2020 Program

2020 KLA LIRT Retreat Program

July 16 & 17, 2020 | Virtual

​Full presentations from the 2020 KLA LIRT Retreat are available here.

Opening Plenary

The Medium is the Machine: Algorithmic Literacy as a Necessity in the 21st Century

Dr. Abigail Koenig | University of Louisville

Students are becoming more and more engaged with algorithmic platforms (Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc.), but how often do they consider the critical and rhetorical nature of these platforms? Further, how can being aware of the implications of these platforms affect their research and writing practices? When students become more aware of how algorithmic platforms mediate their digital communication, does this knowledge alter their engagements? This keynote will discuss recent research into the algorithmic literacy practices and awarenesses of students at a southern university. Attendees will gain an understanding of how algorithmic platforms mediate digital communication, what understandings students may have of this mediation, and ways for librarians to improve algorithmic literacy practices for their own students.

Presentations

Symbiosis: Writing Composition and Information Literacy in Collaborative Relationship

Dr. Laura Detmering and Leah Cover | Spalding University

Library instruction has long been wedded to the first-year composition classroom. More than a marriage of convenience in reaching maximum numbers of students early in their college careers, the common partnership between writing composition and information literacy is often built on a shared base of deeply intertwined roots and overlapping goals that have been well explored in library literature in recent years. Still, students continue to struggle with effective source integration and engagement in their writing. This presentation will focus on a close collaboration between a composition instructor and an instruction librarian to develop, implement, and refine an integrated approach to teaching writing and information literacy as complementary and inextricably linked processes. Drawing on common thresholds from both disciplinary frameworks, we will demonstrate how we use various touch-points, including an online research and writing process journal and in-person activities, to reinforce the interconnected and iterative nature of writing and research. Presenters will discuss the interdisciplinary nature of their pedagogical decisions, share student responses to this approach, and reflect together with participants on how to deliberately develop and scaffold such relationships across curricula and in varied institutional contexts.

Enhancing Student Learning, Creativity, and Autonomy: Using Omeka.net through the Library

L. Abby Houston | Berea College

Emerging Technologies make it easier than ever to not only better engage our students in meaningful research, but also allow them to become critical consumers and producers of information. Hutchins Library at Berea College has been engaging with these concepts by piloting a 2-year institutional subscription to Omeka.net. Omeka.net is a cultural heritage content management system hosted by the creators of Omeka. Through the choice to implement Omeka.net, we have expanded our instruction program, become more embedded in faculty classrooms, and created learning communities that encourage students to exercise their creativity and autonomy in the production of digital projects.

This session will explore what Omeka.net is; explain our process of acquiring, managing, and promoting it; and highlight examples of the diverse ways we have helped faculty and students utilize Omeka.net for teaching and learning throughout our first seven months of this program. Such examples will consist of the production of a video archive for a senior general education course and a digital exhibit which accompanied a physical installation for an art history course.

Are You With Me? Using Assessment to Foster Engagement

Madeleine Gaiser | University of Cincinnati

Library instruction one-shots require librarians to effectively convey a lot of information in a short period of time, foster engagement, quickly establish a strong rapport with the students. Formative assessment is often used to check for student understanding to help the instructor be more effective. However, the type of assessment and how it's presented matters. With the right formative assessment techniques, rapport between instructor and student will be stronger and students will be more likely to participate because students will see that you care about their understanding, rather than you just telling them. You will see an increase in participation - answering questions and asking them. This interactive presentation will demonstrate how formative assessment techniques can foster student engagement through establishing a strong rapport with students.

Introduction to Media Literacy with "Adam Ruins Everything"

Monique Threatt | Indiana University Bloomington

Media literacy is an essential life skill in the 21st century. More than ever, the media constructs, exploits, and perpetuates information that is widely accepted as fact. In this PowerPoint presentation, you will watch brief episodes from the popular truTv series, "Adam Ruins Everything." You will then engage in dialogue to deconstruct media messages, and develop tools to think critically about media messages around you. This presentation will help the neophyte librarian jump start the conversation about media literacy, as well as think of ways to create professional media literacy presentations for faculty, staff, and students.

Explore, Examine, Explain: Integrating Special Collections into the Classroom

Nancy Richey | Western Kentucky University

By using these keywords as guides, access and use of Special Collections is broadened. Collaborations with diverse faculty and ways to enhance classroom instruction are presented as well as ways to provide opportunities for original research by faculty and students.