Valuable Library Information Coming Your Way!

This week, we’d like to remind everyone we have a wonderful resource to help us cultivate e-classroom excellence: our CCCOnline Librarian!

Check out Mary Cash’s The Librarian’s Labyrinth blog this week for news you can use:

*how your students may access article databases,
*where students may find helpful resources,
*an invitation to communicate with the librarian, and
*the latest on upcoming library webinars!

News From Our Librarian!

Here is a message from Mary Cash:

Hi everyone, I have some wonderful news; I am now, officially, the CCCOnline Instructional Online Librarian. I accepted my new position a few weeks ago and have started making plans for what I’ll do to offer online librarian services to our students and faculty. I’m still going to be working as an instructional designer for a while; we need to hire someone to replace me and course design still needs to go on : ).

I already have an Ask the Librarian email in place (cccolibrarian@ccconline.org), and have had a few students email me with research questions. A good part of my job, once everything is in place, will be to act as an Embedded Librarian in your courses. You’ll be able to set up a time for me to come into your course and answer questions on finding resources and doing citations. I’m also planning on some updates and changes to the CCCOnline Library Resources and Research and Writing Toolkit pages on the student wiki, and I would like to develop more information literacy training for both students and faculty. And, finally, one of my pet projects will be to see if we can bring in, to our D2L Learning Object Repository, a variety of learning objects that are currently available through MERLOT and other open source repositories.

Most likely, the Embedded Librarian project won’t be in place until spring semester; I have some logistics to work out. But I did want to let everyone know that CCCOnline now has a librarian available to both students and faculty. If you have ideas on where I can help in your courses, or something related to the library or information literacy, please let me know. I’d love to talk with you about your ideas.

And, if you’re coming to the faculty conference, be sure to check out our presentation on What’s Going on @ Your CCCOnline Library. We’ll talk more about future plans for our online library/librarian and the Research and Writing Toolkit.

Hope to see you then,
mary

Mary Cash
Instructional Online Librarian
CCCOnline
cccolibrarian@ccconline.org or mary.cash@cccs.edu

eLcc Report I: Power Up with the Research & Writing Toolkit

During our eLcc presentation “Power Up with the Research & Writing Toolkit," we shared ideas on information literacy instruction and on how others might tackle a project similar to the RWT at their own colleges.  Thanks to our gracious attendees for the ideas!  And now, in the spirit of sharing with you all, here’s a list of items and questions that emerged:

Within the RWT or a similar resource:
-would like to see video or another learning object covering the spirit of research: the curiosity that drives the research process.

-perhaps include resources linked to specific disciplines: e.g., a special list of Research & Writing resources for Business, Science, etc.

-Students might find helpful a guide on how to gather resources; what does one need to know to start the research process?

-Students do not necessarily start off on the right track in their research; perhaps some resources could help them to get on and stay on the right track.

-Library-generated student help guides, or “LibGuides,” are helpful in that they break out library resources by academic area.  We might consult with faculty to gather a discussion-specific type of “LibGuide.”

Another open question regarding students and the research process:
-Facebook or other social media can be helpful tools to gather information for a research project; in other words, social media has potential to help students help each other.  Do we believe discussion boards within a class can serve the same function?  

Feel free to share ideas and further conversation in the Cultivating Excellence topic in the Community.

Research & Writing Toolkit, Illustrated!

The library and information literacy talk continues with special guest Mary Cash.

Impressed by what you see here in our Wordle? You can find information on these topics and more when you visit the Research and Writing Toolkit on our Student Wiki: http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Academic_Resources_-_Research_and_Writing_Toolkit

And, for those of you who already know about the Toolkit, how do you use the Research and Writing Toolkit in your courses?

Besides having links to the Toolkit on my Resources page and on several of my Unit Homework page, I send my students to specific assets we've listed on the Toolkit, including the Research 101 tutorial from the University of Washington's library. Also, when I grade papers and run into students who have grammar or sentence issues, I often send them to a specific section in the Help with Writing part of the Toolkit - I often send students to the Comma Splices and Fused Sentences section.

LisaMarie has a discussion early in the semester in her anthropology courses that has students go to the Research Writing Toolkit to do some exploring and then they need to find something they liked and report back to the other students on that website or tutorial.

