After positive feedback from a few faculty members we now have access to Science Online from Facts on File. And like I said before, don’t let the name fool you. There is an excellent section on all types of mathematics.
Be sure to take a look at the videos and flash animation that help to explain some difficult concepts.
As always, be sure to cite your work. And remember-usernames and passwords are available in Moodle.
What does it take to be successful in the 21st century? What does it mean to be information literate? How does information literacy mesh with our Ignatian Identity?
To be information literate is to be able to access, evaluate, and use information efficiently, critically and creatively. Being information literate allows you to be a critical consumer of information.
You can ask yourself: How will an information literate student be prepared to meet the expectations of a Grad at Grad?
“The goal of Jesuit education in today’s understanding of the Ignatian worldview is not to prepare a socioeconomic elite, but rather to educate leaders in service. The Jesuit school, therefore, will help students to develop the qualities of mind and heart that will enable them, in whatever station they assume in life, to work with others for the good of all in the service of the Kingdom of God.”
Take a few moments to check out Science Online . And don’t let the name fool you…there is a lot more here than just science. The username and password is listed in Moodle.
By the way, just what is the difference between a database and a website? A database is a collection of previously published materials from books, newspapers, magazines, journals and transcripts. Because the information was published in print it was put through some sort of editorial review. Someone other than the author thought this information was accurate, organized and relevant. Databases are subscription based and need some kind of authentication to be searched. Websites can be created by anyone with access to a computer with an Internet connection for free. Websites are not held to any standards or review. Sometimes the author is not listed, sometimes you can’t find the date the page was created, and sometimes the information is extremely biased and downright wrong. Does this mean all websites are bad? Of course not, but you must choose and evaluate carefully young grasshopper. To take the guess work out of finding quality websites try a Hawk Search.
Summing up her year as a freshman, Nathan expresses her frustration with library services and states some pretty dismal stats. Essentially, between the time constraints and the “busywork” of unnecessary assignments, students spend only a few days working on papers and “if a source is not available with in this window, it is unlikely that it will be used” (140). Unfortunately, it takes about a week for a book to arrive through interlibrary loan (ILL). Take a look at the report from the 2000 ALA Conference in Chicago. Seven years ago and what has changed? Compared with Amazon and Barnes & Nobles, ILL is mediocre at best and not seen as a viable course for receiving information. Faced with a fast-approaching deadline and ambivalent about the assignment to begin with students will take ANY information as long as it is quick.
Students have lives! Why this message seems lost on most teachers/professors is a mystery to me. Rebekah Nathan (not her real name) is a professor who took a sabbatical to return to school as a freshman. One of the many lessons she learned was that students will “figure out what must be done and what can be let go” (136) in order to wisely manage their time. Classes and lessons must be created with clarity and be resonant.
As students are prone to cheating when completing an assignment deemed unnecessary, they will be prone to dismiss reading assignments with no clear objective in sight. As Rebekah Nathan in “My Freshman Year” puts it, students will not read if “there was no strong signal…that [they] would use the article” (138) in any concrete way. In order to manage their time wisely, students also considered a series of questions such as, “Will there be a test or quiz on the material” or “Is the reading something that I will need in order to be able to do the homework” before deciding whether or not to read. Unrelated readings and the need to have a concrete use for readings does not bode well pre-research reading. It is well known that students have problems developing strong thesis statements because quite a bit of reading is needed beforehand. Unfortunately, that part of the process is neglected and is viewed by the student as unnecessary because it is not assessed. The point of the research paper should be the research instead of the number of pages written. Nathan is right on when she states that assignments should be crafted to include readings essential to class work. If teachers took the time to rethink their lessons, weed out unneeded readings and create research assessment students would have more time to invest in exploring topics in a more thorough manner.
That people cheat is not big news. Sports figures, politicians, journalists, artists…the list is endless. So why are we so surprised and upset when students cheat? In “My Freshman Year”, Rebekah Nathan states that while students did not support cheating when it gives an unfair advantage they did have questions “about what really constitutes cheating and what does not” (125). According to a McCabe survey for the Center for Academic Integrity in 2004 “students questioned the seriousness of using crib notes (23 percent), helping someone else cheat on a test (28 percent), and plagiarism (31 percent)” (Nathan 125). Lauren Forcella gathered some feedback from students. One student suggests there are “white cheats” which leads one to believe the guidelines are lacking. Is working together on a homework cheating? Define “working together”. After overhearing this exchange, “The answer to number 6 is b.” “What about 8?”, I asked what they thought they were doing. “Working together, Mrs. Nelson”. We are not expressing ourselves clearly which ends up creating more confusion. Nathan goes on to state the “most common forms of cheating involve buying time or cutting scholastic corners”. Students, whether in secondary or post-secondary, are extremely busy and run an assignment through a checklist of sorts. If an assignment is considered “busywork” or unessential to a student’s immediate goals it will be given minimal attention.
Check out blogher.org for a thought-provoking article about plagiarism.
