The Transitions Years: Evaluating Information Literacy Skills From High School to College-Level...

The Transition Years:

Evaluating Information Literacy Skills

From High School to College-Level Research

By Wendy Ikemoto, MLIScSr. Education Technology Consultant

Imagine Easy Solutions, LLC

We are Imagine Easy Solutions,

a tiny company with big ideas.

Who We Are, What We Do

EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy

platform, with website evaluation, research, note taking and citation tools.

ResearchReady is a cloud-based platform that enables teachers

and librarians to teach and assess research and critical

thinking sills.

How are students approaching the research process?

How can we help them?

I. Current State of Students

II. What Sources They Use

III. The Good & The Bad

IV. What Can We Do?

What to Expect: Outline

Current State of Students

“High school students are often not allowed enough time to do in-depth research.

Students are often told what to learn rather than asked to conduct self-directed research.

Standardized testing at the K-12 level makes it difficult for teachers to emphasize information literacy skills.”

“Bridging the Gap: Preparing High School Students for College Level Research.”

“What Happens Online in 60 Seconds?” Qmee

“What Happens Online in 60 Seconds?” Qmee

575 Websites

Created

“What Happens Online in 60 Seconds?” Qmee

72 Hours of

Video on

YouTube

“What Happens Online in 60 Seconds?” Qmee

“What Happens Online in 60 Seconds?” Qmee

This is Jane

High School to College Transition

Source: "Are They Ready? Exploring Student Information Literacy Skills in the Transition From Secondary to Tertiary Education."

Students overly confident

Bad first research experience.

“Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community.”

40% of college students have never used their library’s website.

Source: "Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community," OCLC.

What Sources They Use

Most Popular Sources Used in Student Writing

(2010-2011)

1. Wikipedia (8%)2. Yahoo! Answers (8%)3. Answers.com (3%)4. eNotes (3%)5. SlideShare (2%)

Most Popular Sources Used in Student Writing

(2011-2012)

1. Wikipedia (11%)2. Oppapers (4%)3. SlideShare (4%)4. Course Hero (4%)5. Scribd (3%)

“The Sources in Student Writing – Higher Education. Turnitin.”

You may feel like this…

…But it’s not so bad!

Source: Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student Success.

Sources Used in Student Writing

Freshman used:

• LexisNexis Academic

• Quick Search (a federated search feature),

• Academic Search Premier

• Library catalog

Source: Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student Success.

Sources Used in Student Writing

Seniors used:

• Academic Search Premier

• Library catalog

• JSTOR

• Montana Rules of Civil Procedure

• Science Direct

• Business Search Premier

Source: Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student Success.

Analysis of EasyBib’s Users

"Let's do the numbers..."

40,624,204Number of students who used EasyBib

within the past 12 months

Source: EasyBib user data.

Our user base

WebsitesBooksJournalsNewspapersPhotosOther 54 types

Our most used citation formats:

Source: EasyBib data

50%15%6%2%2%25%

“Let's do the numbers...”

Top 10 Sites Cited on EasyBib

Can you guess at least 2 of the websites?

Source: EasyBib user data.

Top 10 Sites Cited on EasyBib10. The Washington Post9. CNN8. Answers.com7. Time Magazine 6. Associated Content (Yahoo! Voices)5. BBC News4. JSTOR3. YouTube2. The New York Times1. Wikipeida

User-generated content

Source: EasyBib user data.

Source: EasyBib Survey

The Good & the Bad

IL: Areas of Understanding

Boolean OperatorsIdentify queries that narrow results• One-third understood “AND” narrowed results• Less than 10% believed “OR” would narrow results

Web Site Quality/CredibilityIdentify three evaluation characteristics• 23.8% selected all three• 73.9% selected an answer with at least one

Source: "Are They Ready? Exploring Student Information Literacy Skills in the Transition From Secondary to Tertiary Education."

50/50Likelihood of student using a source with

educational value (encyclopedia, news website) vs. less-than-credible sources

(social networks, cheat sites).

Turnitin Report

Source: The Sources in Student Writing – Secondary Education.

Source: "Are They Ready? Exploring Student Information Literacy Skills in the Transition From Secondary to Tertiary Education."

Areas of Improvement

Citation Recognition• Only 23% successfully identified a journal

article• 13% understand which bibliographic

elements are used to locate journal article in an OPAC

Source: How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age Project Information Literacy.

did not understand the

need to cite a source in

instances other than direct

quotes.

25.4%

Did not know when to cite a

source at all.

24%

Source: "Are They Ready? Exploring Student Information Literacy Skills in the Transition From Secondary to Tertiary Education."

Areas of Improvement

did not know what

credentials constituted a

scholarly article.

40%

Plagiarism

2011 Pew Research StudyCollege Presidents

• 55% reported an increase• 40% noticed neither an increase nor decrease• 2% noticed a decrease*

Of those who noticed an increase, 89% "believe that computers and the internet have played a major role in this trend."

*"No answer" responses not shown.

Source: "The Digital Revolution and Higher Education," Pew Research Center.

Source: EasyBib Survey

6/1/12

6/1/12

Exposure to New Tools

51% 43%Of Freshmen said they

had a hard time learning

to navigate new tools

Had trouble making

sense of new

information

Source: Project Information Literacy

6/1/12

What do Freshman

Struggle with Most?

