Preparing 21st Century Teens for Lifelong Learning: A Collaborative, Interactive, Web-Based Tutorial Project

Bridget Kowalczyk, San José State University

Pamela Jackson, San Diego State University

June 10, 2006 LOEX-of-the-West

Kohala (Kona) Coast of Hawaii's Big Island

Public & Academic Library Collaboration: Playing on

Strengths• Public Library strengths:

– Established relationships with High School Teachers and School Library Media Specialists

– Teens Reach Group– Knowledge of California Dept. of Education Content Standards

and Curriculum Frameworks

• Academic Library strengths:– Experience infusing information literacy into the curriculum – Experience creating learning objectives and outcomes – Experience with creating content and quizzes for online

tutorials – Technical support for the creation and maintenance of online

tutorials – Continuing education opportunities in assessment,

instructional design,… – Budget to support the Information Literacy Program – Established relationships with departments on campus

Web-Based Tutorials:Changing the Way We

Teach Information Literacy

Why Make Web-based Education a Priority for InfoLit

Instruction?

• Students’ educational expectations

• Convenience of virtual space

• Reaching the masses

Enhancing Information Literacy Instruction with

Tutorials• Allows for progressive reinforcement

of information literacy concepts

• In-person instruction with students can be more advanced and student-centered

• Pre-college tutorials may help better prepare teens for college-level research

Concepts Taught via Teen Information Literacy

Tutorial• Developing a Research Topic• Writing a Thesis Statement• Identifying Popular and Scholarly

Literature• Understanding and Recognizing Primary

Research• Researching Pro/Con issues• Listening and Note Taking• Plagiarism• And much more!

Student Learning Outcomes

Popular vs. Scholarly Module

Learning Objective(s): – Student learns to recognize the difference

between popular and scholarly journals based on author, audience, language, appearance, references, and status (peer-reviewed or not).

Assessment of Learning Outcome(s):– Step 1: Prequiz to determine student's

understanding of the concepts to be taught. – Step 2: Tutorial Quiz results measure student's

understanding of the concepts taught in the corresponding module.

– Step 3: Student's ability to apply the concepts taught in successful completion of the corresponding high school assignment.

Measuring Student Learning

• Quizzes at the end of each module test students’ knowledge upon completion.

• Quiz data can be used to tailor content of both library and course instruction.

• Library is able to provide teachers and librarians with data about their students’ knowledge.

Quizzes and Queries

• Students register to take a tutorial. • Quiz scores are automatically emailed

to the student upon completion. • Results are stored in a local database.• Queries allow us to see quiz scores by

class, student, semester (includes class averages and scores by question).

Automated Email Received from Tutorial

Emailed Quiz Results

Query by Student Name and School

Developing and Managing our Web-Based Teen

Tutorial Project:

Resources, Staffing, Budget

Development Team

• Librarians and the Information Literacy Specialist responsible for creating the content and quizzes, and overseeing the overall direction of the tutorial

• Two Programmers responsible for HTML, PHP, JavaScript, and back-end Oracle quiz databases and queries

• Two Graphic Artists/Designers responsible for the artwork, Flash animations, and overall look of the tutorial

• Sound engineer and/or digital media specialist to record voiceovers

Information Technology / Web Team Support

• A web server dedicated to tutorial projects

• Ability to support the exploration of a

variety of technologies for instruction

• Dedicated personnel

Budget

• Ongoing, committed support for programming and graphic design

• Funding, as needed, to keep up with the times and try new, interactive technologies to reach 21st century learners

Software and Technology Expertise

– HTML– PHP– CSS (cascading style sheets)– JavaScript– Relational Database (e.g., MySQL or Oracle)– Macromedia Flash– Adobe Photoshop CS– Adobe Illustrator– Streaming Video and VoIP– Browser Compatibility

Accessibility

• ADA Requirements• ADA issues with Flash Animations• Voice Over• Alt Tags for Images

Timeline to Complete a Tutorial

• Tutorials are ongoing projects—they take significant time and nurturing

• Average time to build a short, solid tutorial from start to finish can be a little as 3-6 months, but typically takes longer

• Initial tutorials are usually launched and “tinkered” with every few months

TRAMS: A Tutorial for Teens

TRAMS Tutorial

• A series of interactive, web-based instructional modules for high school students

• Modules based on the AASL Information Literacy Standards and actual student assignments

TRAMS Collaboration: How many minds does it take to

create a teen tutorial?• Bridget Kowalczyk, SJSU’s Information Literacy Specialist• Pamela Jackson, SDSU’s Information Literacy Librarian, formerly

a librarian at SJSU• Andrea Schacter, SJPL Youth Services Librarian• Dawn Imada, SJPL Youth Services Librarian• Hilary Langhorst, SJPL Web Team Programmer• Jie (Jessie) Cai, Chirag Bhalgami, Veer Vivek Kaushik,

Programmers • Wan Si Wan, Eric Szeto, and Nobuko Kimura, SJSU students in

Graphic Design and Animation/Illustration.• Mike Adams, TRFT Chair & Ramon Navarro Johnson, KSJS disc

jockey: character voiceovers and technical support/use of the KSJS recording studio to capture voiceovers.

• Chuck Manthe, Theater instructor and Lincoln High School and none high school theater students providing character voiceovers.

• Two local high school teens, consulting the team on ways to present interesting content to their peers.

• Focus groups with teensReach, a youth council for the San José Public Library.

The Result

http://tutorials.sjlibrary.org/trams/

ThanksQuestions/Comments

Bridget KowalczykInformation Literacy

SpecialistSan Jose Staté University

Bridget.Kowalczyk@sjsu.edu

Pamela JacksonInformation Literacy

LibrarianSan Diego State Universitypjackson@rohan.sdsu.edu

Presentation and handouts can be found online at:Presentation and handouts can be found online at:http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~pjackson/#Presentations

Other Tutorials Available at SJSU • Library Essentials

– Library Basics– InfoPower– 5 Ways– Plagiarism: The Crime of Intellectual

Kidnapping• Subject-Specific

– Company Information Tutorial – Computer Science 100w – Health Professions 100w (down for revision)– LOTSS (for library school students)

• Prospective Students– Stairway to Success– TRAMS (coming soon to a computer near you)