Information Visualization and Keyword Searching in Library Instruction

Matt Conner and Melissa Browne, University of California, Davis
May 7, 2011
2011 LOEX Conference

Download the Powerpoint Presentation
Visual Literacy is the ability “to produce and consume images.” Matt Conner and Melissa Browne promote the concept of Information Visualization, which “represents data with visual designs that assist comprehension and insight.” To illustrate the connection between vision and cognition, Conner used the example of the blind who have had their vision surgically restored, but are unable to process what they see (reminded me of the movie At First Sight).

Undergraduate Search Behavior

• Search strategies: Undergrads use either single word or long natural-language search statements. This works in Google, but not in most library databases. Undergrads also use the same tools and strategies regardless of the information need.
• Reading habits: Most students don’t read articles thoroughly, but prefer to skim.
• Cues: Students also prefer to look at sources with more “graphical/visual representations.”

Their conclusion: “It’s more difficult than ever for students to translate subject knowledge into appropriate search strategies for scholarly research!” Their hypothesis: “Information visualization techniques improve students’ abilities to conceptualize topics and generate terms for academic online research.” Conner and Browne are currently conducting a study with Undergraduates to test this hypothesis

3 Pedagogies

1. Keyword matrix: This keyword matrix is a little different than what I have used in the past. In this matrix the topic goes in the middle row and the student brainstorms general terms in the top row and more specific terms in the bottom row.
   
2. Google’s Wonder Wheel: I’ve used the Wonder Wheel for concept mapping and development of research topics, but I haven’t tried it for keyword generation.
3. EBSCO’s Visual Search: An alternative to the traditional search results display, Visual Search helps to narrow results with an emphasis on subject headings. Ebsco is one of the the few database providers that offer a visual search option. For my own research, I prefer the traditional view, but this presentation inspired me to try out the visual search option with students.
   

The Study
The presenters are currently conducting a study of the three pedagogies. As of the presentation, only about a third of the results have been analyzed. The following results are based on the data analyzed as of the presentation.

• How students generate search terms: 1. Google 2. The topic itself 3. Course materials
• The most difficult part of research: 1. Credibility 2. Narrowing (Information overload) 3. Relevance

Preliminary results of the study reveal:

• No significant difference in the number of search attempts.
• No significant difference in time spent searching.
• Students “expressed great enthusiasm” for the term-generating tools.

Conner and Browne also made the following observations.

• “Students did not rely on keywords.”
• Students reacted to information. They used links instead of keywords to further their search.
• “Adapted results to fit preconceived pattern for paper.”
• “Wide variation is search strategies.” Examples of search strategies include “termers,” who frequently modify their search strategies, and “limiters,” who rely on database limiters to modify searches. Students were not using advanced search strategies such as phrase searching or truncation.
• “Student’s assessment of search success did not match always match the investigator’s assessment.”

Discussion
Based on the preliminary findings, the Conner and Browne state that “Information visualization techniques appear to help students with conceptualizing topics but don’t really impact keyword search strategies.”

Student Response Systems in Library Instruction

A few months ago, Evelyne Corcos and Vivienne Monty published a study of student response systems in library instruction. Their article, “Interactivity in Library Presentations Using a Personal Response System” appeared in EDUCAUSE Quarterly. Personal response systems (PRS) (aka student response systems or audience response systems) allow students to use wire-less clickers in order to respond to instructors’ questions. An instructor poses a multiple-choice question and students respond by clicking the appropriate button on wire-less, handheld “clickers.” The instructor can display the live results to the class or to him/herself.

In Corcos and Monty’s study of personal response systems (PRS), York University students participated either in traditional library instruction or PRS-enabled instruction. The librarians selected PRS as a means of increasing student interactivity in library instruction. Students in the PRS classes ranked instruction as more enjoyable and engaging and better presented and organized. The librarian in the PRS classes enjoyed knowing students were active by their clicker responses. Nevertheless, PRS did present challenges in time involvement and technical difficulties. Corcos and Monty recommend “a standardized routine for setting up the PRS equipment and software.”

Pros

• Immediate feedback
  
• Opportunity for formative assessment
  
• Tailor instruction based on responses
  
• Identify areas of low comprehension
  
• Anonymity reduces student embarrassment
  

Cons

• Technical difficulties
  
• Pre-set questions reduce flexibility
  
• Requires more preparation
  

The authors don't list this as a con, but it seems to me that keeping up with the clickers could be a hassle. How do prevent students from accidently taking the clickers home? Anyways, I would still love to try them.