So, how do you use the Research and Writing Toolkit in your courses? Liz and I are going to be giving presentations on the Toolkit at the eLCC conference in April and at the D2L Fusion conference in July, and we'd like to share with others how our faculty use the Research and Writing Toolkit. And, if you're not using it now, perhaps we've inspired you to try to come up with some ideas on how to incorporate the toolkit into your course:) Please share those ideas with us in the Community's Cultivating Excellence discussion.

-Mary Cash

Information Literacy & the Research & Writing Toolkit…in Practice

The library and information literacy talk continues this week…

Do you address information literacy in your classes?  Do you incorporate the Research & Writing Toolkit in your assignments?

Tell us how!  Please visit the Community to share your ideas.

Quality Time: Evaluating Sources

Mary Cash, CCCOnline Librarian, is back this week!  Please feel free to join the library and information literacy conversations in the companion Community threads!

Do you have discussion or other assignments where you ask your students to find web sites that are relevant to what they are learning for a particular unit?  Are you frustrated with the quality of the sources they find? Taking time to teach your students to evaluate sources will not only improve the quality of sources your students use for assignments, but you will also be helping your students develop the important life-long learning skill of becoming a good consumer of information.

I teach ENG 122 – the research paper – and it’s important for my students to learn good research skills.  When I first got my class, there was a discussion on academic integrity, and another on source credibility.  But most of my students weren’t very discerning when it came to choosing sources for their research paper.  They didn’t seem to understand why choosing an article about using the herb St. John’s Wort from a website designed to sell herbs might not be the best source for their argumentative research paper.  Likewise, some students who were against animal testing didn’t think twice about quoting heavily from the PETA website.

I decided my students needed to learn to think more critically about the sources (all of them) they were reading and planning to use in their research papers, so I put on my librarian hat and went to research what other instructors and librarians did to help students learn to be better consumers of information. What I finally opted to do was add in an additional short essay to the unit that has the discussion on sources. The short essay – called the Source Evaluation – requires that students watch a tutorial on evaluating sources (Evaluating Information Interactive Tutorial).  Then students need to go locate a website and an article (preferably from an online article database) related to their topic. The Source Evaluation assignment asks the students to evaluate each source on the basis of the following criteria: Authority, Objectivity, Accuracy and Scope. In their essay, students need to explain why, or why not, each source meets the 4 criteria and to offer explanation and examples to illustrate this, and they need to state if the source will be a good one for their research paper, and again, why or why not.

In addition to adding the Source Evaluation Essay, I revised the source credibility discussion to ask the students to consider what they learned about source credibility from their Source Evaluation assignment.  Over and over, students state that they didn’t realize they couldn’t believe everything they read on the Web. Websites and articles they originally thought of as great sources for their papers turned out to be biased, unsupported, from a questionable authority and don’t meet their research needs. Doing the source evaluation made students realize they shouldn’t take information at face value and that they needed to be looking for higher quality sources.  And this was what I was aiming for. I want my students to leave ENG 122 with better research skills and to be better consumers of the information that constantly bombards them.

If you want to learn more about Evaluating Sources or if you want your students to learn about this, we have quite a bit of information available on the Student Wiki under the CCCOnline Library Resources and the Help with Research section of the Research Writing Toolkit.  Here are the links:

·         Learn about Evaluating Sources from the CCCOnline Library Resources on the Student Wiki

·         Evaluating Sources from the Research and Writing Toolkit on the Student Wiki
-Mary Cash

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.

Are You Using the CCCOnline Library Resources? (Please Take Our Survey!)

Mary Cash, CCCOnline Librarian, will be our guest this month in the Cultivating Excellence blog.  Please feel free to join the library and information literacy conversations in the companion Community threads!

Do you have assignments that require your students to do research or use library resources? We just wanted to remind you that you’ll find our Online Library resources on the Student Wiki under Academic Resources: https://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Academic_Resources_-_CCCOnline_Library_Resources

Our Online Library Resources include access to the CCCOnline/FRCC College Hill article databases, links to each of the system’s community college libraries, information on evaluating sources, Online Reference resources, help on doing research from a distance, and online reference assistance such as AskColorado, 24/7 Live Chat with a Librarian offered through Colorado Libraries. You’ll also find our revised and expanded Research and Writing Toolkit, which offers help with Academic Integrity/Plagiarism, Doing Research and Writing.

