Students participate in a community of learning, both in the classroom and in the world beyond. In their campus life, students share their work in performances, publications, critiques, presentations, or other mechanisms. Through individual and collaborative experiences in and outside the classroom, students develop values of respect, empathy, and personal and social responsibility. Shared experiences and explorations—by way of field work, student governance, or public action—also connect students to both local and global communities. Students come to understand that collaboration and community engagement make work that is more than the sum of its parts.
Have students plan a display for the library's display case or another area on campus. Ask them to list various audiences, formats, label information, promotion, and desired outcomes.
Have students take a draft to a peer tutor and work with them to revise it.
Ask students to analyze one source in detail by asking questions about its authority and why that type of authority is appropriate, or not, for their research.
People are resources! Have students identify information related to their project that they could find out only by speaking to a person. You can also assign them to introduce themselves to one of the library staff and ask one question or tell them something about yourself.
To have students edit and write Wikipedia articles is an excellent way for them to engage in the creation of knowledge and consider the power of information and authority. There are numerous wikiprojects aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of various groups of people; for example, Art+Feminism, Women in Red, and African Diaspora.
Model the iterative nature of your scholarly or creative process by explaining the steps you took to produce a particular work. It is helpful for students to understand how your research informed and changed your work. Highlight how you revised work based on the peer-review, critique, or rehearsal process.
Have students read one of your articles or pieces and a related seminal articles in your field. Discuss what a seminal article is and how it affects work in that particular field. Talk about your own research and its place in that conversation.
Have students use the databases to research reviews from different productions of the same play or dance. Discuss how the time period of the production and audience's expectations may be reflected in the reviews or in the differences in the productions.
Provide students with two different information types (for example, a scholarly article and a blog post) on the same topic by the same unnamed authoritative creator/author. Use this comparison as discussion starter with students about context in relationship to authority. Reveal the authorship later.
Discern between the economic processes behind different types of information, e.g. newspaper articles vs. 24-hour TV news, or edited academic volume vs. popular title.
Have students look at a blog, a video on YouTube, a collection of tweets, or some other type of social media regarding a contemporary event (e.g. demonstrations at Tahrir Square during the "Arab Spring" events). Ask them to describe how they would analyze and evaluate the source. Are there ways to determine whether the individual was an actual witness or participant? Are there ways to identify whether the individual or group has a political bias? Can they determine whether the author has a particular status within the group he/she/they represents, or is the individual reporting as an "average citizen"?
Break into groups of 3-4 students. Go over a text, or a section of a text, and reread it out loud together. Come to consensus about that most important point. Write a brief paraphrase of the point. Together, write three questions about the point, then come to consensus about the answer to one of those questions. Report your findings to the class.
Break into groups of 3-5. Together, write a list of things you agree with in the text. Write a list of things you disagree with in the text (disagreements with the author or with each other). Present a selection to the class.
Take a quote/fact/idea/image from today’s discussion and share it with the community (in an appropriate way!)—it could be a friend, another faculty member, a member of the staff, etc. Report back to your class about how it went.
