I presented this presentation at the Information Literacy Summit in Carterville, Illinois on April 16, 2013.

1. Melissa Cornwell
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Information Literacy Summit
April 2013

2.  “Active learning can be defined as
anything that „involves students in doing
things and thinking about what they‟re
doing” (Keyser, 36).
 Active learning goes beyond the lecture.
 It may involve a metacognition process,
or thinking about thinking.
 There are many different techniques that
can be used to get the students
involved.

3.  “The affective domain comprises a person‟s
attitudes, emotions, interests, motivation,
self-efficacy, and values” (Schroeder and
Cahoy, 129).
 Why does this matter?
› “Affect plays a large role in college students‟
relationship to libraries and the research
process” (Schroeder and Cahoy, 131).
 The emotions that students feel throughout
the research process have an impact on
their ability to process information.

5.  Creativity is defined as “the ability to
generate new ideas and new
connections between ideas, and ways
to solve problems in any field or realm of
our lives” (Public Broadcasting Service).
 What other ideas come to mind when
we talk about creativity?

6.  “Creativity and curiosity are highly
personal experiences and learning is
about the individual, not the group”
(Hensley, 33).
 Why is creativity important?
› It has been linked to creating positive
emotions and overall satisfaction.
› Creativity encourages students to follow their
interests.

7.  Creativity can help the students to think
about what they‟re doing.
 Ways to spark creativity (based on the
definition of creativity as the ability to
generate ideas) :
› Take notes
› Gather and capture new ideas
› Find inspiration in other areas of life
› Idea-mapping

9.  Defining your topic
 Developing a research strategy
 Conducting searches for information
 Evaluating your resources
 Citing your resources

10.  Idea-mapping is the “process of writing
down ideas in a way that helps you see
new relationships and possibilities”
(Rubin).
 Use idea-mapping to help with the first
part of the research process!
 Examples of idea-mapping include:
 Concept maps
 Flowcharts
 Post-It Notes on Whiteboard

12.  Please break up into groups of 3-4 people.
 Choose a word cloud creation tool to
experiment with (please see the handout).
 Pretend that you‟re the students! Each
group should come up with a broad topic,
and using the word cloud creation tool,
create a word cloud with both broad and
specific topics and sub-topics.

13.  What did you think about using the word
clouds for brainstorming topics for the
research project?
 Is it too simple or too difficult?
 Does creating word clouds fit the
definitions of both active learning and
creativity?
 How could we make this exercise so that
it speaks to the affective domain?

14.  It can help organize ideas and see
relationships between different ideas
and topics.
 It provides a visual image that the
student could continue to consult
throughout the research process.
 The student can focus on the content
and not worry about the layout.

15.  Hensley, Randy Burke. "Curiosity and Creativity as
Attributes of Information Literacy." Reference & User
Services Quarterly 44.1 (2004): 31-6. 29 January 2013.
 Keyser, Marcia W. "Active learning and cooperative
learning: understanding the difference and using
both styles effectively." Research Strategies 17.1
(2000): 35-44. 24 January 2013.
 "Learning Services: The Research Process - 5 Steps to
Success." 1 July 2009. The University of Auckland:
Libraries and Learning Services. 4 April 2013.
<http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/instruct/research
.htm>.

16.  North Carolina State University Libraries. "The Research Process: The
Five Steps." n.d. Developing Research Skills: The Research Process.
4 April 2013.
<http://support.library.ewu.edu/reference/tutorial/rskills/les1/steps.
html>.
 Public Broadcasting Service . "Creativity." 2011. This Emotional Life.
4 April 2013.
<http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/creativity/creativity>.
 Rubin, Gretchen. "7 Tips for Sparking Your Creativity." 24 July 2010.
Care2. 4 April 2013. <http://www.care2.com/greenliving/7-tips-for-
sparking-your-creativity.html>.
 Schroeder, Robert and Ellysa Stern Cahoy. "Valuing Information
Literacy: Affective Learning and the ACRL Standards." portal:
Libraries and the Academy 10.2 (2010): 127-46.

17.  Any Questions?
 Please email me at
mcornwell88@gmail.com if you have
any questions or would like a copy of this
presentation.