Thursday, November 15, 2018

Joan Latta Konecky Taught Over 1,200 Students in Life Sciences This Semester

 
University Libraries’ Associate Professor Joan Latta Konecky taught over 1,200 Life 120 & 121 students in just a two-week period this fall. This includes classroom teaching and an online tutorial. This reflects an increase of more than 15% of reported students receiving library instruction over last spring and the trend is expected to continue. Additionally, the course specific library guide Joan created as a resource for the course is one of the most viewed course guides with over 14,000 views during the 2017-18 academic year. It continues to be one of the Libraries’ most heavily used guides. Fundamentals of Biology I (LIFE 120) and II (LIFE 121) are the required classes in the introductory sequence for all life sciences majors across campus. Kiyomi Deards and Dana W. R. Boden assisted Joan and met with four sections of course recitations.

Students pursuing careers in the biological sciences and as health professionals take both LIFE 120 and LIFE 121. As part of the class lecture in LIFE 121, Joan helps students understand the importance of data visualization to ensure that as researchers they will summarize and communicate their findings in a visual format.

Students also learn about information seeking behavior and how to evaluate their results with search strategies that emphasize the importance of key concepts and scholarly communications as the focus. Ultimately, students prepare to become effective researchers and understand that in finding research they learn what is known, what is unknown and where they will need to search next.

Joan said, "understanding the culture of research communication is part of the lifestyle of a scientist: learning how to search for, evaluate and use research information is what transforms a freshman into a budding scientist who develops their own graduate research agenda, and ultimately becomes a practicing scientist, whether in the lab, teaching or out in the field."


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