Serving the Developmental English Population: Merging Information

Literacy & Critical Thinking

Presented by Mark Thompson, Library DirectorMiddlesex County College

VALE Users’ Conference -- Jan. 4, 2013

Why do this?• Critical to info lit success over the

student’s academic career– Key dialogue on campus with academics

– driven by what THEY talk about– Partnership with new ENG chair and

work on new Writing Center• My ACRL paper (Feb ‘13) and talk at

National ACRL (Apr ‘13)• New research on decision making.

Menu of Topics for Today• Discussion of the conceptual

framework– 4 slides

• Finding results from current research – 4 slides

• Practical approach to discovery @ your campus – 10 slides

• Practical approach to taking action and revising teaching @ your campus – 5 slides

Conceptual Framework: Not Segregated

--Critical Thinking -- --Info Lit-- Comprehend Communicate Inform

Read Write ResearchActivity

Purpose

• Critical Thinking– Evaluating the quality our own thinking

and the thinking of others• IDEAS: defensible; reasonable; rationale;

tested or not• Communication

– Clear, coherent, and well-developed manner

• Information Literacy– Recognize when information is needed

and use the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively.

Issues: Be able to identify

Critical Thinking & Info Lit• Let’s look at the analysis by task

– Put Excel sheet up

• Findings & Research: Cornerstones1. Info Lit Progression Standards/NJ 2. NJCC General Education Guiding

Principles, 9/6/2011.• 8 Goal Categories; plus 2 integrated course

goals: Information Literacy and Ethical Reasoning

3. NJ Core Curriculum Standards, 2009 www.corestandards.org

4. CLA Common Scoring Rubric: critical thinking, written communication. NY, NY.

5. Partnership for 21st Century Skills, www.p21.org

• Research Used to Stimulate Discussions--– The Citation Project research results– A New Culture of Learning by Douglas

Thomas and John Seely Brown.– Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel

Kahneman.– “Information Literacy 2.0: Critical

Inquiry in the Age of Social Media.” by Meredith Farkas (Amer Librar)

– DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs… by Anya Kamenetz.

– Too Big to Know by David Weinberger.

Starting Point on Critical Thinking • www.criticalthinking.org

• Dr. Richard Paul– Founder of the Center for Critical

Thinking, Sonoma State U. in northern CA, 1980+

– Off shoot is NCECT, National Council…

Research is out there…– Weiner. Is There a Difference Between Critical Thinking and

Information Literacy? A Systematic Review 2000-2009. Journal of Information Literacy, 5(2), pp 81-92.

– Albitz. The What and Who of Information Literacy and Critical Thinking in Higher Education. Portal: Libraries and the Academy. 7(1), 2007.

– Deitering. Step by Step through the Conversation: A Collaborative Library/Writing Faculty Project to Embed Information Literacy and Promote Critical Thinking in First Year Composition at Oregon State University. Research Paper. www.oregonstate.edu.

– Detmering. Focusing on the Thinking, Not the Tools: Incorporating Critical Thinking Skills into an information Literacy Module for an Introduction to Business Course. J. of Business & Finance Librarianship, 16:101-107, 2011.

– Kenedy. Faculty-Librarian Collaboration and the Development of Critical Thinking Skills Through Dynamic Purposeful Learning. Library 61: 116-124, 2011.

Practical Approach: Find the Nitty Gritty• Examine teaching practice in light of

CT & IL– Examine course content, assignments, and

needs- Next slide– Where are students failing?

• Ex. Look at textbooks for all levels– Find references to readings,

assignments, research, essays, and any info lit tasks. SEE Excel chart

• Look at all course descriptions & syllabi– See next slides– Compare old & new Student Learning

Objectives for exact wording. Notice progression between levels• SEE Excel chart

Discovery Phase: Teaching Practice• Failure rates in developmental too high

– Students must take multiple times• Critical thinking, comprehension, etc. poor

– Papers incoherent; poorly sourced• Program review / change emphases

– From grammar, rules, structure to –• Comprehension, ideas, synthesis• Focus on process & reflection• Ability to find and synthesize

Textbooks• See Excel chart

MCC Example: English Curriculum• Reading Skills for College I & II

– Provides intensive instruction to help students develop basic reading comprehension, vocabulary, communication and study skills. "C" is the minimum acceptable grade for movement from one remedial/developmental level to another and for completion of remediation/developmental requirements to include all credit equivalent courses.

• Writing Skills for College I & II– ENG 009 = For students whose College Placement

Test scores show they need intensive work to improve their writing abilities. Objectives are designed to develop the ability to write in Standard American English. Instruction is provided in sentence structure, punctuation, and usage; students regularly practice writing effective sentences, paragraphs and short essays.

– ENG 010 = Prerequisite: Appropriate score on the College's Placement Test or a grade of "C" or better in ENG 009. Designed to improve fundamental skills of Standard American English through the writing of effective sentences, paragraphs, and essays and to build confidence in beginning writers. Correct spelling, punctuation and grammar are stressed.

• English Composition I– Through a variety of writing projects

requiring description, characterization, narration, illustration, process analysis, comparison and contrast, and definition, as well as through a documented essay, students develop competence writing clear, correct, effective English prose. Extensive reading materials serve as structural models and as the basis for discussion and for the writing of essays involving response, analysis, and synthesis. During the course, the student will write between 7,000 and 10,000 words, including drafts and revisions

• English Composition II– Through writings, reading of essays,

short stories and poems, and speaking, the student will continue to learn and to practice the skills of clear, correct, effective English. Through a variety of writing projects, requiring techniques such as cause and effect, analysis, evaluation, classification, argumentation and persuasion, as well as through a formal research (library) paper, students will write between 7,000 and 10,000 words, including drafts and revisions. -NEXT SLOs

Taking Joint Action• Curriculum Team and Dept Chair

– Semester launch / training meeting– Textbook debates– Program review

• Plans for Writing Center– Referrals back & forth between

Tutoring / Library• Assessments

– Immediate post info lit class discussion– Partner on LibGuides for specific

courses

Ways to Merge Efforts• Expand on textbook readings

– Find source of textbook essay – find original

– Find one additional source on topic• Using sources: where’s the

summary?• Use database results to test reading:

Title / Abstract / Document Conclusion

• Find keywords in Abstract and convert to search terms – comprehension, inference

Conclusions• Don’t segregate the research and

the writing• Enlist core reading skills in

everything– Comprehension & inference– Test with titles, abstracts, articles

• Highlight critical thinking skills used in writing– Analyze, synthesize, evaluation– Find these elements in an article

Sources / Follow-up• Peter Facione. Santa Clara Univ.,

California Academic Press, 1990. ERIC: ED 315 423– Delphi Report: Critical Thinking-A

Statement of Expert Consensus for Purposes of Educational Assessment and Instruction.

• Go to MCC’s libguides:– http://middlesexcc.libguides.com/infolit – http://middlesexcc.libguides.com/sotl

THANKS• Come visit our Edison, NJ campus. We

are open to the public. – www.middlesexcc.edu

• Call Mark Thompson at 732-906-2561• Email: mthompson@middlesexcc.edu