Course: FYS 101, English 255 and Black Studies 235
Faculty: Linda Krumholz, Associate Professor of English
Librarian: Ann Watson, Instruction Services Coordinator
I would like to incorporate information literacy into three courses that I will teach next semester (fall 2002): First Year Studies 101, English 255, and Black Studies 235. The first two courses already have elements of information literacy that I would like to develop. The third class is a new preparation for me. The information literacy in the three courses will interrelate to some extent.
In English 255, "Ethnic American Literature: Living Stories," I have a substantial research and presentation component that would benefit from greater attention to information literacy. Because the students are not well-educated in many aspects of American life, I supplement the literary study of the course with their own research. Students sign up for a research group that studies one of seven ethnic groups: African American, Arab American, Asian American, Euro-American, Jewish American, Latino, and Native American. Over the course of the semester, the groups are responsible for research and brief class presentations on four topics related to their ethnic group: 1) demography, 2) immigration and contact, 3) legal history, and 4) stereotypes and media representations. The groups are graded on how clear, concise, and informative the presentation is, and on their interpretation and analysis of the information. Currently I discuss the need for critical evaluation of the information and the sources, but I think the course needs more extensive instruction on information literacy.
I would like to integrate information literacy into the class so that the students get a better sense of gaining and communicating knowledge, rather than simply sharing information. I am equally interested in three parts of information literacy; I want to teach the students to find, assess, and communicate the material. (Because the students who take this course come from every discipline and every class, their research experience will vary widely.) To do this, I would like to work with a librarian throughout the semester. The first stage is to refashion the research and presentation assignment to reflect the shift in emphasis. The next and most important stage is for me and the librarian to meet with each research group separately before the first presentations. While this seems labor intensive, I believe small groups are extremely effective teaching units, and this will give us a chance to talk to each group about information literacy in general and about their particular topic. In the initial meeting I imagine that wee will include discussions of how to find material (for all four topics), how to keep track of material (how to take good notes and keep full citations), how to assess material, how to distribute work equitably among the group members, and how to plan presentations.
I want to incorporate the assessment of sources and material into the research work in a few ways. First, I would like the students to come up with their own criteria for judging sources (through discussion or worksheets), then I would like the students to use agreed upon criteria to create annotated bibliographies (of at least three entries) for each presentation. In a final stage, these annotated bibliographies would become the basis for an Ethnic Studies website that could be maintained and updated from semester to semester (whenever I taught the course). Thus the students could see their assessments of material and sources get passed on to students in the future.
In the other two courses, the information literacy will not be as extensive. I think that it's particularly important to make it part of FYS 101, since it is a course meant to develop basic college level abilities in writing and researching. In my FYS 101 course, subtitled "Toni Morrison's Novels: Texts and Contexts," I already make a library lesson a regular part of the course. I will use a single research presentation assignment to focus their work on information literacy. Students will sign up to study historical topics that relate to two Morrison novels we will read, Song of Solomon and Beloved. Besides teaching the students to find, assess, and present the material, I hope to raise questions about how the historical knowledge shapes the reading of the novels and how the novels shape one's interpretation of history. For this class I think one or two class sessions on information literacy related to their topics would work best. Finally in the new course, Introduction to Black Studies, subtitled "Cultural Identity and Institutional Racism: Power and Discourse," there will be a set of research presentations that combine historical topics and contemporary sociological research. While I don't want to spend as much time on teaching information literacy in this class, I think that a session on information literacy has the potential to make the presentations stronger.
For the FYS 101 and Black Studies 235, I will assign an annotated bibliography to help clarify the critical assessment of sources, the need for exact bibliographic information, and the ways to share one's sources. In these courses I would also like to have the material posted on a website; possible they could be an extensive Black Studies portion of the Ethnic Studies website. Thus these students could also get the sense of passing on their knowledge to others.
Clearly all the work must take place during the summer and the fall semester. Summer work will involve designing assignments and exchanging ideas with the librarian or librarians working with me. Throughout the semester we will meet with students and presumably we will use a process of continuous consultation to decide upon the best ways to incorporate information literacy.