December 2010 Articles

This week, I've spent most of my time preparing for my EDT [Educational Technology] 110:  Community Research Connections course.  My co-teacher and I have been in conversations with our community partner, Project READ, since August.  Our students will research assessment tools that reading tutors can use with their students, compile research portfolios and make recommendations to Project READ (PR) based on their findings.    This…

Service learning (SL) has been an important part of my career for the past two years.  I devoured SL literature, and discovered that SL is discussed infrequently in the library literature (although I have discovered a few more SL fans in library land).    I integrated SL into four models of  information literacy & library instruction. I hope to share my experiences with other librarians, and start a conversation about the connections between SL and information literacy.  I must admit,  I hope this blog will help…

My journey with SL began two+ years ago when a colleague and I decided to integrate Service Learning into our credit IL course.  We hoped our students could do research for a local nonprofit that needed it.  Most nonprofit agencies are sorely understaffed and overworked.  It seemed obvious to us that they would appreciate our students' work since it would leave them time to do other things.  It also seemed obvious to us the connections between information literacy curriculum and service learning curriculum.  Both aim to make students active, engaged citizens…