Faculty: Rod Korba, Department of Communication
Librarian: Julia Gustafson, Electronic Services Librarian

Proposal Overview

  1. Description of the nature of the project
    This proposal describes the redesign of an academic course that will foster active learning and critical thinking, through the development of a series of exercises and self-paced instruction created to help communication students acquire and practice information literacy skills. These exercises will be incorporated into a series of assignments that deal with gathering news stories from the national and international press, and will culminate in a major research project on that analysis of political and economic bias in the news media.

    Within the department curriculum, formal research projects are required in virtually every 200 level communication course. These courses obligate students to identify and locate information sources, and to incorporate and integrate that information into a well-reasoned set of arguments, with little formal instruction on how to gather, evaluate, and process that information. However, the content of these intermediate courses virtually mandate that only a small portion of class time can be set aside for formal instruction in acquiring these information literacy skills. Additionally, the duplication of these same information acquisition strategies would be redundant in each of these courses. Therefore, it is essential that these academic assignments be supplemented with formal exercises and self-paced systems of instruction on how to independently acquire information literacy skills, in a format that is applicable (and accessible) to all of our communication courses.

    The intent of this proposal is to develop a framework or model of information literacy instruction, in an efficient format, for all intermediate communication courses. Designed in cooperation with the Communication Department faculty and in collaboration with Julia Gustafson, Electronic Services Librarian at The College of Wooster, these formal exercises and self-paced system of instruction would teach students how to:

    This information literacy proposal focuses on the development of:

    Although these web pages are communication course specific, they are also interdisciplinary in nature. Virtually every course that requires a research project, requires students to participate in the process of choosing a topic, and through a series of information literacy tasks, developing a suitable and manageable research question.

    Appended to this document are outlines for the web page content for the analysis of political and economic bias in the news media (see appendix A), and the web-based tutorial on how to develop research questions (see Appendix B).

    These models of information literacy instruction, developed with the support of the grant funds, will: 1.) reinforce scholarly research processes in an interdisciplinary fashion or provide a more thorough grounding to communication students who are or will be experiencing the formal process of Independent Study at The College of Wooster; 2.) lead to more systematic inquiry than is currently available to students in the communication curriculum; and 3.) offer this instruction in an efficient and effective manner.

    Although not addressed in specific detail, this proposal will incorporate as many of the five information literacy criteria, in the Five Colleges of Ohio "Integrating Information Literacy into the Liberal Arts Curriculum" grant proposal guidelines, as possible.

    Understand in a basic sense how resource information is produced, disseminated, and organized, including differences among primary, secondary, and tertiary literature, and the distinction between popular and peer-reviewed literature;

    Understand basic tools for accessing information, including catalogs, indexes, and bibliographies, in both print and electronic format, and particularly the structure of electronic databases;

    Learn basic search strategies for accessing information, including how to determine the nature of information needed and how to formulate and refine questions throughout the search;

    Learn to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of information, including the ability to question the place, context, and time in which information was produced; the reliability and potential biases of the original source of the information, and whether the information has been reviewed by trustworthy referees; and

    Understand how to make effective and appropriate use of information, in light of issues of intellectual property and copyright in the electronic age; the need to synthesize and reconcile differences in information obtained from varying and sometimes conflicting sources; and protocols for properly citing sources and avoiding plagiarism.

    It is anticipated that a formal evaluation of this information literacy project will be conducted by the faculty of the Department of Communication during May of 2002. The results of this analysis will be an integral part of the final project report.

  2. Time line for course development and implementation

    Phase One: Spring 2001 (January-May)

    1. Regular "brainstorming" meetings with Julia Gustafson, Electronic Services Librarian to: a.) locate web content and design that might be applicable to this proposal; b.) design the student research project; c.) storyboard a web-based tutorial on how to develop research questions; d.) design instruction sessions in the library that will focus on finding information sources, and e.) "storyboard" a content-specific web site for the student project.