So, now that you know what online library resources we have, we’d like to pick your brains to find out how you’re using our resources in your classes with your students and we’d also like to know what kinds of library resources/library assistance you’d like to see that we’re currently not offering.  Please take our short survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WW27CB7

-Mary Cash

Time Savers for Students and Faculty

Last week, we posted about your welcome e-mail to students.  This week, we’d like to extend that spirit of guidance and encouragement as we list below some of CCCOnline’s time savers for students.  Feel free to communicate this information within your course:
1)      Orientation: Students who would like coaching on how to move around in their courses will benefit from the CCCOnline Orientation.  To participate, students need to self-enroll; they should click “Self-Registration” on their CCCOnline Home Page as shown here.

The Orientation is available the entire semester; it is not a credit course, it is not a required course, and it is free of charge to enrolled students.  Further information about the Orientation is here: http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Orientation

2)      CCCOnline Student Wiki:

http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Main_Page

In addition to providing information about the Orientation and technical support (including D2L tips), the wiki provides students with answers to CCCOnline policies.

3)      Research and Writing Toolkit:

http://at.ccconline.org/students/wiki/Academic_Resources_-_Research_and_Writing_Toolkit

Useful for instructors to recommend and for students to browse, this webliography is a set of quick links for brush-up help on research skills, avoiding plagiarism, and writing in general.

4)      The STAR Center:

The CCCOnline STAR (Student Tutoring and Resources) Center offers assistance to students enrolled in developmental courses.  Those students are automatically enrolled in the STAR Center and may visit the Center to work with a tutor, interact with peers, and get additional practice with their lessons.

One last note on time savers: this Friday (Jan. 28), we are offering an exciting new webinar for faculty:

Effective and Efficient Facilitation Online

• When: Friday, January 28, 2011 (1:00 PM - 2:30 PM - Mountain)
• Who: Lisa Marie Johnson
• What: Participants will be able to identify strategies and resources to employ when teaching multiple online courses to teach more effectively and efficiently. Participants will explore how to save time by using staff supports at CCCOnline and why it is effective to encourage learners to use home college resources and supports, the 24/7 Help Desk, and tutoring services to construct a longer lasting and stronger support system for academic success across all the learners' courses.
• Where: Online via Elluminate. Access up to 15 minutes before the start time from:
  https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008363&password=M.BCC4C488D49BCDDD645B92DBAA94D4

Sentence Works changes its name to Grammarly

Sentenceworks, the free online grammar checker available to CCCOnline students, changed its name to Grammarly@edu. Check out the new site and features by using the Grammarly@edu link in the Helpful Links widget inside your Desire2Learn classroom.

At the new site, you’ll find the same familiar features you’ve been using along with some new functionality including:
-Even more accurate grammar checking
-Support for more writing genres
-Printable reports

Your Sentenceworks user name and password will work at the new site (http://www.grammarly.com/edu/students). Easily retrieve your forgotten password for Grammarly by clicking on the “Forgot Your Password” link on the login page. Your password will be emailed to your college email account. Do you need a new account? No problem! Click on “Create Account” and fill out the required information.

Support for Grammarly@edu is available online at http://support.grammarly.com/home.

CCCOnline students have several tutorial services available like Grammarly@edu and NetTutor as described on the Student Wiki. What course do you teach and which of the resources do you recommend to students and why? Did you know that we list resource centers on other campuses that might help your students on the wiki? If you are not using these resources now with students, is this something you might consider adding to your courses for spring, and why or why not?

Research and Writing Toolkit Webinar

Have you ever wished for a set of quick links to assign to your students for brush-up help on research skills, avoiding plagiarism, or writing in general?

We’re happy to say we’ve been working on such a project, and we seek your feedback! Come to our webinar at 1:00 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 22, to learn about the Research and Writing Toolkit and share your thoughts.

Research and Writing Toolkit: Your Input Wanted!

Have you ever wished for a set of quick links to assign to your students for brush-up help on research skills, avoiding plagiarism, or writing in general?

We’re happy to say we’ve been working on such a project, and we seek your feedback!

Here is a link to our archived presentation at the faculty conference; also please note this direct link to the Research and Writing Toolkit.

Finally, in the corresponding CCCOnline Community discussion, we would love to hear your answers to any of these questions:
1) What subject do you teach and how would you use the RWT in your course(s)?
2) Which particular RWT resources would you find most helpful?
3) After you’ve reviewed the current RWT: do you have suggestions for content or layout?

Thank you!