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Submitted by Lua Gregory on August 8th, 2017
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Short Description: 

This small group zine-making activity can be adapted for any discipline.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Zines for the People.pdfdisplayed 5738 times328.16 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

1. To create, distribute, and use information as a means to effect change
2. Use positions of information privilege in order to make information more equitably accessible and/or available

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

Zine making materials: Markers, pens, pencils, scissors, tape, glue, stapler, magazines, and paper. Access to copy machine.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Gregory, Lua. "Zines for the People." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/zines-people.
Submitted by Elisa Acosta on July 2nd, 2017
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Short Description: 

This activity was created to introduce first-year students to library resources they can use for their annotated bibliography assignment. In pairs, students are assigned a task card that requires them to find an information source. After finding a source meeting the criteria of their task card, the student teams input their answers into a Google Form. Formative assessment takes place during class, allowing the librarian to modify instruction on-the-spot based on the responses from the form.

Summative assessment takes place at the end of the semester, when a rubric is applied to a sample of student responses from the activity. This assessment provides a more thorough picture of where students may have succeeded or struggled with the activity, and may provide ideas for how to adjust the activity in the future.

This recipe is from The First-Year Experience Cookbook, edited by Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan and written by Elisa Slater Acosta and Katherine Donaldson.

Learning Outcomes: 

The student will use information ethically by providing basic citation information for their source.
The student will be able to identify the appropriate information type based on their information need.
The student will be able to properly identify the format of the information source they find.
The student will be able to use effective keywords for their information need.
The student will be able to describe the purpose of a specific information source.
The student will be able to articulate how they could support a social justice argument using a source.
The student will be able to find a relevant source to match their information need.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This activity takes place after the Research Exploration Exercise and before the Annotated Bibliography .

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Acosta, Elisa. "Taste Testing for Two: Using Formative and Summative Assessment." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/taste-testing-two-using-formative-and-summative-assessment.
Submitted by Andrea Brooks on June 20th, 2017
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Short Description: 

This resource and accompanying assignment focuses on evaluating news sources/claims and were used in an online information literacy class.

Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to critically evaluate information sources using a number of factors, including the creator’s authority and perspective, the intended audience, the accuracy of the content, the context of the information need, and one's own perspective in interpreting the information

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Setting: Online, 8-week information literacy course. This three-credit course is typically taught as a 16-week semester offering, but was altered for a summer 2017 session.

Context: As part of a larger module on evaluating information, students are presented with multiple resources/readings related to news sources, perspective of news sources, fake news/misinformation, and tips for evaluating claims. This particular assignment had students view a Prezi presentation titled Fact Checking Pro and then complete a LibWizard that presented multiple claims related to coffee/caffeine consumption. For each claim, students ranked the quality of the headline’s claim on a sclae of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent), and provided an explanation for their choice. Students also had to describe the steps they took to fact check the claim.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

See provided links

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

It may be beneficial to provide more prompts in the LibWizard to gauge student fact-checking efforts. Some students were very detailed; others were not. Additionally, it would be interesting and maybe more interactive for the students if they could somehow see how their peers had rated the source. I’m not sure how to do this in the LibWizard, but there may be some other way to make this happen. In a face-to-face setting, this would be easier to accomplish

Suggested Citation: 
Brooks, Andrea. "Fact Checking Pro." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/fact-checking-pro-0.
Submitted by Rachel Wen-Paloutzian on May 11th, 2017
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Short Description: 

With a wealth of sources, archives offer numerous educational opportunities for students to enhance critical analysis, historical inquiry, and information literacy skills. This workshop demonstrates Research as Inquiry, as it guides students through the steps of initial inquiry with primary sources in archives: basic description, context investigation, and disciplinary questions. The Analyzing Archival Sources Worksheet is adaptable for instruction on physical and digital archives pertaining to local communities and urban development. Additional research assignments are suggested to create a scaffolding learning experience on archival research.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Analyzing Archival Sources Worksheet_Urban Studies.docxdisplayed 786 times15.66 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

• Students gain introduction to research in archives and special collections.
• Students learn about archival collections and how to locate contextual information using collection guides.
• Students engage in hands-on active learning and group discussion with different types of archival materials pertinent to local communities and urban development.
• Students analyze historical documents and evaluate the context of these primary sources.

Discipline: 
Urban Studies

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

In collaboration with Professor Mona Seymour, this library workshop is conducted during an Archives and Special Collections instruction session for Urban Studies 1010: Urban Analysis at Loyola Marymount University. During the workshop, students investigate archival materials pertaining to community and urban development in Los Angeles after the 1992 civil unrest. In groups of two, students investigate a variety of archival materials, such as telephone surveys, urban study reports, and radio program transcripts, documenting economic and social aspects of diverse local communities. Using the archival collection guides, each student group focuses on one primary source document in order to fill out the Analyzing Archival Sources Worksheet. Guided by the Worksheet, students learn to identify key elements of archival sources, explore historical events and contexts in which these primary sources have been created, and consider further inquiry and research.

