Hal Loewen (Librarian): OT 7752 Desired Results

What are the big ideas? What specific understandings about the big ideas are desired? What prior knowledge, misconceptions, or misunderstandings might students bring/encounter?

Students will understand:

• Research is iterative and depends on asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field. (Research as Inquiry)
• Communities of scholars, researchers, or professionals engage in sustained discourse with new insights and discoveries occurring over time as a result of varied perspectives and interpretations (Scholarship as Conversation) 
• Searching for information is often nonlinear and iterative, requires evaluation of a range of information, and requires mental flexibility to understand that searching can be complex (Searching as Strategic Exploration)

Student's prior knowledge, misconceptions or misunderstandings may include:

• should understand how to do complex searching, including the ability to search using Boolean logic and how to string together different concepts

• should  understand that knowledge of resources available to them, including databases specific to a specific topic
• should have knowledge of various and complex search strategies
• should know what constitutes "free" information and what is not free
• should understand the level of question needed to answer the range of information required, simple questions for basic knowledge needs to sophisticated questions for deeper inquiry
• may or may not need a reminder on how to find specific articles

On what, if any, Knowledge Practices (knowledge and skills) and Dispositions (values) from the Frame(s) will the instruction focus? What other key knowledge, skills, and values will students acquire as a result of the this lesson/unit?

• determine an appropriate scope of investigation (Research as Inquiry)
• use various research methods, based on need, circumstance, and type of inquiry (Research as Inquiry)
• synthesize ideas gathered from multiple sources (Research as Inquiry)
• identify barriers to entering scholarly conversation via various venues (Scholarship as Conversation)
• critically evaluate contributions made by others in participatory information environments (Scholarship as Conversation)
• identify the contribution that particular articles, books, and other scholarly pieces make to disciplinary knowledge (Scholarship as Conversation)
• summarize the changes in scholarly perspective over time on a particular topic within a specific discipline (Scholarship as Conversation)
• recognize that a given scholarly work may not represent the only or even the majority perspective on the issue (Scholarship as Conversation)
• recognize they are often entering into an ongoing scholarly conversation and not a finished conversation (Scholarship as Conversation)
• seek out conversations taking place in their research area (Scholarship as Conversation)
• see themselves as contributors to scholarship rather than only consumers of it (Scholarship as Conversation)
• recognize that scholarly conversations take place in various venues (Scholarship as Conversation)
• determine the initial scope of the task required to meet their information needs (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• match information needs and search strategies to appropriate search tools (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• design and refine needs and search strategies as necessary, based on search results (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• understand how information systems (i.e., collections of recorded information) are organized in order to access relevant information (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• use different types of searching language (e.g., controlled vocabulary, keywords, natural language) appropriately (Searching as Strategic Exploration)
• manage searching processes and results effectively (Searching as Strategic Exploration)

What captivating questions will foster inquiry, understanding and transfer of learning

• What are the different types of information resources to use depending on the question being asked (background and foreground questions)?
• What are the different databases that are available to them and is the information in them unique?
• What is the essential question that needs to be answered that stems from a more complex information need?
• What type of filters can be used to find the results that match their research need?
• Has the student considered all the possible ways in which to express a concept?
• What can the student contribute to the scholarly conversation?

Students will know...

• how to identify the most appropriate information resource to answer their question
• the value of creating a search map to organize their search strategy
• that Boolean logic is needed to create complex searches
• what type of question they are asking and what search filter to use to find the "best evidence"
• how to identify the best databases needed to answer their questions 

Students will be able to...

• create a search map to organize their search strategy
• run a search in a wide variety of databases
• find and use "best evidence" filters in a database, or how to create a filter if no filters exist
• expand or focus a search depending on their information need
• adjust a search if they were unable to find adequate results in their first attempt
• contribute to scholarly conversation 

Students will value...

• asking questions, both simple and complex, requires careful consideration
• that when finding information that is difficult to locate strategic search strategies using Boolean logic can help yield results
• that evidence filters will make it easier to find high evidence information sources
• that the best clinical practice is based on best evidence information
• entering into an ongoing scholarly conversation and not a finished conversation