Helping Your Students Succeed in College

Library Media Core Curriculum

http://www.uen.org/core/

http://www.uen.org/core/librarymedia/

Students with whom you work?

ElementaryIntermediate or Junior HighHigh SchoolOther

The Big Six Skills

Task DefinitionInformation Seeking StrategiesLocation and AccessUse of InformationSynthesisEvaluation

What are your favorite activities?

Where do you find ideas or help?

WHAT EVERY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT MAY NEED TO KNOW

Transitioning from High School to College:

It’s a brave new world!

• Going from High School to College – is a major transition that

requires some major changes in mind-set. The following is a collection of ideas, observations, suggestions and hints that might help make that transition easier. . .

Social transitions

Independence/ResponsibilityHigh School

Live with parents

College

Live with roommate

Curfew No curfew (depending on school/dorm)

Parents manage money

Need money management skills

Parents do your laundry (if lucky)

You do your own laundry

Parents make sure you are fed

Must buy/make own food

Parents/teachers may make decisions for you and help solve your problems

You make your own decisions and solve own problems

Extracurricular/Social ActivitiesHigh School

Moderate amount of clubs/organizations to join

College

Abundance of clubs/organizations to join

Old friends New friends

Prom Sorority and fraternity formals

Academic transitions

Teacher/Student Contact

High School

Contact closer and more frequent (5 days a week).

College

Faculty are available during office hours (only a few hours a week) and by appointment to address students’ concerns.

Competition/Grades

High School

Academic competition is not as strong; good grades can often be obtained with minimum effort.

College

Academic competition is much stronger; minimum effort may produce poor grades.

ScheduleHigh School

At least 30 hours/week of classroom instruction.  Regular daily schedule enforced

College

Usually 12 hours/week of classroom instruction.  Attendance is required but not enforced.  Attendance is key to success and is the student's responsibility.

Status

High School

Students establish a personal status in academic and social activities based on family and community factors.

College

Students can build their status as they wish; high school status can be repeated or changed.

Counseling/Dependence

High School

Students can rely on parents, teachers, and counselors to help make decisions and give advice. Students must abide by parents’ boundaries and restrictions.

College

Students rely on themselves; they see the results of making their own decisions. It is their responsibility to seek advice as needed. Students set their own restrictions.

Motivation

High School

Students get stimulation to achieve or participate from parents, teachers, and counselors.

College

Students apply their own motivation to their work and activities as they wish.

Freedom

High School

Students’ freedom is limited. Parents will often help students out of a crisis should one arise.

College

Students have much more freedom. Students must accept responsibility for their own actions.

Distractions

High School

There are distractions from school, but these are partially controlled by school and home.

College

The opportunity for more distractions exists. Time management to students will become more important.

Value Judgments

High School

Students often make value judgments based on parental values; thus, many of their value judgments are made for them.

College

Students have the opportunity to see the world through their own eyes and develop their own opinions and values.

http://www.suffolk.edu/offices/20255.html

Academic Support

High School

Parents, teachers, and counselors often take responsibility and arrange for tutoring or other help.

College

Requested and arranged by the student.  Students are responsible for asking for help and following-through with help provided.

How can you make a difference?• Foster--effective study skills and a sense of

auto-didactic learning--college tends to be more self-directed learning as opposed to guided learning.

• Teach-- Informational Literacy skills—teach students how to find information properly (e.g. prepare for papers, access resources such as the library catalog, online databases, etc.).

• Support--Help students take control of their own education: help them to see themselves as scholars.

• Inquire--students the importance of asking questions.

• Mentor. Be a place of support, both informational and personal.

• Listen—to what the concerns of students might be.

Web Sites

• http://www.uttyler.edu/counseling/TransitioningtoCollege.html

• http://www.suffolk.edu/offices/20255.html

• http://iwcc.edu/es/parents/vs.asp• http://www.dom.edu/information-for/p

arents/family-resources/letting-go/major-differences.html

• http://www.ecampustours.com/campuslife/yourfreshmanyear/howcollegediffersfromhighschool.htm

OUR EXPERIENCE WITH NEW COLLEGE STUDENTS

Reality Check:

Research: the Student View

1. Use Google2. Take the first search

results3. Print out EVERYTHING4. Put your name on it5. Done!

“If it's on the Internet, it must be true.”

“If it's on the Internet, it's free and I can copy it.”

Information Literacy in Utah

• General education (required) credit courses: DSC, SUU, WSU

• Big schools: Competency exam or integrated with English composition classes

LM1010 – Information Literacy• Fall 2000: General Education

requirement• Fall 2004: Linked with UNIV 1000• 2000 – 2008: 12,000 + students

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LM1010

LM1010: Pre-test & Post-test

• Research topic selection• Access information • Evaluate information• Ethical use of information

Examples:

1. Which of the following search statements would find information on either of these terms: smoking, cigarettes?a bill of sale for a Ford Model T

a. smoking and cigarettes b. smoking or cigarettesc. smoking not cigarettes

Examples:

2. Using a symbol at the end of a search term (example: racis*) so that variations of the term (examples: racism, racist) will be found in your search is known as:

a. Boolean searchingb. indexingc. truncation

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What They Know

Have used the web 98%Have off-campus access 70%Will use libraries in the future 95%Research skills will be useful 89%Recognize web addresses 92%Recognize citation formats and elements of citations 85%Know Google 95%

What They Don’t Know

Recognize call numbers 77%

Distinguish scholarly/popular journals 60%

Truncation 49%

Boolean operators 36%

Background information 26%

Utah’s Pioneer 12%

What They Learned

Background information 26% to 50%

Recognize call numbers 77% to 97%

Boolean operators 36% to 66%

Truncation 49% to 80%Distinguish scholarly & popular journals 63% to 80%

WHAT WE WISH EVERY FRESHMAN KNEW

The Ideal:

Skills of the Ideal Freshman

• Brilliant• Organized• Enjoy doing research• Know all the resources• Don’t need our help• Put us out of business

Realistic Skills for Freshmen

• Basic understanding of the research process…– Big 6

• Basic knowledge of what a database is…

• And how it works– Boolean logic– Truncation

Evaluation Skills for Freshman• Some understanding of:

– The impact of where information comes from on its value

– Opinion vs. fact– Scholarly vs. popular– Google vs. Pioneer

Citation Skills for Freshman

• Knowledge of the importance of citing information– Giving credit– Avoiding plagiarism

• Awareness of citation styles• Awareness of citations tools

– Citation machine– Noodle tools– Etc.

Essential Skills

• Know they are coming some place different…– More books– More journals– More database– More services– More people

• And it can be intimidating

Essential Skills continued…

• Curiosity– Willingness to explore– Try new things– Learn

Essential Skills continued…

• Fearlessness– Survey says:

Essential Skills…Concluded

• Freshman should be brave enough to ask questions

• And knowledgeable enough to know that librarians are their friends

Any Questions?