Time to Renovate your Assignments?

Spring's in the air and it's time to clear out the clutter! Are your assignments

... tired and worn?
... scrawled across moth-eaten paper?
... incompatible with today's technology?

In short, could they use some sprucing up? If so, the Librarians at the various Reference Desks have first-hand experience helping your students with your assignments, and we can offer some tips for getting your students learning in the 21st century library.

Relevance
Assignments that are personally relevant hold a student's attention longer. Whether it's a city, person, or topic — the closer it is to the student, the more likely they will feel the effort is worth it.

Meaning
Asking your students to find "one example of this...another of that" in the library, with little connection to actual research questions, can make students feel less motivated. Instead, why not have them find, annotate, and analyze 3-5 different types of sources (of their own choosing) for an upcoming essay?

Quality
Learning about the differences in popular and academic publishing is an important lesson. Don’t expect students to ignore the junk...ask them to embrace it! And then have them explain its usefulness or lack thereof to academic work.

Complexity
The old equation of "in-library stuff = good, internet stuff = bad" no longer applies in this rapidly evolving world. Please don't limit students to "paper-only" journals — many of the best academic journals either have two lives (one in paper and one online) or just an electronic one! Academic, peer-reviewed publications can be electronic — and the Libraries are the gateway to them.

Currency
Change is a constant in the information landscape. Please keep references to links, collections, and locations current. Students have been directed to one library when the relevant collection had been moved to another library!

Contact your liaison librarian if you’re interested in knowing more about how your students really worked through that last assignment you gave them.

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