Achieving Information Fluency:
The Wake Forest Approach
David G. Brown
VP, Dean (ICCEL)
Professor (Economics)
Wake Forest University
IT Everywhere Conference
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia
April 30, 2001
Simple Outline
• What is Information Fluency?
• What’s Wake Forest doing to achieve it?
• What might you and others do?
Metaphors for Achieving
Information Fluency
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Drive a car
• Program a VCR
Pass drivers’ exam
• Understand tennis
Use a library
• Play tennis
Write an essay
• Speak French
Give a speech
Name State Capitals
Check the two that
for you come closest!
Components of Information
Fluency
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Find materials on the web & in print
Evaluate materials on the web & in print
Create a Spreadsheet
Create a Web Page in html
Place information on the web & in print
Organize information against hypotheses
Know where to get help when stumped
Recognize the perishability of information
Check all that apply & add others.
DEFINITION: Our students will graduate
with “information fluency” when they can
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Your responsibility is to finish the sentence on
one of our 3x5 index cards. When you have
completed your assignment, form dyads (two-somes),
swap cards, And for 3 minutes talk with each other about
what been written on the cards.
MY DEFINITION: Our students will
graduate with “information fluency” when
they can find, evaluate, adapt, organize,
and use data!
WHY INFORMATION
FLUENCY?
…the institutional answer
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Communication & Community!
Level Playing Field
After College Use
Faculty/Students Demand Them
Customized/Personalized
Digitized Scholarship
Marketable Difference
Wake Forest University
WHY INFORMATION
FLUENCY?
…the faculty answer
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Interactive Learning
Collaborative Learning
Communication
David G. Brown, Editor
Anker Publishing. 2000
Visualization
Different Strokes for Different Folks
Wake Forest University
What’s Wake Forest Doing?
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3700 undergraduates
92% residential
500 each: Med, Law, MBA, PhD
$950M endowment
Winston-Salem, NC
Baptist Heritage
1300 average SAT
28th in US News & World Report
Top 35 Privates in Barron’s Guide
Rhodes Scholars
THE WAKE FOREST PLAN
IBM A22e, Pentium III, 700 Mhz, 20GB, 14”ActMatrix, 196MB, Re-writable CD
56k modem, 8MB Video Ram, 10/100 Ethernet, Floppy,
USB & Serial & Parellel & Infrared Ports
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IBM Laptops for all
Printers for all
New Every 2 Years
Own @ Graduation
31.000 Connections
Standard Software
99% E-Mail
Start 1995, 4 Year Phase In
+15% Tuition for 37 Items
+40 Faculty and 30 Staff
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
Computers Enhance My
Teaching and/or Learning Via-Presentations
Better--20%
More Opportunities to
Practice & Analyze--35%
More Access to Source
Materials via Internet--43%
More Communication with Faculty Colleagues, Classmates,
and Between Faculty and Students--87%
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
Computers allow people---• to belong to more communities
• to be more actively engaged in each
community
• with more people
• over more miles
• for more months and years
• TO BE MORE COLLABORATIVE
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
With Ubiquity--The Culture Changes
• Mentality shifts-- like from public phone to personal phone.
• Teaching Assumptions shift-- like from books in the public library
to everyone owns a copy of his/her own.
• Timelines shift-- like from “our class meets MWF” to “we see each
other all the time and MWF we meet together”
• Students’ sense of access shifts-- like from “maybe I can get that
book in the library” to “I have that book in my library.”
• Relationships shift-- like from a family living in many different
states to all family members living in the same town
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
Ways of Thinking About
Presidential Campaigns and Debates
A First Year Seminar Introducing
Students to the Liberal Arts
15 Freshmen
Meet twice per week
All with open laptops
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
Brown’s First Year Seminar
• Before Class
– Students Find URLs &
Identify Criteria
– Interactive exercises
– Just-in-Time Quizzes
– E-mail dialogue
– Cybershows & Lecture Notes
• During Class
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One Minute Quiz
Computer Tip Talk
E-mails to Classmates
Class Polls
Team Projects
Chat During Lecture
• After Class
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Edit Drafts by Team
Guest Editors
Access Previous Papers
Follow Up Discussion
• Other
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Daily Announcements
Team Web Page
Personal Web Pages
Personal Portfolio
Exams include Computer
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001
The Wake Forest Approach
• Integrate instruction with normal classes
• Convince students they’ll use it after college
• Use the computer as a primary
communication tool
• Declare “information literacy” as a given
• Use computer to register, participate in
committee work, be active in the fraternity
• Empower everyone to be a trainer/teacher.
What Can We Do to Advance the
Cause of Information Fluency on
Our Own Campuses?
Measure/Certify Results
Provide Learning Opportunities
Assure Universal Access
Pilot Programs
Raise Awareness
Actions to
Raise Awareness
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Define Information Fluency
Conduct PR Campaigns on Campuses
Sponsor “The Fluency Bowl”
Appoint Blue Ribbon Advisory Group
Pilot Programs
• Identify a Lead College
• Coordinate the “Eager” Departments
from All Member Colleges
• Research Other Programs
Assure Universal Access
(Field of Dreams Approach)
• Provide “Client Machines” (e.g. laptops)--either individually or at public stations
• Teach Assuming Access
• Buy Electronic Databases
Provide Learning Opportunities
• Fluency Camp
• Non-Credit Sessions (Required or Optional)
• Degree-Credit Course (Required or Elective)
Measure/Certify
the Results
• Grade for Course
• Threshold Proficiency Test
• Fluency Certificate
Possible Roles for the Library
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Politic for “Information Fluency”
Purchase & Manage Electronic Databases
Suggest All College Standards
Train All Students (Just in Time)
Train Faculty and Staff
Certify Information Fluency
Possible Roles for the Faculty
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Define “information fluency” minimums
Set policies for the use of technology
Teach assuming “information fluency”
Judge the wisdom of a requirement
Politic for adequate funding
Monitor the quality of “fluency” training
Possible Roles for IS
• Politic for Information Fluency
• Research & Recommend Hardware and
Software
• Choose “back office” components
• Implement and maintain infrastructure
• Sponsor Student Technology Assistants
• Enable After College Access
“Students who have increasingly grown up buying
clothes, reading the news, chatting with friends, doing
research, and applying to colleges and universities
online have come to expect to use the Internet in all
facets of their lives.” –Joanne Creighton and Paul
Buchanan, Educause Review, March/April, 2001.
Our challenge is to make sure that as
graduates they can find, evaluate,
adapt, organize, & use data!
Let’s Go Out & Lead The Movement!
David G. Brown
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, N.C. 27109
336-758-4878
email: brown@wfu.edu
http//:www.wfu.edu/~brown
fax: 336-758-4875
ICCEL -- Wake Forest University, 2001