FRIT

7090: School Library Program #1

Debra Scott FRIT 7090: School Library Programming Program #1 Summer 2012

FRIT 7090: School Library Program #1

Program #1 Template
Title of Program: Celebrate Diversity Curriculum Areas/Topics Covered: The ongoing diversity activities will be designed to seamlessly integrate with a variety of course curriculum: math, science, literature, social studies, and history. The goal is to highlight diverse and often under represented perspectives related to the common course curriculum. Diversity initiatives should strive to include diverse populations, many of which are typically underrepresented in regards to library information systems (Jaeger, Subramaniam, Jones, & Bertot, 2011). Time Frame of Program: This program is intended to be ongoing. The cultural focus will vary based on a calendar populated with international holidays selected by the online library staff and the student advisory committee. Students will be encouraged to recommend the addition of any holiday(s) they would like to see posted on the online library calendar. Planning for the program will be approximately 3 months preparing before launching new library website features specifically servicing online students. Goals and Rationale of Program: AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners: 3.3.1 Solicit and respect diverse perspectives while searching for information, collaborating with others, and participating as a member of the community. 3.3.2 Respect the differing interests and experiences of others, and seek a variety of viewpoints. 3.3.4 Create products that apply to authentic, realworld contexts. In alignment with the AASL Standards listed above, the goal of this program is to encourage students to share differences with the ultimate objective of them realizing that they have many more similarities than differences. Students will be encouraged to share cultural, social, and religious values. The ultimate goal is to create a safe virtual environment in which diversity is respected and valued. A sense of virtual community, feelings of trust, belonging, and shared goals between online learners increases retention and student success (Glassmeyer, Dibbs, & Jensen, 2011). Intended Audience and Demographics: Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) is the largest associate degree-granting college and the third largest institution in the University System of Georgia. GPC has five locations in metro Atlanta. As of Fall 2011, there were 4256 exclusively online students (52% between the ages of 21-30; 23% between the ages of 31-40; 13% between the ages of 16-20; 72% female; 28% male; 98% from GA; 39% 1st generation college students.

FRIT 7090: School Library Program #1

The ethnicity represented in the student body includes 52% African Descent, 39% European Descent, 4% Asian, and 5% other (American Indian, Pacific Islanders) Steps for Implementation: Design and distribute a survey to the online student email list designed to more clearly determine the cultural, social, and religious diversity represented in the student population. Design and distribute a monthly newsletter. A student assistant will be responsible for the design and layout of a monthly eNewsletter to be distributed to our listserv of exclusively online students. Content such as activities and events sponsored by online student clubs will be solicited from online instructors as well as club sponsors and leaders. The newsletter will also be used to solicit volunteers for the student advisory committee prior to the official launch of the program. Final editing will be completed by the online librarian. The student assistant will also be responsible for facilitating discussion on the online librarys book review blog, Facebook , and Twitter accounts. Sample discussion prompts for social media: 1. Do you feel that people judge you by how you look, talk or dress? 2. Ask students to share a time when they felt discriminated against because of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs. Encourage them to describe how it made them feel. The student assistant will also need to have website programming skills in order to design new web pages (with assistance from a GPC instructional technologist as needed) and regularly update the current online library website pages. Using google maps, a GPC Online Student Cultural Heritage Map will be displayed on an online library website page. Via social media, students will be invited to pin point their familys country of origin. Students will also be invited to share photos taken on trip(s) to their ancestral country using web 2.0 presentation tools. On the online library website, a calendar will be displayed that includes multicultural holidays. Using discussion prompts posted on Facebook & Twitter, students will be encouraged to share personal stories describing customs and traditions performed in honor of the various holidays. A list of acceptable net etiquette will be established and displayed on the website. The objective will be to make it clear that the forums hosted by the online website are designed to be a safe place to share ideas and values. A monthly favorites list will be posted with links to multicultural oriented fiction and nonfiction books, music, and artwork. Students will be invited to share link(s) to their favorite poems, books, videos, and or music representing their culture. Students will also

