Susan Archambault Virtually Together: Building an Online Information Literacy Community Paper at BOBCATSSS 2017

1. VIRTUALLY
TOGETHER:
Susan Gardner Archambault
Loyola Marymount University
susan.archambault@lmu.edu
Building an Online Information Literacy Community

2. What Is CORA?
www.projectcora.org

3. Project Funding
Image courtesy of http://scelc.org/about

4. Recipe Metaphor
Image courtesy of http://railhighered.orgImage courtesy of http://tastykitchen.com

5. • Tell us about a research assignment that you think was effective
or productive? What made it so?
• Did you ever assign a research assignment that wasn’t effective
or productive? Why didn’t it work?
• What features would make a shared online research assignment
database easier for you to use?
• How do you come up with ideas for research assignments?
• Do you like the name CORA for this project?

6. Draft Assignment Template
ASSIGNMENT TITLE: LITERATURE REVIEW
Description: The primary purpose of a literature review is to provide a rationale for your proposed research question(s). A review
of literature should present a synthesis of existing theory and research literature that argues for the usefulness of the research
question. The process of constructing a literature review acquaints the researcher with the studies already done in a particular
area and allows the researcher to build/extend existing knowledge. Grading is based on source quality and source relationship to
the research topic, organization, ability to synthesize, quality of the research question, and adherence to the proper citation style.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
• Construct a well-supported research-based question
• Find and use scholarly and discipline-specific professional information
• Select an appropriate documentation style and use it consistently to cite sources
• Evaluate scholarly articles and understand the research method used
DISCIPLINE: MULTIDISCIPLINARY
INFORMATION LITERACY CONCEPTS: needs, finds, evaluates, uses, ethics, scholarship as conversation
SUPPLEMENTAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS: The library’s subject LibGuides (research guides) available at
http://libguides.lmu.edu and the ARC’s Writing LibGuide available at http://libguides.lmu.edu/writing
ASSESSMENT: See attached rubric
POTENTIAL PITFALLS: Students lean towards summarizing rather than synthesizing
RATING: * * * * (out of 5 based on 5 users)
USER COMMENTS: I liked to assign this without making them test out their research question (Callie)

7. Project Development

8. Assignment Search
Assignment Example
Assignments

9. Open Educational Resource
(OER)

10. Search Teaching Resources
Teaching Resource Example
Teaching Resources

11. Methodology

12. • How well are users able to find the results they need
when searching for materials on the CORA site?
How can their success be improved?
• What is the information-seeking behavior of
instruction librarians as they design research
assignments? Which online resources do they use?
• How can the ease of use be improved for CORA
contributors?
• How can CORA be useful for an international
audience beyond the United States?
Research Questions

13. Task Scenario Successful Completion
1 Sign up for an account on the CORA site Fills out the New Contributor form and saves
2 Starting on the CORA homepage, search for and find one
assignment that interests you. What is the name of the
assignment?
Locates an assignment in CORA that is of interest using a
search strategy (e.g. browse, search, related link, etc.)
3 Add a public comment about one assignment in CORA that
interests you
Adds and saves text in the Comment box or “I Adapted
This” section
4 You want to get in touch with the author of one assignment in
CORA that interests you. Show me how you could reach
him/her?
Finds contact information of contributor
5 You decide to use one assignment from the CORA site in your
own class. How can you give credit to the original author(s) of
the assignment?
Locates the information from the Help Center page “Citing
an Assignment in CORA” explaining how to cite a source
6 You have created this assignment that you want to share with
others. Add your assignment to CORA
Uploads the assignment file into CORA and/or fills out some
fields
7 Starting on the CORA homepage, search for and find one
teaching resource that interests you. What is the name of the
resource?
Locates a Teaching Resource in CORA that is of interest
using a search strategy
8 Suggest a teaching resource for the CORA site Fills out the “Suggestion Form” for teaching resources or
emails the administrators
9 You want to help publicize CORA by talking about it on social
media. Show me how you would do this.
Communicates with CORA’s Facebook account or twitter
account
10 CORA is thinking about changing its homepage layout. Circle
what you find useful and X through what you don’t find useful.
Discusses what they found useful vs. not useful
Task-Based Usability Testing

14. Digital Observations
PART 1: FIRST 8 MINUTES
You are searching online for resources to help
you with some upcoming library instruction
sessions. Show me what resources you use to
help you plan for your library instruction and how
you use them.
PART 2: LAST 8 MINUTES
Go to the CORA (Community of Online
Research Assignments) website:
www.projectcora.org and explore it as a
potential resource to help you with your library
instruction.

15. Interviews Are there other
online tools that
you use frequently to
prepare for library
instruction?
Have you ever
used the CORA site
(www.projectcora.org)
before?
What other
ways might
this site fit into
your work?

16. Sorted Items Assessment Activity Tech Tip
Pedagogy/
Theory
Subject
Guide
Info Lit
Tutorial
VALUE Rubric 10
Active Learning Database 6 1 3
Instructional Activities using
Framework Spotlight
10
Pro Standards & Guidelines 4 4
Tech for Education 8 1 1
Communications in Info Lit 1 7
Framework Spotlight on
Scholars
3
Pumped Librarian Blog 1
Repository of Open Access
Education
3 3 4
PRIMO Database 3 1 3 2
Teaching Strategies Column 5
Card Sort

17. Survey

18. Overlap: Information Literacy
Standards in US, UK, & AU/NZ
Identify Info Need Find Info Evaluate Info Use Info Ethics
ACRL
Standards
(US 2001)
ACRL 1 (Defines info
need)
ACRL 2
(Accesses info)
ACRL 3
(Evaluates info
critically)
ACRL 4 (Uses info
effectively)
ACRL 5 (Uses
info ethically &
legally)
ACRL
Framework
(US 2015)
Research as inquiry Searching as
strategic
exploration
Authority is
constructed
/contextual;
Scholarship as
conversation
Information
creation as a
process
Information has
value
ANCIL (UK
2011)
X Strand 5
(Resource
discovery)
Strand 4
(Mapping and
evaluating)
Strand 8 (Present
and communicate)
+ Strand 9
(Synthesizing)
Strand 7 (Ethical
dimension)
ANZIL
(AU/NZ
2004)
ANZIL 1 (Recognizes) ANZIL 2 (Finds) +
ANZIL 4
(Manages)
ANZIL 3
(Critically
evaluates)
ANZIL 5 (Applies) ANZIL 6 (Uses)
SCONUL
(UK 2011)
SCONUL 1 (Identify) +
SCONUL 2 (Scope)
SCONUL 3 (Plan)
+ SCONUL 4
(Gather)
SCONUL 5
(Evaluate)
SCONUL 7
(Present)
SCONUL 6
(Manage)

19. Key Findings
And Implications

20. OLD
NEW
Redesigned Home Page

21. Search Functionality
• Search results incomplete
• Inconsistent tagging
• Unclear terminology
• Broken links

22. Teaching Resources:
More Practical

23. Enhance Community Features

24. Revised Assignment
Search Filters

25. www.projectcora.org
facebook.com/openprojectcora
@projectcora