After students complete the worksheet, the instructor(s) facilitate group discussion with the class. Each student group shares their observation and analysis of a primary source. Students are asked to compare and contrast the different types of historical urban sources. In conclusion, the class would discuss how to incorporate the historical urban sources into their disciplinary research.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

The Analyzing Archival Sources Worksheet can be used for archives and special collections instruction using physical archival materials, and it can also be adapted for reference library instruction using digital archival objects.

Beyond the instruction session, the following research assignments could create a scaffolding learning experience on archival research.

For example:

Students can visit physical or digital archives, locate a historical document of their interests, and fill out the worksheet as their first step of research.

• Short writing assignment: Based on the Worksheet, each student writes an analysis report on their selected primary source materials from archives. Students may choose two or more primary sources in order to evaluate the diverse aspects and perspectives highlighted in each document. They must properly cite their primary sources, indicating the specific collections and archives.

• In-depth research assignment: Based on their initial analysis of a primary source, students come up with their own research topics. Consider the following: How have the urban situations changed between the time of the document’s creation and the present time? Has there been any progress in addressing and implementing change in local communities? Students need to incorporate other primary sources and secondary sources for their research papers.

Suggested Citation: 
Wen-Paloutzian, Rachel. "Local Communities Matter: Analyzing Historical Urban Sources." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/local-communities-matter-analyzing-historical-urban-sources.
Submitted by Sara Davidson Squibb on May 9th, 2017
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Short Description: 

As part of a larger news evaluation campaign, Sara Davidson Squibb and colleagues (Lindsay Davis, Elizabeth McMunn-Tetangco and Elizabeth Salmon) created a jigsaw lesson to use with introductory writing courses. Students were asked to evaluate an article’s content, tone, and purpose in a large group before they discussed the article in the context of two other articles on the same topic in a smaller group. After these group discussions, the library instructor revealed the source of each news article and highlighted resources and strategies for learning more about news sources. Through the lesson, students were able to focus more on content, corroboration, and source knowledge (rather than a mere checklist) to make decisions about an article’s bias and level of accuracy. All four instruction librarians taught this lesson to multiple sections of introductory writing courses. Though the librarians started with an original set of three articles on the topic of health care enrollment, we also identified two other sets of materials that were targeted to the course content of specific introductory writing sections.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Lesson Plan Outlinedisplayed 1745 times137.09 KB
Student Worksheetdisplayed 1119 times80.77 KB
Presentation Slidesdisplayed 1454 times1.27 MB
Article A redacted - HealthCare Enrollmentdisplayed 809 times134.71 KB
Article A - HealthCare Enrollmentdisplayed 778 times144.05 KB
Article B redacted - HealthCare Enrollmentdisplayed 720 times138.14 KB
Article B - HealthCare Enrollmentdisplayed 787 times140.93 KB
Article C redacted - HealthCare Enrollmentdisplayed 835 times166.21 KB
Article C - HealthCare Enrollmentdisplayed 720 times170.04 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to …
• make an initial determination of an article’s accuracy and bias based on an evaluation of content, purpose, and tone.
• discover the importance of corroborating information.
• identify resources that can reveal more information about a new source’s perspective.
• recognize that many factors may be considered when evaluating a news source.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Librarians contacted instructors of introductory writing classes and offered this one-shot lesson on news evaluation. Instructors provided class lists, and librarians made three student groups (A, B, C), matching each student with one article (Article A, etc.). Librarians provided redacted news articles, which instructors assigned to students to read prior to the library session.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 
Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 
Suggested Citation: 
Davidson Squibb, Sara . "News Evaluation – Beyond the Checklist." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/news-evaluation-%E2%80%93-beyond-checklist.
Submitted by Alyssa Archer on April 26th, 2017
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Short Description: 

Katelyn Burton (kburton@virginiawestern.edu) created the framework for this lesson plan while an Instruction Librarian at Radford University, a jigsaw comparing four different sources. Katelyn and Alyssa Alyssa worked with Dr. Michele Ren's Women's and Gender Studies 200 class at Radford. Dr. Ren asked for something related to global women's issues. Alyssa decided that the "Share the Load" Ariel commercial related to gender divisions of household labor would be topical, and something that students could relate to, and chose four sources that fit into Katelyn's framework.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Share the Load - Worksheet.docxdisplayed 888 times61.29 KB
Share The Load - Lesson Plan.docxdisplayed 994 times168.73 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to articulate perspectives and potential biases of a source's author in order to ensure that valuable voices are included in their research assignments.

Discipline: 
Women's Studies

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This is a one-shot information literacy session integrated into a Women's and Gender Studies class assignment on researching a global issue.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

Worksheet is attached, LibGuide with links to sources important.

