September 27
The topic of our first session will be Evaluation. I'd like to
divide the session into two parts. The first part would deal with
course evaluations
and the proposed new course evaluation system, referred to as the 3-Set Course Evaluation
system, developed by the Center for
Teaching and Learning. In preparation for this, please go to the link and
examine
the system and to your email for an attachment containing faculty comments
via email about the possibility of using the system and about course
evaluation in general.
The second part of our session, if there is time, could be a discussion
about evaluation
as a critical thinking process using as a focus a case study of five
second-year doctoral students. An article about this study by Mary Ann
Fitzgerald
entitled "the Cognitive Process of Information Evaluation in Doctoral
Students; A Collective Case Study" is reported in the most recent
issue of JELIS (Journal
of Education for Library and Information Science) 41 (3) (Summer
2000) 170-186. A copy will be placed on reserve.
October 30
Our topic today is Assignments -- what makes a good one and
what makes a bad one. We'll share some of the best and worst we've
given or received. If you have time to do a little preparation, you
might enjoy reading Planning, Designing, and
Evaluating Study Assignments from the Center for Teaching and
Learning.
You might find other useful readings from Teaching
Tips; Strategies, Research, and theory for College and University
Teachers, by William McKeachie. 9th ed. Heath, 1994. His Part II
section deals with "Teaching Techniques, Tools, and Methods" and
describes writing (papers, journals and reports), reading assignments,
lab teaching, field work and experiential learning, collaborative
learning, project methods and independent study, teaching with cases,
instructional games and simulations, role playing and microteaching,
one-on-one teaching and counseling and using electronic learning
tools. It's a useful book and fun to dip into from time to time. The
book is on reserve for INLS 214 in the SILS Library.
November 29
Our topic for this session that will be held in Room 304 instead of 215 is web-based
teaching and learning. We'll start with some examples from faculty who have incorporated various kinds of web
activities in their classes.
- Barbara Moran, for example, uses Blackboard, a course container that
organizes and
provides a unified environment for students (see http://teach.oit.unc.edu:9090/ -- perhaps she'll send us a guest id and
password).
- Barbara Wildemuth has
had success in using the discussion board approach
in 180 and previously in seminar sessions for fieldwork students (see her course at
http://ils.unc.edu/classes/inls180_01_f00/180-home.F00.html
and check out the discussion forums.
- Evelyn Daniel is teaching 131 as an
online course for Carolina Courses Online
(see http://www.fridaycenter.unc.edu/inls131/
-- I'll send you the id and password via email).
- Greg Newby and Bert Dempsey and perhaps others use the web for class
notes, demonstrations and examples, student projects and the like (see Greg's current course syllabus at http://ils.unc.edu/inls183/index.shtml).
I hope some of these folks
will tell and possibly show some of what they are doing.
In addition, in the spring we will offer two new web-based courses. One is entitled Evidence-based
Medicine. The
online tutorial that forms a part of the course is available through the Health Sciences Library as Introduction to Evidence-based Medicine. The course is being created
in Blackboard and can be accessed at http://www.blackboard.com/courses/EBM600/. You may need a
password but I think you can enroll as a guest and look at the syllabus and schedule.
The second course is Information Entrepreneurship offered by Tom Miller from NC State and Joanne Marshall as a
video
course over the UNC 2-way video system. The web site describing previous semesters of the course is available at http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/eep/.
I'm sure other faculty are using these and other web-based tools and hope they will share. The doctoral students may
have
observed others and may have reactions from a student perspective. Issues surrounding web-based learning and
teaching concerning advantages and disadvantages,
efficiences and inefficiencies, policy issues for the school and the like should engage us in a lively discussion.
Date revised
11/21/2000.
Evelyn Daniel