      Phase Two: Summer 2001 (May-September)
    2. Formalize the bias exercises in print journalism and research projects.
    3. Design the formal exercises and a self-paced system of web site instruction on identifying and selecting a topic.
    4. Construct the web site tutorial on selecting a topic and defining the research question.
    5. Develop the information literacy criteria developed by the Five Colleges of Ohio Libraries to include the content for the instruction sessions in the library that will explore general information sources (e.g., reference sources, articles in magazines and journals, books, Web sites, etc.) and search and/or manipulate databases and/or print indexes, the library catalog, and the Web.
    6. Construct a content-specific web site for the student project on the analysis of political and economic bias in the news media.

      Phase Three: Fall 2001 - Winter 2002 (September-January)
    7. Pilot Phase: Operational test of the project with the COMM 229 students, in class.
    8. Presentation of the project to the Department of Communication for discussion, recommendations and revisions. The final evaluation of the project in relation to the course will be completed one month after the course ends.

      Phase Four: Spring 2002 (May-June)
    9. Evaluation of the web site focusing on the analysis of political and economic bias in the news media, and the web-based tutorial on how to develop research questions.

Appendix A

Web Page: Analyzing News Bias

Newspapers still have a strong impact on our perceptions of reality. When printed copy and photographic images that report national or international events, are published in reputable newspapers, these news stories shape i ndividual and public opinion about the nature of news events, and influence our perceptions of the world we live in. Yet there are always (at least) two sides to a news story.
Ultimately the news that is reported in this country is "our" construction of national or world events. If you travel internationally, you realize quickly that there are always alternate "constructions of reality" that Americans are seldom exposed to. How and why the media reflect our particular "construction of reality," is an important theme in Communication 229, and in other courses across the curriculum. But this theme of media bias is difficult for our students to acknowledge and appreciate. After all, we really don't gain access to alternative points of view in our mainstream media.
In the past, I have constructed major class assignments that attempted to compare news stories from our indigenous newspapers, with the same-day story that was covered by the international press. This was a frustrating assignment for the students, because they often did not have access to English language versions of the foreign press, that would enable them to compare news stories published in foreign countries where the political and economic philosophies differed radically from our own. Today, with internet access and many i nternational newspapers "publishing" on-line, English versions of their dailies, gaining access to that information has changed.
The design of a web page, that would guide students through this process, would include:

This web page would directly address all 5 goals of the information literacy campaign.
1.) Understanding how information is produced, disseminated and organized. 2.) Understanding how to use catalogues, indexes and bibliographies. 3.) Learning basic search strategies for accessing information, formulate and refine questions throughout the search. 4.) Learning to evaluate the quality and the appropriateness of information. 5.) Understanding issues of intellectual property.

Appendix B

Interactive Web Page: Developing Research Questions

Finding a research topic is always a difficult process for students. Some are blinded by high self expectations, while others have difficulty committing to an idea. Some students see the topic as a validation of their intellectual identity, while others seem to want to please their professors instead of their own intellectual curiosity.

Topic selection, and the subsequent movement toward a manageable and precise research question, can take on as many forms as there are questions themselves. None-the-less, there are some important guidelines that can be provided, questions that can be asked every step along the way, and exercises that can be conducted to help students move from research topics to research questions.

The design of a web page, that would guide students through this process, would include:

This web page would directly address 4 of the 5 goals of the information literacy campaign.

Understanding how information is produced, disseminated and organized. 2.) Understanding how to use catalogues, indexes, and bibliographies. 3.) Learning basic search strategies for accessing information, formulate and refine questions throughout the search. 4.) Learning to evaluate the quality and the appropriateness of information.

This project will examine existing self-paced web sites and web-based tutorials, in order to determine which methods of instruction on the internet are most effective. The projected design of this web page is based upon information that is currently available on this topic. This content might easily change as the project develops.

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