FRIT 7090: School Library Program #1

be encouraged to comment on each others posts. According to Mayne and Qiang (2011), social presence is the ability of students within an online learning community to project their personal characteristics and present themselves as real people. This ability is a significant factor in improving instructional effectiveness as well as building a true sense of community. A comprehensive list of math, science, literature, social studies, and history books written by authors from diverse cultures and backgrounds will be developed. Selected books from each category will be featured each month (based upon the current cultural theme). A picture of the cover of the texts along with a brief book review will be posted. Students will be encouraged to provide feedback using a book review blog. Funding and Budget Needs: Additional funding will need to be allocated for a student assistant to the online librarian working 19 hours per week. No additional hardware or software investment is required. A work station for the student assistant equipped with the necessary hardware and software for website design and desktop publishing are readily available and support from the Office of Technology is readily accessible as well. Minimal printing costs will need to be budgeted for the layout and design of tent cards to be displayed in the campus libraries as well as student services offices advertising the online library services featuring Celebrate Diversity. Number of Staff and Volunteers: The Online Librarian will be the project coordinator responsible for communicating the overall vision of the program, documenting assigned tasks, and holding the student assistant, student advisory committee, and volunteers accountable. They will also be responsible for the final editing of web pages and the monthly eNewsletter. The student assistant will be responsible for website & graphic design as well as facilitating discussion and social networking. The student advisory committee and volunteers will be responsible for advising on the monthly favorites list, contributing articles to the eNewsletter, posting prompts to facilitate online discussion, and suggesting ways to appeal more to the target demographic. Marketing: We will spread the word about the librarys diversity program using the librarys Facebook and Twitter accounts. Link(s) to the online library will be posted on various web pages posted on the colleges website. Tent cards will be designed to advertise Celebrate Diversity. The cards will be placed in the campus libraries and various student services locations. Youth Participation: We will solicit student volunteers to act as a student advisory committee to suggest ideas about the kinds of activities that would appeal to the target demographic(s). These students will also be critical initially in facilitating online discussion.

FRIT 7090: School Library Program #1

Evaluation: The student assistant functioning as webmaster will be responsible for monitoring and reporting the traffic to various online library pages. The student assistant functioning as a social media representative will be responsible for monitoring and tracking the number of people who like our fan page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. We will use this data to determine what content has more or less appeal for our target audience. Resources: Resources will include links and references provided on the online library: webpages, Facebook and Twitter accounts to books, artwork, and music. A comprehensive list of math, science, literature, social studies, and history books written by authors from diverse cultures and backgrounds. References: Glassmeyer, D. M., Dibbs, R. A., & Jensen, R. (2011). Determining utility of formative assessment through virtual community perspectives of online graduate students. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 12(1), 2335. Jaeger, P. T., Subramaniam, M. M., Jones, C. B., & Bertot, J. (2011). Diversity and LIS education: inclusion and the age of information. Journal Of Education For Library & Information Science, 52(3), 166183. Loes, C., Pascarella, E., & Umbach, P. (2012). Effects of diversity experiences on critical thinking skills: Who benefits? Journal Of Higher Education, 83(1), 125. Mayne, L. A., & Qiang, W. (2011). Creating and measuring social presence in online graduate nursing courses. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(2), 110114. doi:10.5480/1536502632.2.110 Shaw, J. (2009). The diversity paradox: does student diversity enhance or challenge excellence? Journal Of Further & Higher Education, 33(4), 321331. doi:10.1080/03098770903266018

FRIT 7090: School Library Program #1

Program #1 Scoring Rubric

Originality 0 Not original/ Not workable/ Not submitted/ Not attempted (Counts twice) 2 4 Program is workable, original, creative, and innovative. It has fresh and exciting ideas. Each section of the template has been completed with meaningful entries. It paints a complete picture of the program and speaks to the focused topic of promoting diversity. All of the required five references are included. Projects shows a great deal of planning went into it. All components work together as intended. Components demonstrate depth and detail. References are all documented, and APA formatting is used throughout, including in text citations and reference list. No errors found in grammar, spelling or usage that distract reader. Total Scoring Guide: 1820 Target 1417 Acceptable <14 Unacceptable Score Program is workable, but it is not original.

/8

Some sections of the template have been Template was not used. The completed with meaningful five references are not entries. It does not paint a included. Does not focus on complete picture of the the topic of promoting program. It does not speak diversity./ well enough to the focused Not submitted topic of promoting diversity. Some of the required five references are included. Project shows lack of Project shows some planning. Components do planning. Some components not work together as do not work together as intended. Project lacks depth intended. Some of the and detail./ components lack depth and Not submitted detail. References are not documented at all, and there is a lack of APA formatting. Numerous errors in grammar, spelling or usage that distract reader. References are mostly documented, and APA formatting is attempted. A few errors found in grammar, spelling or usage that distract reader.

Completeness

/4

Quality

/4

Form

/4

/20