Peer Review

Research 101

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Reviewed:: Sep 28, 2021 by Library and Information Services

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This guide, created by University of Washington librarians, contains 5 modules focused on introducing students to academic research. This "toolbox" is based on the 2015 ACRL informationliteracy framework. Each tutorial focuses on one "frame", and contains an introduction, video, assignments, and assessments. This resource provides instructional materials and ideas for librarians and faculty. The intended audience for the videos is students.
Type of Material:: Tutorial
Recommended Uses:: The resources in this guide can be used in a myriad of ways. The videos can be viewed by students, the learning activities can be utilized for in-class activities (groupd and individual), assigned as homework or even used in online learning environments. The assessment surveys could be used as pre and post-test assessments in-person and online. The materials in this guide shoud not be used as stand alone instructional materials, they are best as supplemental to information literacy curriclum.
Technical Requirements:: Works in all browsers.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: The purpose of this guide is to provide academic librarians and teaching faculty educational content to be used for information literacy instruction. This toolkit organizes content by frame, providing a description of the frame, instructional video, learning goals, sample learning activity and
Target Student Population:: University level students from beginning, returning, and upper level to help with research skills.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic web navigation skills are needed. Librarians and faculty using this resource should have a basic understanding of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: This is a great resource that can be used not just by librarians but also teaching faculty and support staff on campus. The content is easily adaptable to different learning environments whether in-person or online. Each section in this toolkit is consistent, providing the same resources for each frame. Instructional materials on the frames are very relevant and needed, as a lot of people are struggling with how to adapt the framework.
Concerns:: The videos are a bit oversimplied for the intended audience of students. The assessment surveys should include a larger bank of possible questions that users can choose from. In order to give users more choice there should be more than one learning activity, as well as a list of suggested readings and/or links to similar instructional materials.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The videos, activities and assessments can be used individually or all together. The learning goals are clearly stated for each frame. The materials in this toolkit are concise.
Concerns:: The activities and assessment could benefit from inclusion of more reflective learning for students. There is no description of how or if the activities are related to the assessment or which educational contexts they would work best for. A user may assume the learning goals are for learning the entire frame, but more clearly stated objectives for the activity and assessment are needed.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

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Strengths:: This guide/tutorial is very easy to use and the instructions are clear and to the point. The user is drawn from one chapter to another and the standard formatting means that users will focus on the content and not how to use the material. This guide/tutorial is excellent for ADA guidelines. At the end of each chapter there is a transcript of the YouTube and material. Learning goals are clearly put on the right side of each chapter, and there are embedded links to related tutorials.
Concerns:: Descriptions of how to use the activites and assessments and whether they go together would help improve this site. Because this could potentially be used by teaching faculty who may not be as well versed in informaiton literacy as librarians, more detailed information on the frames is needed and how these resources can fit into a larger curricum.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is a great starting point for working with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy. Assignments are short and well written and the assessment has only three questions. Quick for the user to complete but will allow them to know if they have grasped the concept.
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