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On August 29th, the Libraries Seminar Committee hosted a presentation by Dr. Andrew Whitworth, Director of Teaching Strategy for the Manchester Institute of Education and the University of Manchester. Dr. Whitworth’s presentation “Xenophilia: The Love of Difference is Essential for Information Literacy” argued that a diversification and openness to different perspectives can positively influence learning through engagement with information. Drawing from theories of learning, networking, technology, and more, Dr. Whitworth described how xenophilia—a love and openness to difference—can help people broker between different information landscapes to learn and take action. He proposed that educators develop their teaching around the principle of xenophilia, where students encounter and navigate different perspectives of information landscapes, in order to help them learn through dialog.
Following the presentation, Dr. Whitworth facilitated two workshops introducing participants to a concept mapping process to uncover different perspectives on an institutional issue. In the first workshop, participants engaged with different types of maps to uncover how we rely on and interpret maps, as well as how they can be powerful tools for helping us make sense of our own information landscapes. In the second workshop, participants put these ideas into practice using Ketso, a specific mapping tool. In small groups, participants collectively discussed and mapped out the goals, assets, challenges, and strategies related to how the new Wilmeth Active Learning Center will change our activities as librarians.
Librarians worked in groups to map ideas related to how they can use the Wilmeth Active Learning Center to advance their practice as librarians.
The Purdue Libraries is hosting the presentation “XENOPHILIA: How the love of difference is essential for information literacy” by Dr. Drew Whitworth.
Date: August 29, 2017
Time: 10:00am – 11:30am
Location: Purdue Memorial Union, West Faculty Lounge
The event is free and open to the public. Please click here to register.
Whitworth’s presentation will argue for an understanding of information literacy as a set of carefully constructed information practices that are informed by the contexts in which they play out. This vision of information literacy is rooted in xenophilia, a love and openness to difference. In this case, information literacy is defined by an awareness and openness to the variances that exist between different information landscapes and their practices. Whitworth will make the case for information literacy as a pedagogy that can enable important discussions of openness and dialog, particularly in today’s socio-political climate.
Drew Whitworth is the Director of Teaching and Learning Strategy of the Manchester Institute of Education at The University of Manchester.
Libraries faculty and staff uphold the Libraries’ information literacy mission statement through various instructional and research efforts.
Purdue Libraries faculty and staff work closely with subject faculty to support student learning and advance information literacy. Here is some information on their instructional work from the past year:
Rebecca Richardson and Vice Provost Frank Dooley with Award winners
Purdue Libraries gave out $50 awards for best poster abstracts in five categories to students at the Undergraduate Research and Poster Symposium held on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. The student winners of the awards were: Tianlong Sun, & NamAnh Nguyen (innovative technology/entrepreneurship/design), Manjie Fu (physical sciences), Helena Lysandrou (life sciences), Gayatri Mazgaonkar (social sciences/humanities), and Neal Patel (mathematical/computational sciences). Information Literacy Specialist, Clarence Maybee, coordinated the judging of the abstracts, which was conducted by several Libraries faculty, including Michael Flierl, Heather Howard, Sarah Huber, Nastasha Johnson, Hal Kirkwood, Judy Nixon, Margaret Phillips and Wei Zakharov. At the April 11th Symposium in the North and South Ballrooms of the Purdue Memorial Union, Rebecca Richardson, Assistant Dean for Collections and Access, announced the award winners.
Clarence Maybee, the Libraries’ Information Literacy Specialist, and Chantal Levesque Bristol, Director of Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence, travelled over spring break to Lima, Peru to help a new technology university develop a program similar to Purdue’s Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT). The institution, Universidad de Ingeniería y Technología (UTEC), was opened in 2011 and enrolls about 1200 students. Elizabeth Barajas, Global Programs Coordinator for the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, arranged the visit. Across the week, Maybee, Levesque Bristol and Barajas met with several instructors and worked closely with staff developing a new teaching support center at UTEC. Using Purdue’s IMPACT program as a model, the new teaching center will work with instructors to create active, student-centered learning environments in UTEC courses.
On April 6th, Instruction Matter s: Purdue’s Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) program hosted the 2017 IMPACT Symposium, featuring Purdue alumna and Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English and Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University, Dr. Kathleen Blake Yancey. The Symposium included two workshops on writing for learning. Dr. Yancey spoke about importance of incorporating writing into all academic disciplines, in order to support knowledge transfer to future academic and professional contexts. She also offered concrete examples and suggestions for Purdue faculty and instructors interested in adding writing assignments tailored to their courses and disciplines.
Before the morning session’s workshop on informal writing assignments, Dr. Yancey and the attendees asked questions of a panel five Purdue undergraduate students (Josey Cline and Lexi Eiler from Wildlife, Danny Zuercher from Landscape Architecture, Kenny Nguyen from Neurophysiology, and Sahej Bains from Biology). The students described their experiences with academic writing, including what motivates them to complete writing tasks, and what they believe is critical to help other students recognize the value of writing in their academic areas. In the afternoon session, participants designed writing assignments that feature the writing genres specific to their academic disciplines. Following the day’s workshops, attendees joined Dr. Yancey at the Gerald D. and Edna E. Mann Hall for a reception.
The Symposium was hosted by Purdue’s IMPACT program, a Big Moves initiative that helps instructors redesign their courses to be more student-centered. The planning committee was comprised of Dan Guberman (Chair) and Laura Fritz from the Center for Instructional Excellence, Clarence Maybee and Rachel Fundator from the Purdue Libraries, and Sheree Buikema from Instructional Technology at Purdue.
Undergraduate student, Sheradan Hill, worked in the Hicks Undergraduate Library last Tuesday to create a poster for 2017’s Purdue Ag Week. This was the sixth iteration of the event, where students research and share information with the Purdue community about the significance of agriculture today
April 4, 2017
We are excited to announce the upcoming IMPACT Symposium for 2017: Enhancing Learning through Writing, which will take place on Thursday, April 6th. Our guest speaker, Dr. Kathleen Blake Yancey, a Purdue alumna, is a proponent of student writing within disciplinary courses across all levels of the curriculum. Additional details about the workshops are below.
Morning Session: 9:00-11:30am Enhancing Learning-and Teaching-with Writing
Stewart 206
Writing in college takes various forms–from posters, case studies, and lab reports to essays, research reports, feasibility studies, and slide presentations. Research shows that engaging in such writing and in smaller, informal writing assignments is critical to support student learning. Moreover, when appropriately designed, such writing assignments can help faculty teach better. In this interactive workshop, we will briefly consider why we might use writing in our teaching before focusing on some useful, easily modified ways to do so.
Afternoon Session: 2:00-4:00pm Designing Writing for Learning, for Transfer
Lawson 1142
This interactive session focuses on three dimensions of writing assignments, regardless of academic discipline—key terms; genre; and reflection–and on ways that these dimensions can help faculty design assignments rich in content and in good, disciplinary writing. Moreover, by designing writing assignments keyed to these three dimensions, we can both help students successfully complete the assigned task and support them in developing a working knowledge of writing that can assist them as they take up new writing tasks.