10 Easy Ways to Engage Students

In a College Teaching article, Tara Gray and Laura Madson provide the following 10 tips for engaging students.

Always

1. Maintain sustained eye contact.

2. Ask before you tell.
This is closely related to the Socratic Method, which I discuss in this post: Any Questions.

3. Create a structure for note taking.
I call this Guided Notes and mention it in this post: Have Topic Will Travel.

4. Let the readings share your lectern.
This might be possible if you can convince an instructor to assign a reading before the classes’ library workshop. I don’t think it is possible with open workshops.

Sometimes

5. Use the pause procedure.
Pause so that students can compare and discuss notes for 2 minutes.

6. Assign one-minute papers.
This is a popular assessment method in library workshops. Here is a great handout on one-minute papers: www.csupomona.edu/~biology/teaching_bytes/one-minute-paper.pdf.

7. Try think-pair-share.
I have had success with this method. Read more about it www.wcer.wisc.edu/archive/CL1/CL/doingcl/thinkps.htm.

Hold Students Accountable Daily

8. Quiz daily.
Many libraries use pre- and/or post-quizzes for assessment purposes.

9. Use clickers or colored cards.
This upcoming semester, I plan to try out Numina II SRS (aa.uncw.edu/numina/srs/). It is a free, web-based student response system.

10. Call on a student every 2-3 minutes.

Gray, Tara and Laura Madson. “Ten Easy Ways to Engage Your Students.” College Teaching 25.2 (2007): 83-87.

Teach Like An Expert

In a LOEX Quarterly 2-part series, Eric Frierson applies 6 principles of the effects of expertise on instruction to library instruction. These 6 principles were taken from How People Learn.

1. “Experts notice features and meaningful patterns of information that are not noticed by novices,” so teach information in chunks.
2. “Experts have acquired a great deal of content knowledge that is organized in ways that reflect a deep understanding of their subject matter,” so help students see the ‘big picture.’
3. “Experts' knowledge cannot be reduced to sets of isolated facts or propositions but, instead, reflects contexts of applicability: that is, the knowledge is ‘conditionalized’ on a set of circumstances,” so help students understand how and when to use the information learned.
4. “Experts are able to flexibly retrieve important aspects of their knowledge with little attentional effort,” so make each step clear.
   
5. “Though experts know their disciplines thoroughly, this does not guarantee that they are able to teach others,” so study pedagogy.
6. “Experts have varying levels of flexibility in their approach to new situations” so teach students to be flexible as they apply the information learned in different situations.

In summary of part I, Frierson states:

“Think of ways to chunk instruction into pieces that fit together to form a whole, providing students with organizing ideas to help them recall strategies associated with one another. Describe how each chunk fits together to explain the big picture of library research, and then find a way to say that to students. Finally, think about how and when students will be using these tools. Tailor the instruction to frame the tools in those ‘how’s and ‘when’s.”

Bibliography

John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R. Cocking, eds. “How Experts Differ from Novices.” How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 1999. http://www.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/ch2.html

Eric Frierson. “Instructional Design with Expertise in Mind (Part 1)” LOEX Quarterly, Winter 2007: 4-5+

Eric Frierson. “Instructional Design with Expertise in Mind (Part 2)” LOEX Quarterly, Spring 2007: 4-5+

My Online MLA Lesson

My library has finally produced an entirely online version of one of our workshops, Research 3: The MLA Format - Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources. Students who need library credit, can complete the entire workshop, beginning at http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/library/infolit-ol/selfenroll.htm. Since this is our first semester doing this, we are requiring students physically submit items to the library. It should be possible to submit everything electronically. Nevertheless, we want to see how well the learning activities work before we add another layer of complication.

The full workshop is only available to our students; however, the interactive lesson is available freely on the web at http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/library/infolit-ol/mlasl/. I designed the lesson and would really appreciate some input-What works? What doesn’t?

The lesson explains different concepts of the MLA format. Each section also includes an interactive activity for students to apply the information and a self-check question to test how well they learned the concept. Students can retry the self-check until they get it right.

An instructor at any school can have their students complete the lesson. At the end of the lesson, students can print a score summary to submit to their instructor.

P.S. I designed the lesson with LessonBuilder3 by SoftChalk. My general knowledge of HTML was helpful, but not necessary, and I don’t know Flash.