LibraryLinks Fall 2007/Spring2008
Student Research in the Age of Google: Teaching Students How to Effectively Manage Information
By Alesia McManus
In January, the Libraries’ Instructional Services Coordinating Committee offered a workshop to faculty and graduate students on information management skills for students. Competency in information management is defined as the ability to understand and use basic research techniques and to locate, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of sources. The goal is to infuse opportunities to learn these skills throughout the General Education program at the university.
Student Research in the Age of Google introduced faculty and teaching assistants to the concept of information management and participants shared approaches for teaching students how to access, evaluate and manage information resources. Library instructors explored ways to develop effective library research assignments and the value of partnering with librarians to teach students how to search for information, to critically evaluate what they find, and to cite their sources. Ideas included talking to librarians before assignments are created and adding library resources into Blackboard courses, which can be aided by adding the librarian as a course builder within Blackboard.
The thirty faculty and graduate students in attendance were pleased to have the opportunity to talk about these issues and to learn about library services and resources. They were interested to learn about new tools such as library web tutorials and encouraged librarians to reach out to faculty to help keep them up-to-date. Library instructors were Colleen Hailey, Martha Kelehan, Sarah Maximiek, and Alesia McManus. The workshop was sponsored by Sean McKitrick, Assistant Provost for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. More information about the Libraries’ instructional service offerings for faculty is available at http://library.lib.binghamton.edu/instruct/faculty.html.