UTA InfoLit

GIS / Social Work Paper Submitted

2006-08-02T11:21:00.000-05:00

If anyone is interested in a nice long read, we just submitted the paper draft that I co-authored, enitled Ecological Patterns of Kinship Care, by Rebecca Hegar, Maria Scannapieco, Randall Basham, and Joshua Been.

It is currently under peer-review for a special issue of Children and Youth Services Review focusing on the environment and child well-being.

The draft can be found here:

Q:\Program Area Folders\Information Literacy\GIS\Hegar et al., Kinship Care Ecology Paper.CYSR.doc

2006-07-20T12:10:00.000-05:00

Just an update of goings-on.

Lea and I will be presenting at TSHA in March about K12 Connections. We will also be presenting with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.
I'm going to give a workshop to AISD librarians in September--what new students need to know when they come to college--information literacy skills.
I'm going to change my at-home day to Tuesday. Not sure about a start date--working on it.

I think that's it for now!

GIS & Kite Runner

2006-07-12T15:39:00.000-05:00

I reckon I should read the book, but in the meanwhile I want some suggestions from those of you more familiar with Kite Runner than I.

I have agreed to a request by Tommie that I do a GIS workshop/demo to coincide with the Kite Runner events. Tommie suggested something on world religions. This is possible due to the data provided by adherents.com.

Can anyone suggest a particular exercise using world religions (such as comparing religion to other demographic variables) or a topic wholly different from religion?

Thanks!

ENGL 1301 Kite Runner Session

2006-06-29T16:53:00.000-05:00

I am in the process of developing a Kite Runner Library Instruction module for ENGL 1301. Does anyone have any ideas? Next week I will be doing a couple of sessions for Milissa Riggs which focuses on power and literacy, which is a possibility for the ENGL 1301 students, but I think it might be too involved. This is the outline for the sessions on the 6th and 10th:

Day 1:
Students will be in groups based on their literacy (language literacy, technological literacy, health literacy, financial literacy)

I will demonstrate how to use the catalog, Academic Search Premier, and ERIC databases

Discuss MLA citation

Students will work in groups to select one article about their literacy this will include use of the databases and evaluation (I would like students to select articles that are 5 – 10 pages in length)

Students will present to the class how they found their article and why they chose it

Homework:
Read each article and create an annotated bibliography

Prepare to facilitate a discussion about their article/literacy (you and I will also read the articles and prepare some prompts for discussion)

Day 2:
Student facilitated discussion of literacies

Plagiarism session

GIS Discussion Board

2006-06-27T14:36:00.000-05:00

I know everyone knows I am eagerly awaiting the library's discussion board (which is now posponed again) that I anticipate seeing widespread GIS use here on campus. To see what I have in mind, here is a link to an existing GIS discussion board from Austin Peay University: http://gisweb.apsu.edu/apsubb/index.php.

ICT Literacy Test

2006-06-27T12:12:00.000-05:00

I've been drafted to help write a proposal for the spring Undergraduate Assembly meeting to require all students take the ICT Literary test. This will replace the current computer proficiency exam. Exciting, but I am expecting a lot of obstacles and issues that we may need to address. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please share your thoughts and ideas on the university using this exam.

Department name ideas

2006-06-22T16:40:00.000-05:00

First Year Integration
FY Outreach

Dallas History Conference

2006-06-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

Just a piece of good news--I've been accepted to give a paper at the annual Dallas History conference. I'll be speaking on Polly Smith.

QEP/SACS Web site development

2006-06-06T15:55:00.000-05:00

Mary Jo and I have been working with Dr. Farrar-Myers to develop the information architecture for the QEP/SACS/Active Learning web space. Evelyn will be joining the marketing team. The following is a rough summary of what has been discussed so far. I will try to explain in writing...see me for one of my wonderful, handcrafted representations of the same content.

The site, similar to the UT Arlington home page will direct users to resources based on their classification - Faculty/Staff, Students, Community/Press(?), and SACS Reviewer.

The content areas brainstormed for inclusion on the Faculty/Staff page is:

Active Learning Bibs by Discipline/Subject and by Method/Technique.
Calls for Proposals
Syllabis
Learning Outcomes Resources
Assessment
Training and Development Opportunities
Active Learning on Campus
Creating Partnerships
Templates
Grant Opportunities

Mary Jo and I are developing the content for the active learning bibliographies and will have that completed by July 7th.

The content areas for the other user groups have yet to be addressed although we have brainstormed a few for the Students group. These are:

Articles highlighting student success with active learning
Student testamonials
How can they make their own learning experiences active
Why is active learning important

The marketing group will be looking for ways to promote active learning as a means to an end. How can we simply convey that higher order thinking is our desired goal...active learning is the means for achieving this.

Plagiarism game

2006-06-05T15:17:00.000-05:00

Just to keep you guys in the loop--the plagiarism video game is not dead and Dr. Reyes of CSE seems pretty interested in it. So it's still a going concern. Also, I'm taking over the K12 stuff so feel free to give out my name if someone asks.

Complete Metadata Records

2006-06-02T09:40:00.000-05:00

I have been spending quite a bit of time creating geospatial metadata records that fully comply with the standards established by the Federal Geographic Data Committee. (Think of it as intensive original cataloging.)

I just completed the AGS Estimates & Projections dataset, which is made up of 6 individual data tables.

Take a peek at this sample record from the AGS Estimates & Projections (2010) #2:
(User Friendly FAQ Format) | (XML Format)

FYE Integration Team

2006-05-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

This group pulls together staff from student affairs, academic departments and student support services, like us. The point of the group is to better integrate all the first-year programs that are going on across campus and to introduce new ones. So far, the group has developed a draft of team objectives and what we hope students get out of their first 30-hours here at UT Arlington. We're also considering what kind of parental support the university offers. We've started a wish list of what we'd like to see added, so if you have any ideas of what you'd like to see for first-year students and/or their parents (library-related or not), let me know. Once the mission and objectives are officially finalized, I’ll share them with you guys.

LIIT and Learning Outcomes

2006-05-25T16:15:00.001-05:00

LIIT has been working diligently to develop learning outcomes for the different levels of library instruction. If you are interested in viewing what we have determined so far, feel free to take a peek at out wiki available at http://utaliit.pbwiki.com/Completed%20Learning%20Outcomes%20for%20Each%20Level.

UEP

2006-05-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

Mary Jo and I are in the process of very quickly developing a learning outcomes assessment plan for EDUC 1302 to be included in the Library's UEP (don't ask me what that stands for - unit something or other). Any ideas about how to determine an appropriate sample to assess, rubrics, or research journaling are welcome.

First Post...Library Blogs

2006-05-19T08:26:00.000-05:00

So, I thought to get this blog started off I could list here the URLs of other UT Arlington Library blogs that I am aware of.

I would like to know about any others, so if you know of any, well then add 'em...