NOTES FROM RAMSEY LIBRARY ; 2011-10

FEATURED RESOURCE

This issue’s featured resource is easy access to help. NOTES FROM RAMSEY is proud of the many electronic and paper texts we offer as well as images and videos in many formats to aid learning and research. But the greatest and most powerful of all our resources are the Ramsey folks who are here and eager to help you and your students. One fun and easy way to access that help is through the library’s Ask a Librarian service. In the far left column of the library’s home page (green section) you’ll find the “Ask a Librarian!” link. The next screen shows frequently asked questions ~ a click will take you to the answer. At the top of the screen beneath “LibraryAnswers – Ask us” you’ll find a box in which you can enter a question. And, if you don’t want to try either way, you can always email us libref@unca.edu. Posting a question through “Ask a Librarian!” or emailing libref@unca.edu are dependable ways to receive quick, written help often with useful hotlinks embedded.
TLTR: RECENT NEWS OF NOTE

ICPSR

• ICPSR recently announced the first-place winners of the 2011 ICPSR Research Paper Competitions. This is a prestigious, national competition for undergraduates and students at the masters level focusing on the use of quantitative data. As ICPSR noted, it’s not too early to start researching for the 2012 competitions!

• On June 6, 2011, ICPSR will welcome four outstanding undergraduate interns who will experience ICPSR and its Summer Program for 10 weeks and complete a research project. See details on the ICPSR internship. This could be a rich opportunity for the right UNC Asheville student scholars.

• ICPSR’s Online Learning Center is pleased to announce the release of eight new Data-Driven Learning Guides (DDLGs). DDLGs were designed by teaching faculty and geared toward building data literacy in undergraduate classrooms.

Other TLTR News

• Make Wikipedia More Useful to Students
  If students need to find good sources related to a Wikipedia article, a new Web service may be of help.

• Info Tech on Campuses
  Students’ views about how technology is applied on campus are mixed.

• Understanding the New Culture of Learning, By Goldie Blumenstyk
  Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown espouse a shift from the traditional lecture to “experiencing, playing, and occasionally failing.”

• A Tool for Writing-Intensive Courses
  Keeping track of discussions about a work in progress is now a lot easier with a new feature in Google Documents.

• 5 Tools for Building a Next-Generation ‘Hybrid’ Course Web Site
  A guest author, Nicholas Martin, describes a suite of open-source and commercial tools he used to design a Website for a hybrid class that would promote engagement more than a traditional LMS.

• Better Googling
  The most widely used search engine on the Internet features some powerful–if sometimes little-known–features.

• Social Web Sites Are Popular Sources for Student Plagiarists