Information Literacy Program at Decker Library

Image Description: Mac laptop open on desk with sculpture and plant. Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

During the Summer of 2020, Siân Evans, the Information Literacy and Instructional Design Librarian, and Jennifer Ferretti, the Digital Initiatives Librarian, met weekly to test out tools, explore pedagogical practices, and hone their online teaching skills. Part of the outcome of this working group was an Online Teaching Suggested Reading List. This document aggregates some of the best resources we found on Universal Design, accessibility and online teaching, as well as equity and online teaching.

Scroll down for more information on applying these principles to your courses, in either synchronous or asynchronous sessions.

We offer synchronous teaching options online on the Teaching Support page on our website.

Faculty can work directly with the librarian assigned to their class, providing them with the following information:

• Date and time of instruction
• Any related assignments 
• The course syllabus
• Any Zoom or other online conferencing links

The librarians can use the chat function for multi-modal learning.

• Zoom help: In-meeting chat: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203650445-In-meeting-chat 

Optional: The librarians can use breakout rooms for individual help/instruction.

• Enabling break out rooms: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476093-Enabling-breakout-rooms
• Managing break out rooms: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206476313
• Pre-assigning participants to break out rooms: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360032752671

We have also created a number of readymade lesson plans, Canvas modules, worksheets and slide decks for some of the more common instruction sessions. Please feel free to use any of these in your synchronous or asynchronous teaching. See our offerings in the Activity Templates section of this Research Guide, or scroll down for brief descriptions.

Annotated Bibliographies

This 60-minute lesson plan walks students through the steps of creating their own annotated bibliographic entries.

Evaluating Sources

This 60-minute lesson plan empowers students to evaluate sources they find online and in their research practice, using the ACT UP method of source evaluation and lateral reading.

Mind Mapping and Generating Research Questions

This session, designed for First Year Maryland Institute College of Art students, empowers new undergraduate students to understand how to develop a research topic.

*Please note that all of these lesson plans can be taught synchronously, with or without a librarian, OR asynchronously using the Creative Commons Licensed Canvas Commons modules associated with each activity. If you don't know how to import a Canvas module into your course, check out this resource.

We also encourage you to use our video tutorials to help students navigate our Library Catalog and resources.