WVU Libraries

It will be a busy summer for five faculty members selected to participate in a new information literacy initiative designed to help them enhance their courses. The chosen faculty will work closely with five librarians to design relevant information literacy learning outcomes for their course syllabi.

The WVU Libraries’ Information Literacy Course Enhancement Program, a collaborative effort between the Libraries and the Provost’s Office, is focused on fulfilling the University’s 2010 Plan, www.wvu.edu/~2010plan, for information literacy to become a curriculum component across all disciplines by 2010.

“We needed a way to show WVU what more can happen when librarians and faculty work together in the 21st century information environment,” said Carroll Wilkinson, WVU Libraries’ Director of Instruction and Information Literacy. “I am grateful to Dr. Martin and Dean O’Brien for making this project possible.”

Stepping up for this pioneer effort are Assistant Professor Gonzalo Bravo, Sport Sciences Department, School of Physical Activity and Sport; Assistant Professor Lisa Hardman, School of Nursing, Health Sciences Center; Professor Fred Jacoby, Arts and Humanities Division, Potomac State College; Assistant Professor Rhonda Reymond, Art Department, College of Creative Arts; and Professor Tim Warner, Geology and Geography Department, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.

They were chosen from among 23 applicants who submitted detailed proposals for integrating information literacy into their classrooms.

Faculty will work with Wilkinson and their library liaisons (Linda Blake, Virginia Bender, Barbara LaGodna, and Beth Royall) to create discipline-specific active learning assignments that address information literacy concepts. For example, there may be research assignments in the course already which can be reworked to include practice in resource evaluation or ethical application of the information found. Participants will learn together as a group, and they will work in smaller collaborations with their library liaison and the program coordinator. They will also each earn a $3,000 stipend.

“This project will help us learn from each other for the students’ benefit,” Wilkinson said. “Following completion of the enhanced courses, I am hopeful that the students will have new power to analyze, synthesize, and present information in multiple contexts for many different audiences.”

Expectations are for the faculty to begin teaching the revised courses during the fall 2009 or spring 2010 semester and to take part in a Showcase of Information Literacy Learning Progress Forum during the academic year.

Courses to be enhanced include intermediate, discipline-specific, and graduate courses in the WVU curriculum. They are: Effective Public Speaking SPA 270 (Potomac State); Sport in the Global Market SM 375; Introduction to Remote Sensing Geol/Geog 455; Great Universal Expositions of the 19th and Early 20th Centuries ARHS 494; and Scientific Underpinnings, Nursing 715.

The course enhancement grants will be offered again in the spring of 2010.