Suggested Citation: 
Archer, Alyssa . "Share the Load: A Single Shot of Critical Pedagogy." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/share-load-single-shot-critical-pedagogy.
Submitted by Aisha Conner-Gaten on April 25th, 2017
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Short Description: 

A two part instruction session that uses the "fish bowl" method, or students as instructors, to find scholarly sources and complete an annotated bibliography citation.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Introduction Slide for Projector and Whiteboard signsdisplayed 1481 times63.81 KB
Instruction Session Overview and Scriptdisplayed 1197 times16.6 KB
Fishbowl Activity Task 1 Worksheetdisplayed 1271 times68.92 KB
Fishbowl Activity Task 2 Worksheet displayed 1195 times124.57 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

In this session, students will: - find scholarly sources using the library catalog or discovery service -create a citation using a citation style -learn the parts of an annotated bibliography -create an annotated citation

Discipline: 
Women's Studies

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This instruction session was created to support a Women and Gender Studies assignment that includes a 5-6 page paper on a topic related to race, sex, and gender and two annotated bibliographic citations of 100 words or less.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

If students do not yet have topics, construct at least 3 examples for use.

Suggested Citation: 
Conner-Gaten, Aisha. "Finding Sources and Annotated Bibliography Fish Bowls." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/finding-sources-and-annotated-bibliography-fish-bowls.
Submitted by Lucinda Rush on April 18th, 2017
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Short Description: 

An activity to teach students how to construct database searches using Boolean operators.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
PowerPoint slide displayed in class with directions.displayed 2016 times40.72 KB
AttachmentSize
Boolean Table Gamedisplayed 3210 times436.67 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will use Boolean Operators (or “keyword connectors”) in database searching in order to find relevant resources for their research topics.

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

The activity is used with "one shot" instruction sessions at the beginning of class. The activity is set up on tables and students begin as soon as they enter the class. This signals to the student that this will be an active learning class. The activity is referred back to later in the class at the appropriate time. Activity could be used at any point during class.

Additional Instructor Resources (e.g. in-class activities, worksheets, scaffolding applications, supplemental modules, further readings, etc.): 

See attached.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

This is a quick and informal activity. The particular activity is not assessed, but the concept is assessed later in class with a more in-depth searching activity.

Suggested Citation: 
Rush, Lucinda. "Boolean Table Game." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/boolean-table-game.
Submitted by Kim Pittman on April 4th, 2017
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Short Description: 

In this workshop, students learn about the driving forces behind fake news, reflect on how our opinions impact the way we evaluate information, and discuss and practice using criteria for evaluating news. The workshop includes a brief presentation on fake news and cognitive biases, reflection prompts for students to respond to, and an activity in which students work in groups to evaluate different news articles on a common topic.

Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to evaluate sources based on information need and the context in which the information will be used. Students will be able to recognize cognitive biases in order to reflect on how those biases influence their thinking about source credibility.

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

We offered this as a standalone workshop, and invited instructors in our writing program to offer extra credit to students who attended. We’ve also adapted the workshop for public library and community settings. The workshop generally takes about an hour and could easily be used in one-shot library instruction.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

The closing activity works best with a topic that students find relatable and interesting, but one that they may not already have especially strong opinions about. We’ve used the topic of affordable housing in our region. We choose articles that represent a variety of news source types (in-depth articles, editorials, short blog posts or overview articles) that illustrate different viewpoints and levels of depth and analysis. If working with a smaller group or a longer time period, we recommend assigning each group two articles in order to allow them to compare the two.

If offering this workshop as a standalone workshop (rather than course-integrated), we recommend including an opportunity for students to introduce themselves to each other in the opening think/pair/share. After they’ve had a chance to talk to each other, ask each pair to share their response to one of the reflection questions with the larger group. This serves as an icebreaker and increases student participation throughout the workshop.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Pittman, Kim. "What's Happening? Evaluating News in a Time of Information Overload." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/whats-happening-evaluating-news-time-information-overload.
Submitted by Gina Schlesselman-Tarango on March 22nd, 2017
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Short Description: 

A gallery walk is a silent, interactive exercise followed by small- or whole-group discussion. You can use this exercise to introduce students to new material, to review previously-introduced material, or to assess teaching and/or learning.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Gallery Walk Lesson Plan.docxdisplayed 1927 times117.93 KB
Poster Content Ideas.docxdisplayed 2512 times14.04 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Long-term outcome: Begin to develop a critical understanding of the information environment. Supporting outcomes: I can describe peer-reviewed sources in terms of both the review process and the scholarly conversation. I can identify peer review's affordances and limitations. I can reflect on whose/which voices are not represented within the community of scholars.

Discipline: 
Liberal Studies

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

This exercise was implemented in a first-year seminar course after the 20 students had engaged in activities and discussion about the information cycle and scholarly sources (peer review, scholarly conversation, "the literature"). It was followed by a unit on "information privilege" and finally by a group research project.

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

Space is key for a successful gallery walk! If your classroom is too small or if you don't have enough wall space, consider using a quiet hallway. I've found that I get better student response when I use more visual poster content. Big blocks of text create traffic jams and put unnecessary pressure on students to read and comprehend text quickly and in front of their peers.

Suggested Citation: 
Schlesselman-Tarango, Gina. "Gallery Walk: What Shapes Information?." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2017. https://projectcora.org/assignment/gallery-walk-what-shapes-information.

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