College-Level Research Tutorial

What is the College-level Research Tutorial?

The College-level Research Tutorial (CLRT) is designed to support undergraduate course work. Through a series of examples, how-to videos, practice activities, and reflection questions, each section of the tutorial supports growth in different stages of curiosity-driven scholarship. Modules are designed to build upon one another, but each module and artifact can be used on its own. As a whole, this tutorial is meant to support learners as they develop research and scholarship skills essential for success in college and the greater digital world.

Tutorial Components

Each tutorial page has several boxes of content. These boxes can be used on their own or as a whole. Completing each box/activity in order is recommended. Here is an overview of the tutorial boxes and their purpose.

Introduction boxes- As an instructor, the introduction boxes can help you determine which modules or activities are most appropriate for your students. This section supports transparency in teaching and learning. At the top of each module, the Introduction box explains the purpose of the page's content as well as the knowledge and skills students will strengthen by completing the included activities.

Practical Skills boxes- These boxes contain galleries of 3-4 how-to video sets. Individual videos are uploaded to the UWM Libraries YouTube channel and can be linked to or embedded as individual objects. Right click on videos to copy a video URL or embed code.

Try It Out- Each "Try it out" box contains a low-stakes assessment and reflection question(s) designed to give learners an opportunity to solidify the skills and knowledge introduced in the "Practical Skills" videos. These casual, ungraded activities are designed to give learners the space to experiment and get feedback as they would in a librarian-hosted workshop. The reflection question(s) exist to encourage higher-order thinking related to the learning objectives of each module. These activities were designed using H5P and Hypothesis; where necessary, accessible alternatives to these activities are included alongside the original.

21st Century Skills- The content of these boxes is designed to help students answer the question, "why does this matter?" Each piece of embedded media and its corresponding questions address the way CLRT outcomes are connected to larger social justice issues and encourage students to engage in higher-order thinking.

Suggested Uses

The CLRT was designed to optimize flexibility and scaling: Its content complements asynchronous, hybrid, and in-person instruction. Each individual component can be used as a stand alone learning object or assigned in order with the other contents of each module. Find inspiration on how to incorporate this tutorial into your instruction below:

Ideas for face-to-face instruction:

• Flipped classroom: Assign tutorial modules or parts of modules to be completed before class, use discussion questions as in-class exercises
  • Engage entire class in discussion
  • Ask students to consider question in pairs or small groups and share their thoughts with the class (think, pair, share)
  • Use reflection and discussion questions as prompts for minute essays, exit tickets, and/or short journaling activities.
• Show video(s) in-class, and follow with time for individual or group search practice in the place of H5P practice activities
• Assign relevant modules or tutorial content to students who are absent during a library workshop.
• Ask  a librarian to create a research guide tailored to your class that includes relevant CLRT objects and resources specific to your academic discipline or course assignment.

Ideas for hybrid and asynchronous instruction:

• Use in-place of a library workshop for asynchronous classes
  • Embed your preferred artifacts*
  • Assign (link) entire modules or the full tutorial
• Assignment/draft feedback- share relevant videos along with constructive feedback on scaffold research assignments.This way, students identify their mistake and get instruction on how to correct them.
• Discussion posts: link to relevant CLRT modules and ask students to respond to the corresponding reflection questions in a Canvas discussion board. This is a great option for assessing student engagement with the tutorial and incentivizing participation with points
  • Depending on course size and staff time, librarians can help monitor information literacy related discussion post and share feedback with students. Fill out the Instruction Request Form to coordinate with the subject librarian for your discipline.
• Include videos or links to modules in a class resources module page

*H5P content does not included supporting text when embedded; instructional text and reflection questions need to be copied and pasted in the rich text editor. addition along with H5P embed code. Contact the Instructional Design Librarian for guidance or technical support.

How can the library support my class?

Information Literacy is one of the UW System Shared Learning Goals. UWM grads should be able to:

• Determine the extent of information needed to solve a problem
• Access the needed information
• Evaluate information and its sources critically
• Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
• Use information ethically and legally

UWM Librarians are here to help you and your students reach your research-focused learning objectives.

UWM College-level Research Tutorial 2020 by Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System is licensed under a 
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.