Multidisciplinary

Scholarship is Not Neutral: Using Positionality Statements for Source Evaluation

Beginning college students often make assumptions that scholarly sources are inherently bias-free. Students may also hold the belief that if they find a source through a library database, it is automatically a useful and neutral viewpoint on a topic. These mindsets can limit students’ motivation to apply evaluation strategies beyond establishing credibility based on the author’s credentials.This lesson plan introduces the concept of positionality statements to help students understand that scholars do not leave their identities and life experiences behind when they conduct research. Students practice a new way to evaluate and understand the perspective–and limitations–that scholars bring to their research.The lesson plan is designed for first-year composition courses in which students are asked to develop a research topic based on their interests or experiences. It could be adapted for upper-level undergraduate courses in the social sciences.

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Discipline(s): 
EnglishMultidisciplinary
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Dark Patterns: Surveillance Capitalism and Business Ethics

This workshop engages participants in exploring corporate data collection, personal profiling, deceptive design, and data brokerage practices. Workshop content is contextualized with the theoretical frameworks of panoptic sort (Gandy), surveillance capitalism (Zuboff), and the four regulators (Lessig) and presented through a privacy and business ethics lens. Participants will learn how companies make money from data collection practices; explore how interface design can influence our choices and behaviors; and discuss business ethics regarding privacy and big data.The workshop is designed for 75-minute class sessions, but can be compressed into 60-minute sessions. Includes workshop guide, presentation slides, learning activities, and assessment instrument.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA

The 3 P's: Population, Place, Problem

This is a fun, hands-on activity that can help with brainstorming a topic and/or reserach question. Can also function as an ice-breaker! The results can be informative...and also sometimes entertaining!On the slip of paper (attachment), students write their name and a Population that they'd like to focus on. then they hand it off to another student, who fills in a Place. They then hand it off to a third student, who fills in a Problem. Finally, the slip is returned to its original owner who must formulate a research question based on those three pieces of information. 

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Putting S.I.F.T. To Work

This Worksheet is based on Mike Caulfield’s S.I.F.T. Method. Students will first need to have a familiarity with that. I highly recommend the “S.I.F.T. For Teachers” video playlist on his YouTube channel and/or his website.This activity would probably take most of a class period. Could also be done online via a Discussion.

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Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Data vs. Information vs. Knowledge

This is a good way to get students thinking about the conceptual differences between data, information and knowledge – which is an important first step to understanding how data, information and knowledge are created, disseminated and consumed. 

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License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Bibliography of (short) Videos About Misinformation & News/Media Literacy

List of nearly two dozen short (~5 min) videos that deal with various topics related to Misinformation & News/Media Literacy. Prompt Questions included for each video. Great to use for a class activity/assignment.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Misinformation and Media Literacy - Research Guide

Tabs/Topics: Categories of Misinformation, Evaluating Information, Media Bias Charts, Classroom Activities, Videos, Podcasts, Infographics, More Resources

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License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Annotated Bibliography Assignment Assessment

Sample Excel sheet for recording multiple variables and characteristics when assessing student Annotated Bibliography assignments. 

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Discipline(s): 
Multidisciplinary
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Think-Pair-Share Worksheet for Search Terms and Strategies

This think-pair-share activity worksheet allows students to apply search terms to their own research topic and can be used after a class discussion or class lecture on library and database searching. First, students think on their own about potential search terms for their own topic. Then, they pair up and discuss how they thought of those terms and how they might use Boolean operators to connect those terms. Lastly, the pairs share with the class about what they talked about in their pairs. This resource is suitable for in-person and synchronous online instruction and takes about 10 minutes for students to complete the entire think-pair-share process.

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License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA

STEM Honors Citations and Bibliographies Class Activities

Learning Outcomes:Students will see best practices on citations for their poster session or honors paper, including key database and RaptorSearch examples.Students will receive a demonstration of the relationship between their reference list and their in-text citations.Students will see examples of how to better integrate citations into their writing, including examples of paraphrasing, summarizing, and incorporating multiple sources or switches among sources.

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
BiologyMultidisciplinary
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

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