75%Developing Keyword

Searches

57%Sorting through irrelevant

search results

51%Identifying and selecting

sources

Source: Project Information Literacy

6/1/12

29%Campus Librarians

29%English Comp. Instructors

20%Other Professors

Source: Project Information Literacy

Who do They Go to for Help?

6/1/12

17% Said they had trouble asking for help...

Source: Project Information Literacy

Who do They Go to for Help?

Summary

What Can We Do?

What Can We Do?

6/1/12

Information literacy instruction for educators

How?• Inservice training• PD

Why?• Common Core• Familiarity with library

“Bridging the Gap: Preparing High School Students for College Level Research.”

Collaborate!

Common ground for high school student learning outcomes(Jefferson County, NY)

1. Task definition2. Source selection3. Information access4. Make connections, draw conclusions5. Ethical writing and presentation6. Reflect on research

Collaborate!

Information Literacy Continuum Committee (Rochester, NY)

• Document covering IL skills between H.S. and college• Shared with teachers and parents• Discussion forum of K-12 and academics• Visit each other’s learning environments

Collaborate!

Information literacy curriculum collaboration(Utah)

• Two library media specialists• High school English teacher• Two university librarians• Instructional designer

Collaborate!

http://helios.weber.edu

Visit local academic libraries• LC classification• ILL• Subject specialists• Writing center

Collaborate!

Connect

• #infolit• #libchat• #highered

• Join groups• Follow local colleges• Explore your network

• infolit list serv• K-20 collaboration• lists.ala.org/sympa

What ideas do you have?

• Montgomery County – discussion on June 12th – Contact Sara Frey at sfrey@colonialsd.org for more information

• Discovery services – changing how we use search queries and narrow results.

• “concierge librarian” – special populations (ELL, etc)

• Metaliteracies and “Student-centered-ness”

What strategies or thoughts do you have?

• Google Hummingbird algorithm – why do we get the results we get? When, why, who, how, etc.

• Crash course for seniors going to college. (College research assignment, online course you create, etc.)

• Life-long friendships with HS librarians

What strategies or thoughts do you have?

EasyBib forms its tools and features based around what we learn from our users.

We analyze what they do, and find ways to make it easy, efficient, and effective.

Through analysis, we see where they're struggling, and strive to make the

research process more manageable.

Our Philosophy

A Comparison of Internet Sources for Secondary and Higher Education Students.

Rep. iParadigms/Turnitin.com, 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.

Ashbridge, Carole. Bridging the Gap for Information Literacy: Connecting High

Schools, Colleges and the Workforce. Watertown, NY: Connections Abound,

2010. PDF.

Diaz, Shelley M. "Full-Time School Librarians Boost Student Test Scores in Reading,

Writing, Says PA Report." SLJ Summit 2012. School Library Journal, 25 Oct.

2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2012.

EasyBib's Librarian Survey. 5 May 2012. Raw data. Imagine Easy Solutions, LLC,

New York.

EasyBib's Research Habit Student Survey. 5 May 2012. Raw data. Imagine Easy

Solutions, LLC, New York.

EasyBib User Data. Feb. 2012. Raw data. Imagine Easy Solutions, LLC, New York.

Head, Allison J. Learning the Ropes: How Freshman Conduct Course Research

Once they Enter College. Rep. Project Information Literacy, 5 Dec. 2013. Web

13 Feb. 2014.

Works Cited

Head, Alison J., and Michael B. Eisenberg. Truth Be Told: How College Students

Evaluate and Use Information in the Digital Age. Seattle: Project

Information Literacy, 1 Nov. 2010. PDF.

Heider, Kelly L. "Information Literacy: The Missing Link in Early Childhood

Education." Early Childhood Education Journal 36.6 (2009): 513-18. ERIC.

Web. 31 Aug. 2012.

How Teens Do Research in the Digital World. Rep. Pew Research Center,

College Board and the National Writing Project, 1 Nov. 2012. Web. 31 Jan.

2013.

Parker, Kim. "The Digital Revolution and Higher Education." Pew Social &

Demographic Trends. Pew Research Center, 28 Aug. 2011. Web. 28 Feb.

2012.

Rosa, Cathy De, et al. Perceptions of Libraries, 2010: Context and Community: A

Report to the OCLC Membership. Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2011. Membership

Reports. OCLC, 2011. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Works Cited

Salisbury, Fiona, and Sharon Karasmanis. "Are They Ready? Exploring Student

Information Literacy Skills in the Transition From Secondary to Tertiary

Education." Australian Academic & Research Libraries 42.1 (2011): 43-58.

Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 29 Aug. 2012.

Samson, Sue. "Information Literacy Learning Outcomes and Student

Success." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 36.3 (2010): 202-

10. ScienceDirect. Web. 2 Mar. 2013.

Schroeder, Robert. "Both Sides Now: Librarians Looking at Information Literacy

from High School and College." Educator's Spotlight Digest 4.1 (2009): 5

pp. ERIC. Web. 4 Feb. 2013.

Siegler, MG. "Eric Schmidt: Every 2 Days We Create As Much Information As We

Did Up To 2003." TechCrunch. AOL, 10 Aug. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.

The Sources in Student Writing – Secondary Education. Rep. Turnitin, Jan. 2013.

Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

What Happens Online in 60 Seconds? [Infograpihc]. Digital image. Qmee. Qmee,

24 July 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.

Works Cited

EasyBib Librarians

Thank you for your time!

If you have questions or would

like to learn more about

EasyBib School Edition,

please contact:

Wendy@imagineeasy.com

@Wendy_EasyBib