 11/5/00
To: CUNY Council of Chief Librarians
From: Tutorials Working Group
Re: CUNY-Wide Information Literacy Web TutorialThe Tutorials Working Group was established in Spring 2000 to examine currently available, Web-based, information-literacy tutorials, and to identify an outstanding example that would meet the information literacy needs of CUNY students. The identified tutorial would be licensed or purchased from the academic library that created it, and modified for use across CUNY libraries and campuses.
Our inquiry and recommendations are based on the understanding that the tutorial will be part of a larger, and still developing, CUNY-wide information literacy initiative where classroom faculty and librarians will actively work together to further integrate library research skills into the curriculum. The importance of finding multiple means to integrate information literacy into the curriculum was highlighted recently by Oswald Ratteray of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which seeks to encourage institutions of higher education to "engage in campus-wide dialogue to promote awareness of the relationships among the acquisition of core disciplinary knowledge, general education, and information literacy in each institution's curricula."1 A CUNY-Wide tutorial will be one piece of integrating information literacy into the curriculum and providing students with skills to use throughout their CUNY careers and beyond.
The working group2 met over the spring and summer 2000 semesters and identified a number of excellent tutorials. We established a set of criteria to compare the tutorials in terms of the quality of their information literacy and library skills content, as well as design and navigation; we then narrowed the field to two tutorials: Information Competence (California State University) and QuickStudy (University of Minnesota).3 Before proceeding further we felt that student input on the tutorials was critical, and thus, during this fall semester, each member of the working group (joined by Marie Cimino Spina/LG) returned to her campus and asked a group of students to ‘test' one or both tutorials and respond to a questionnaire about them. Though not a rigorous study by social science standards, we found the responses to the tutorials to be helpful in further illuminating student attitudes towards the tutorials. Based on our discussions of which tutorial best served the needs of CUNY we made our choice and developed an outline of important modifications and improvements to the tutorial.
Of the final two tutorials that the committee evaluated, the CSU Information Competence tutorial and the UMN QuickStudy, the group felt that the Minnesota QuickStudy tutorial better fits a plan to launch an information literacy initiative that will involve both library and classroom faculty, and the integration of these skills into the curriculum. Specifically, the Minnesota tutorial's structure fits the research teaching methods that already exist on many CUNY campuses (starting with identifying a topic for a paper and proceeding through online index and Internet searching/evaluating); the online periodical databases used as examples in the Minnesota QuickStudy are InfoTRAC and Lexis-Nexis, two resources that match those available to students throughout CUNY. Very important to the CUNY goals of integrating information literacy into the curriculum is the module that is addressed to teachers who might consider using the tutorial in classes and preparation of assignments. Furthermore, this tutorial's screens are programmed in HTML, which make it possible to customize content to reflect not only CUNY's resources, but also to allow individual librarians or teachers to substitute their own examples, where desired, without having to learn complicated coding. The attractive graphics and well-placed examples that enhance the CSU tutorial gave it a broader popular appeal among many of our CUNY student reviewers. These enhancements could (and should) be considered as elements to be added to the Minnesota QuickStudy.
For the QuickStudy tutorial to be made ready for use at CUNY a number of steps need to be taken:
1. Personnel
a. Identify the person(s) with the requisite technical skill (i.e. can work in the SQL platform) to make any needed technical modifications to the program. b. Create a working group of CUNY librarians to review the tutorial module by module and refine or re-write content and add graphics as necessary. c. Provide programmers and librarians with release time to work on this project - the time commitment for producing a quality product could be significant.
2. Content Modifications
a. Create a CUNY+ (DPAC) module to replace the QuickStudy UMN catalog module. Much of the content for this is done as we have a DPAC CD-ROM tutorial and the WebPAC search help screens are already quite good. b. Examine modules and set a schedule for review and modification. Each module must stand on its own. c. Identify and spell out learning outcomes for the tutorial as a whole and for each module. d. Review vocabulary and change or simplify as necessary to reflect the context of CUNY resources and curriculum. e. Improve navigation by numbering all modules and lessons in a more transparent manner. f. Add a ‘how to use this tutorial' page. g. Add pop-up vocabulary definitions throughout (this is a major concern, as much of the language in this (and other) tutorials is quite challenging for some students). h. Add roll-over explanations for increased interactivity. i. Add explanations to ‘yes/no' feedback screens (pop-ups) in quiz modules. j. Expand quiz modules. k. For each module add a ‘practice' component, such as a printable form that students can take away to follow while doing their own research (i.e. a form where they can fill in keywords/synonyms for their topic, note down reference/background sources they consulted, catalog searches they tried, etc.). This ‘practice' component could be modified by classroom faculty to meet the specific needs of their unique assignments. *** A good model for pop-ups with explanations is Kentucky Virtual Libraries Information Skills Tutorial <http://www.kyvu.org/cvl/infolit.nsf> l. Add ‘hint boxes' to modules. m. Add links to printed instructions in library research - many students will prefer to take away some of what they have learned. n. Review and add to faculty instruction module so that it becomes a rich resource for faculty ready to integrate information literacy into their curricula. Additions should include: additional assignment ideas and information about developing learning outcomes, for example. o. Add links to CUNY library Web pages as appropriate. p. Create a tutorial overview or summary page.
3. Content Modifications Timeline
a. By end of spring semester 2001
i. Modify for a ‘CUNY look' including color scheme, title/name, etc. ii. Improve navigation with outline index, site map, etc. iii. Add CUNY+ module. iv. Identify and work with faculty to participate in using the tutorial as an adjunct learning resource. Consider orientation seminars for new faculty, walk-in workshops, ... v. Establish continuing timeline and staff to be responsible for modification recommendations that may result. vi. Modify content as necessary (for example, shortening of lengthy text pages and addition of informational graphics). b. Summer 2001
i. Test-run tutorial. ii. Formative evaluation in which additional feedback is collected and the tutorial is tweaked as necessary. c. Fall 2001
i. Launch CUNY libraries information literacy tutorial ii. Summative evaluation in which recommendation for improving the tutorial are accepted, but won't be addressed until the next version of the tutorial goes into production. iii. Establish timeline for future versions of the tutorial.
4. Recommendations regarding student use of tutorial
a. Stand alone modules with clear topic access will allow and encourage students to use the tutorial as a reference tool. b. With classroom faculty, develop methods for integrating the tutorial into class assignments (the imperative here is that students are unlikely to use the tutorial on their own.)
5. Recommendations regarding faculty use of tutorial
a. Work with individual faculty to integrate tutorial lessons into course assignments. b. Run workshops (at the departmental, campus or University level) to discuss how to use this tutorial and other methods for integrating information literacy into the curriculum.
Notes:
1. Oswald Ratteray, "Learning Outcomes for the Millennium: Core Disciplinary Knowledge, General Education, and Information Literacy." Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Fall 2000.
2. Kathy Killoran/JJ, Sandra Marcus/QCC, Anita Ondrusek/HC, Mariana Regalado/BC, Linda Roccos/CSI.
3. CSU Information Competence http://www.lib.calpoly.edu/infocomp/modules/ & UMN QuickStudy: Library Research Guide http://tutorial.lib.umn.edu/
URL: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/library/regalado/cunytutorial/
This page was created by: Mariana Regalado
This page was last updated: November 6, 2000