Research as Inquiry

Harnessing Pandora's Box: At the Intersection of Information Literacy and AI

A group of four librarians from varied disciplinary backgrounds came together to examine issues of artificial intelligence and large language models. We are of the opinion that Pandora's box has been opened. Students will use ChatGPT, so it is important that we engage our students to promote a deeper learning and awareness of this technology and its limitations. As a result, we participated in a semester-long ChatGPT workshop sponsored by our institution's writing center. We explored various aspects of generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), particularly where it intersects with information literacy, visual literacy, digital literacy, and privacy literacy. We created learning activities closely tied to learning outcomes derived from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Information Literacy Framework and ACRL's Framework for Visual Literacy in Higher Education. Each centers on a frame and contains an overview of the information or visual literacy issue as it relates to ChatGPT or AI tools. We designed each with customizations appropriate for the different approaches taken in humanities, social sciences, and science courses.
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CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License CC-BY-NC-SA

Research Process Reflection Prompts

This resource consists of three prompts for students to reflect on their research process at the beginning, the midpoint, and the end of a research assignment. The reflection responses can be used by librarians and instructors to identify where students are struggling in the research process and use that information to improve their teaching. 
Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Data Hunts

Easier access to research data is changing the research landscape. Investigate the data available for your research topic through the library’s catalog and open-access sources. 

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CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

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BEAM Worksheet for Environmental Studies

This worksheet can be used in upper-level undergraduate Environmental Studies classes to showcase how to use the BEAM framework. You can model the example on the worksheet and use that to show how to explore library/other information sources to find each example, or ask a student to offer a research topic and then make a table on a white board that you fill out together, following by information source navigation demos.

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Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Environmental Studies

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License Assigned: 
CC Attribution License CC-BY

The Assumption Exercise

This exercise scaffolds Google and Library resources in order to help students prepare for "career conversations" with industry professionals. The presentation is designed for a business communication class in which students conduct industry research as prepartion for a strategic professional networking assignment. The assumption exercise is designed explicitly to encourage students to question their assumptions about librarians and other career professionals. Padlet is used to encourage group work and for assessment purposes.

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Discipline(s): 
Business
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-ShareAlike License CC-BY-SA

True or False: The Purpose of Research

The goal of this activity is to help students develop a broader understanding of the purpose of academic research assignments, by helping to identify some of the common misconceptions that they might have about research assignments. This could also be used as a low-stakes activity or assignment at the beginning of a research project to help clarify expectations.

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Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

Defining Research as Inquiry

The goal of this activity is to help students start to develop an understanding of research as an ongoing process of inquiry, rather than a straightforward process of compiling information on a topic. Students develop initial definitions of “research as inquiry,” review and discuss resources related to the concept, revise their definitions, and reflect on how the concept relates to their research practices.  

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Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

Discipline(s): 
Not Discipline Specific
License Assigned: 
CC Attribution-NonCommercial License CC-BY-NC

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

Anti-Racist Teaching in Higher Education: Teaching Resources

Tabs: Books, Ebooks, Vidoes, Articles, Podcasts, Resources for Your Students

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

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