Letting Go:
#lettinggo
Giving Up Control to Improve First-year
Information Literacy Courses
Michele Ostrow, Meghan Sitar, & Cindy Fisher from the University of Texas Libraries
ACRL 2011
What is your core mission and who
are your primary constituents?
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
Signature Courses
Rhetoric 306
Freshman Interest Groups
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Learning outcomes:
1. Create and execute a research strategy
2. Critically evaluate information
3. Use citations
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Is there an area of importance you don’t have the
resources to support the way you would like?
Are there things you can stop doing or do less of
without impacting your core mission?
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Not enough staff, time, or resources
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Seeing the same students 2+ times
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Our Solution = More Staff!
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Our Reality = No Money
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Our Realistic Solution:
Cut What Isn’t Core & Collaborate
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What are the fears or hesitations you
have about changing your model?
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“the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of
another party based on the expectation that the other will
perform a particular action important to the trustor,
irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other
party.” (712)
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995). An Integrative Model of
Organizational Trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709-734.
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“The more extensive the use of formal controls, the slower the
development of trust.” (591)
Inkpen, A. C., & Currall, S. C. (2004). The Coevolution of Trust, Control, and Learning
in Joint Ventures. Organization Science, 15(5), 586-599.
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
Control mechanisms:
Das, T. K., & Teng, B. (1998). Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances. The Academy of
Management Review, 23(3), 491-512. doi: 10.2307/259291
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
1) Goal setting
Das, T. K., & Teng, B. (1998). Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances. The Academy of
Management Review, 23(3), 491-512. doi: 10.2307/259291
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
2) Structural specifications
Das, T. K., & Teng, B. (1998). Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances. The Academy of
Management Review, 23(3), 491-512. doi: 10.2307/259291
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
3) Cultural blending
Das, T. K., & Teng, B. (1998). Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances. The Academy of
Management Review, 23(3), 491-512. doi: 10.2307/259291
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
Who are the collaborators you would need to get
buy-in from to make changes?
Are there any barriers? What are some strategies you
could use to overcome these barriers?
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3.5
# of Librarians for the 2010-2011 School Year
101
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41
Too few staff to serve so many classes =
Self Service Model
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http://lib.utexas.edu/signaturecourses
Letting Go – ACRL 2011
http://lib.utexas.edu/signaturecourses
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Self-service breeds uncertainty.
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Assessment is difficult using traditional tools.
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They’ll still learn without us;
heck, they’ll probably
remember more!
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Next steps:
- Toolkit redesign underway
- Outreach to faculty by department
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RHE 306: Teach the Teacher
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RHE 306 Standard Syllabus:
• Unit 1: Map a Controversy
• Unit 2: In-depth Rhetorical Analysis
• Unit 3: Make an argument/propose a solution
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Next steps:
- Research Summary analysis underway
- Pre/Post-tests comparing models analysis underway
- Continue to tweak and develop content annually
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http://www.lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/figmentors.html
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http://www.lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/figmentors.html
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http://www.lib.utexas.edu/plagiarism
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Next steps:
- Continued outreach to FIG Mentors
- Update real-life examples in Plagiarism tutorial
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Signature Courses
Rhetoric 306
Freshman Interest Groups
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Signature Course Faculty Toolkit
lib.utexas.edu/signaturecourses
Wiki for RHE 306 Graduate Student Instructors
wiki.lib.utexas.edu/rhe398t
Plagiarism Training for First-year Interest Group (FIG)
Peer Mentors
lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/figmentors.html
All About Plagiarism Tutorial
lib.utexas.edu/plagiarism
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Questions?
Contact us at
lib-instruction@utlists.utexas.edu
Image credits
(all images Flickr users unless otherwise noted)
Hand, courtesy Crossett Library Bennington College
Question Mark, courtesy Leo Reynolds
House, courtesy Crossett Library Bennington College
Bullseye, Crossett Library Bennington College
Insufficient Bandwidth, courtesy david roessli
Rerun, courtesy coda
Now Hiring, courtesy quinn anna
George Washington Scissors, courtesy Truthout.org
Stop… Hammertime, courtesy Memestate
Letting Go is Hard, courtesy ohdearbarb
Control Freak, courtesy celine nadeu
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Trust, courtesy purplejavatroll
Scale, courtesy captkodak
Buffet, courtesy skidder
Fork in the Road, courtesy alexbfree
I don’t know, courtesy cowbite
Pile of Papers, courtesy The Bees
Classroom, courtesy wertheim
Librarian, from The Viking yearbook, 1950 - Vanport
Extension Center of the University of Oregon
Steps, courtesy Stuart Herbert
Plagiarism, courtesy Sam McNally, Threadless.com