Adaptación del Information Competency Assessment Instrument y su aplicación a estudiantes de pregrado de las universidades de Magallanes y Playa Ancha

Este artículo analiza la adaptación, aplicación, comportamiento y análisis de cualidades psicométricas del instrumento Information Competency Assessment Instrument (ICAI), desarrollado por Rodney Marshall de la Eastern Illinois University (2006), a través de la aplicación sobre una muestra estratificada de estudiantes (n= 381) de los niveles superiores de la Universidad de Playa Ancha y la Universidad de Magallanes. Debido a la baja consistencia interna del instrumento original, se desarrolló un análisis factorial exploratorio para determinar la estructura emergente desde la aplicación, realizándose un análisis del coeficiente confirmatorio para ponderar el nivel de ajuste de la nueva estructura emergente. Los resultados proponen un instrumento para medir las competencias informacionales en estudiantes universitarios de Chile compuesto por 27 ítems y emergiendo una distribución de cinco elementos, mostrando niveles adecuados de fiabilidad (a excepción de una de las subescalas) y de ajuste absoluto, incremental y de parsimonia. La estructura factorial, si bien difiere de la propuesta por el autor, se considera que es un instrumento recomendable para la evaluación de las competencias informacionales en estudiantes universitarios chilenos.

Creating a cross-disciplinary hub for active student learning in the library

Two recent technology-driven tendencies in library-faculty collaboration – (1) embedding librarians in the online components of courses, and (2) repurposing certain library spaces to become makerspaces – often embrace the learning strategy of focusing on students as creators. Booth Library at Eastern Illinois University, in collaboration with a faculty-led Faculty Development office and a Humanities Center, has advanced both the leveraging of technology in learning and the creation of a library makerspace, and added a third component, (3) placing an active learning classroom (ALC) connected to a design lab as the first stage of a Center for Student Innovation (CSI). This process, grounded in research on learning spaces and universal design, had led us to ask: what space best encourages creativity in the learning process? We propose to showcase a “think-pair-share” card game to demonstrate how we are re-centering the library as a center for knowledge creation, and a space for promoting discovery, in a format that invites Creating Knowledge participants to fine-tune our model or advance alternatives. That is, the library is building collaborations for re-thinking space, and re-positioning the library as central to teaching and learning, to foster 21st century skills around information, communication, and ethical/social impact. The card game will demonstrate ways to help students and faculty to create knowledge, and how information as a product is modeled, remodeled and reinterpreted for pedagogically creative teaching and learning. The implementation of the CSI has stimulated larger discussions in the library and across campus about the role of a “future-present” library. How can faculty and students embrace discovery as a means rather than an end? What role does the library play in facilitating teaching and learning? What does the future library look like? The presentation and card game will answer these questions through audience feedback and participation.

Timothy J. Motley (4 June 1965–28 March 2013) and his passion for Ethnobotany and Pacific Islands flora

Timothy Jay Motley was born June 4th, 1965, to Roy and Joan (née Schaeffer) Motley, in Paxton, Illinois, USA. He grew up on a farm in east-central Illinois, and attended Armstrong-Ellis Grade School. He entered Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, where he completed a Bachelor of Science in 1987 and a Master of Science in Botany in 1989, having written a dissertation on Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus). In 1996 he earned a Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Hawaii, Manoa; his dissertation on evolutionary and reproductive biology of Labordia (Loganiaceae). While in Hawaii, he developed a particular interest for the Pacific islands flora and for ethnobotany, two passions that he pursued for the rest of his life. Shortly after finishing his doctorate, he worked at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) as Post-Doctoral Research Associate (1997−1998), Assistant Curator (1998−2004), Acting Chair (1999−2000; 2001−2002), and Project Head of Conservation Genetics in Island Systems (1998−2006) in the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Program for Molecular Systematics Studies. While working for NYBG, he travelled widely in regions where his projects would take him, mostly in the South Pacific, and visited the Kingdom of Tonga, Rapa Iti, Bora Bora, Papua New Guinea, Guam, Pohnpei, Fiji, Mauritius, Reunion, Vanuatu, Philippines, Jamaica, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Hawaii, and Tahiti. In 2006, he was hired as the J. Robert Stiffler Distinguished Professor of Botany and Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, and as the Director of Science at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, Norfolk, Virginia. During this period, he continued his expeditions to study and collect plants in the South Pacific and beyond, including Ecuador, the Galapagos Archipelago, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Mexico, the Louisiade Archipelago, and yearly field trips to underexplored regions of China. Sadly, after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest, he passed away on March 28, 2013, at age 47, at the peak of his career, leaving his wife, young son, and numerous colleagues and friends. His numerous ongoing projects, which are currently being continued by his graduate students and colleagues around the world, assure that his scientific legacy, his loving character, and his integrity will never be forgotten.

Mentoring Undergraduate Students in Computational Materials Research

ABSTRACTComputation has become an increasingly important tool in materials science. Compared to experimental research, which requires facilities that are often beyond the financial capability of primarily-undergraduate institutions, computation provides a more affordable approach. In the Physics Department at Eastern Illinois University (EIU), students have opportunities to participate in computational materials research. In this paper, I will discuss our approach to involving undergraduate students in this area. Specifically, I will discuss (i) how to prepare undergraduate students for computational research, (ii) how to motivate and recruit students to participate in computational research, and (iii) how to select and design undergraduate projects in computational materials science. Suggestions on how similar approaches can be implemented at other institutions are also given.