Activity: Source Evaluation Scorecard

This tool builds upon the commonly used CRAAP Test for evaluating resources through the addition of a scoring system. The scoring system helps students turn their qualitative judgements about a source into a numerical figure that they can then use in their determination of whether or not to use the source. The tool is accompanied by the questions and elements that go along with each of the five criterion of the test. Students are encouraged to consider all elements of each criterion before assigning it a simplified score. Then students add up all five scores for a total that is used to categorize the strength of the source as a whole. Rather than simply rely on this total, students use this added information to think critically about why a source earned this score and as a guide for moving forward. The scoring system relates the strengths and limitations of a single source to one another, as well as compares and relates the variety of sources that students are considering for use in their paper or assignment. It has particular application to assignments that require students to select and cite only a small number of sources. This resource can be used in an activity or as a stand-alone tool to be used routinely by students. Editing files and instructions are included for customization

Black & White Response in a Gray Area: Faculty and Predatory Publishing

This study focuses on faculty knowledge, experiences, and attitudes regarding fraudulent journal operations. Many definitions presented to researchers contain two primary aspects to describe these intentional perpetra­tors: 1) the chief motivation to profit monetarily, and 2) the misleading promise of and failure to deliver on indicators of quality, such as peer review. While this definition is simple on its surface, when put into practice it often expands into discussions of poor or unethical practices by journal publishers. It is common to find lists of grievances clarifying acts that signal predatory or unethical practices, which are used to broadly classify jour­nals as either predatory (“blacklists”) or reputable (“whitelists”). Jeffrey Beall’s lists of “potential, possible, or probably predatory” publishers and standalone journals have been the popular method of combatting predatory journals. Beall relied on 28 indicators of predatory practices and 26 indicators of poor practices. Now, Cabell’s Blacklist Violations include 64 considerations when determining the status of a journal. These manifold criteria are indicative of the impossibility of binary journal evaluation, as many journals are neither black nor white, but somewhere in the gray between. The discussion of predatory journals thus expands from overt scams to include scam-like journals or those with lower provision of quality or service. Therefore, “predatory publishing” encompasses a far broader range of publishing practices than those that are completely fraudulent. The difficulty scholars encounter delineating between reputable and predatory practices, along with their disparate publication practices, prompted the present study to explore what publishing faculty know about the phenomenon and their attitudes toward it. This exploration began with broadly investigating the publishing practices of faculty through interviews, which revealed a benchmark from which to begin conversations with faculty on our campus. With the results from this study, we will develop a survey instrument that more specifically examines faculty interactions with predatory journals

A Predatory Primer: What Every Librarian Should Know About Problem Publishers

Researchers and faculty are talking about predatory publishers within the academic literature. How scholars come to know about and interact with deceptive publishers has evolved and matured since they first garnered attention a little over a decade ago, and thus, how we as information professionals approach this topic must adapt and mature. The issue of “predatory journals” is deceptively simplistic, but its underlying complexities extend the conversation into a variety of topical concerns in librarianship. Such conversations include questions about the consequences of journal labeling and categorization, the use of pejorative or racially-charged terminology in such labeling, the new challenges for open access and start-up publishers, the relationships between journal reputation and diversity, the unidentified consequences of publishing in low-quality journals, and the overall academic publication system

Flipped Library Sessions: Customized Instruction that Prioritizes Applied Information Literacy Learning

Time constraints often restrict the instruction of unique research skills required by a given subject area. By collaborating with instructors, librarians can offer flexible and efficient content that improves student information literacy skills. Meet librarians who have implemented various flipped methods and tools for distinct instructor and course needs

Collaborating on Flipped Library Sessions: 8 Best Practices for Faculty & Librarians

Library instruction varies in format but often manifests in the librarian teaching a single, isolated class session—what librarians refer to as a “one-shot.” Many challenges accompany this traditional format, including time-constraints, disengaged audiences, and little understanding on the part of the student as to how the library instruction integrates with course content. Flipped Learning methods can help counter these challenges even when the overall course is not based on a flipped model. They liberate librarians and faculty from the one-shot model and expand opportunities for library instruction to occur at multiple times in a course, to be delivered virtually or in person, and to invoke a broader range of educational tools. We offer eight best practices for those who are interested in exploring flipped methods for incorporating library content into a course

Celebrating One Million Downloads: Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC

In April 2022, the University of Northern Colorado celebrated the one millionth download from its institutional repository, Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. The infographic highlights the top downloaders and works that contributed to meeting this significant milestone

Data (Mis) Visualization and its Impact on Academic Advancement and Public Understanding

Cultures across the globe are increasingly visual—whether this be due to the popularity of video streaming, advances in the graphic arts, or the rise of accessible software, apps, and other technologies. In fact, while globalization endures as a prominent force, it seems that the rather universal languages of images and numbers do as well. Visualizations—in particular data visualizations—are valued for their efficiency in communicating messages and their efficacy in spurring emotion and instigating action. This gives such images great power. Although all media consumers must ultimately be accountable for their own ability to interact responsibly with the visual media, educators have a duty to prepare students in higher education for the unique burdens and challenges that accompany their disciplines. However, instructors rarely focus on visual literacy when it comes to the learning outcomes of many programs even when source evaluation and the use of reliable research is prioritized and expected. According to the Association of College and Research Libraries: Visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. . . . A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture. When visual literacy is covered in the curriculum, there is a tendency to emphasize the state-of-the-art technologies, artistic process, and proper methods that accompany the creation of such imagery. Yet, the skill set of abilities listed in this definition is more heavily weighted toward the consumptive aspects rather than the productive. To better equip our students for both their professional and personal lives after academia, it is imperative that we give them the tools and skills to critically read data visualizations This panel will address questions regarding the implications that various forms of data and information visualization have on the pedagogy, research, culture, and public face of their respective academic fields: Dr. Dale Edwards is the Program Coordinator and a Professor of Journalism & Media Studies at the University of Northern Colorado. The practices of journalism and the mass media have perhaps the furthest public reach and highest influence when it comes to the effects of visual information on the public. Appropriately preparing and balancing the responsibilities of the producers and consumers of this content is a longstanding problem with new dilemmas and complications. Dr. Rob Reinsvold is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the Coordinator for the Biology Secondary Education Program at the University of Northern Colorado. The proliferation of large amounts of data in the sciences has led to concerns of misinformation as seen with the recent climate change skeptics and flat earth theorists. Dr. Reinsvold strives to develop data-literate science educators that will in turn teach others how to effectively access, interpret, and communicate data. Maggie Shawcross is an Assistant Professor and the Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Northern Colorado. Maggie has previously worked as a Consumer Health Librarian and a Public Librarian focusing on health programming and health literacy. She is keenly aware of how imagery affects the work of healthcare professionals and consumers, and she instructs students on how to use reliable and credible resources in the ever-changing environment of health information. Jingying Crystal Zhen is a graduate student studying Digital Media at the University of Northern Colorado and Computer Graphics at Shandong Normal University. Crystal’s work focuses on digital illustration, and she is interested in how data visualization can help data be communicated more clearly. In discussing this topic from the vantage point of their respective disciplines, participants offers specific issues, experiences, and suggestions that help define the current context of visual literacy and illuminate a path forward for responding to this modern state of affairs