1. COLG 191: Developing and
Implementing a 1 Credit Required
Online Information Literacy Course
at Chadron State College, Nebraska
Harvey Brenneise
Associate Dean for Research Services
University of Southern Mississippi Libraries
October 25, 2012
For slides and PDF: www.slideshare.net/Sky7Bear/

2. Goal:
To develop the student’s
“information literacy” as defined
by the American Library Assn.:
Recognize when information is
needed and have the ability to
locate, evaluate, and use
effectively the needed information.

3. Outcomes
Student will:
• Be able to recognize an information need,
• Create a successful strategy for finding academic
information and access it in multiple formats,
• Evaluate/authenticate the information found,
• Explain issues of academic honesty and
plagiarism, and
• Organize bibliographic information using the APA
style of citation in a works cited list.

4. Learning activities
• View online tutorials from the web and instructional
information via the Sakai learning management
system.
• Participate in online discussion Forums (original
posts and response posts).
• Take quizzes and final test with immediate feedback
of correct answers (1 retake of quizzes).
• Complete assignments based on course instructional
materials with resubmission allowed.
• Complete a Course Project of an annotated
bibliography in APA format of 10 items on an
approved topic.

5. Course schedule/outline
Week 1: Starting a college research project
• What is college-level research?
• How do I identify and develop a research topic?
Week 2: Finding research (scholarly) articles
• The world beyond Google: The invisible web.
• Articles in academic and peer-reviewed journals, magazines and
newspapers, What’s the difference?
Week 3: Citing and documenting sources and avoiding
plagiarism
• How do I cite sources I’ve used and use citations others have
written?
• How do I use information ethically and avoid plagiarism?

6. Week 4: Finding information at the CSC King Library
• How Do I Find Electronic and Print Resources at the CSC King
Library?
• How do I find electronic books that I can use for free?
• Where do I go for research help?
Week 5: Literature reviews, annotated bibliographies and managing
the research process
• What are literature reviews and annotated bibliographies and
what’s the difference?
• How do I manage the research process?
Week 6: Search techniques for electronic resources
• How do I do better searches in electronic resources using
advanced search techniques?
Week 7: Using the World Wide Web for research; Evaluating
information resources
• What strategies do I use to find the best material on the World
Wide Web?
• How do I evaluate the information resources that I find?

7. Sample tutorials
Peer Review in Five Minutes: What’s So Special About
Peer-Reviewed Articles? [5:00]
In this screencast from North Carolina State University,
you will learn how scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles are
written and published, and why this is important in your
college-level research.
How to Read Citations [90 sec.]
From Cornell University, this Youtube Research Minute
video gives additional hints about how to read and
interpret citations.

8. Diagnosis: Plagiarism [16:45]
In this screencast, Yavapai College explains what plagiarism is and
the consequences for plagiarizing, along with tips for avoiding it. It
includes how to summarize, paraphrase and give proper citations.
Goblin Threat [est. 10 to 15 min.]
This online game from Lycoming College will test your knowledge of
the issues of plagiarism and information ethics. Find the hidden
goblins and answer the questions.
Wikipedia: Beneath the Surface [6:41]
In this screencast you will learn about how Wikipedia is created, its
various parts, and how it can be used responsibly for your college-
level research. It discusses both its strengths and weaknesses and
how it compares with peer-reviewed research. It cautions against
using Wikipedia as an authoritative research source, and yet
correctly states that it can be a good starting point, especially if the
topic is a new one to you, and can lead to other resources through
the sources/bibliography section of the entry.

9. Issues & Questions
• Relationship to other courses, including
interdisciplinary courses under development,
research courses in major and capstones.
• Replication, multiple teachers, and how/when
additional sections are added.
• Can adjuncts be used?
• Can it be taught over 16 weeks? 5? For
developmental students? Graduate students in
need of remediation?

10. More issues and questions
• How does the library support students after completion of the
course, particularly upper division students doing their
capstone project?
• Would there be benefit to having upper-division “add ons” for
disciplines with specialized research tools such as PubMed?
• Would there be benefit to having discipline- or course-related
sections such as in Music so that additional issues and
research tools are explored?
• Can requiring scheduled consultations with a librarian,
particularly for upper division students working on a capstone,
be a good plan for moving a student’s information literacy to a
higher level?

11. What Was Learned
• In classes with a 30-student enrollment cap, usually around 20
completed the course successfully, most with A’s and B’s
(students were allowed to resubmit assignments for a higher
grade and could take quizzes twice)
• Some students registered and did nothing else (including
dropping), earning an F that they also paid for. Not smart.
• Some students would benefit from “hands-on labs” (like Khan
Academy) after the lessons in order to complete their
assignments.
• Instructors should be available to students on weekends, as
many assignments are due early in the following week (hard
to do when librarians are considered 40-hour/week “hired
help” rather than being fully faculty).

12. More What Was Learned
• 8-day “weeks” beginning on Monday and ending on the
following Monday night make handling weekends easier.
• Evening and weekend IT support is necessary if a school is
going to offer online classes. Many students, particularly non-
traditional ones, do their schoolwork at that time.
• Many students, at the conclusion of the class, admitted that
they learned much more than they expected to, and that they
believed it would help them in their further college careers.

13. Further Research
• Is successful completion of this course a reliable predictor of
graduation? Success in college? Is success in this course more
strongly related to a person’s character, habits, personality or
innate ability or some combination of these traits?
• How do adult learners or transfer students from community
colleges compare with college freshmen taking this class?
• Can this class be taught to high school students before they
arrive at college?
• Is a course like this more effective if taught in conjunction with
a content course that actually requires a research assignment?