GIFT:  Maximizing first-year students’  ‘least effort’ information gathering habits using Information Foraging Theory

Michael Fosmire

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Conference: ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023
Location: State College,, Pennsylvania
Publication Date: March 30, 2023
Start Date: March 30, 2023
End Date: April 12, 2023
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 3
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--45060
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/45060
Download Count: 106

Paper Authors

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Michael Fosmire Purdue University at West Lafayette orcid.org/0000-0002-5138-8178

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Michael Fosmire is Professor of Library Science and Head, Information Studies at Purdue. He has written over 40 articles and chapters on the information habits of scientists and engineers and the role of information in active-learning pedagogies, including co-editing the book, Integrating Information into the Engineering Design Process https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purduepress_ebooks/31/.

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Abstract

It has widely been reported that engineers use a ‘least effort’ approach to meeting their information needs. While some have equated this with a level of laziness, one should rather think of it as an approach embedded in efficiency. Engineers want to find just enough information to be able to make a reliable decision and then get on with their project. This is in contrast to the typical research-based approach to information gathering in academia, where comprehensiveness is more valued. By tapping into the values underlying the least effort approach, however, one can make the case that by becoming more familiar with higher-quality and/or more specialized information resources, it lessens the effort to access those resources, so they can be easily incorporated into a student's overall search process. A persuasive model we have utilized to make this point in introductory classes is to think of information as embedded in a landscape and that individuals are foragers, looking to find nutritious and easy to harvest information resources. Information Foraging Theory1 (IFT) is similar to least effort, in that, ecologically, an optimal forager is one who can maximize the resources extracted from their environment per unit of effort expended. Using IFT, we align instructor, librarian, and student values to motivate students to explore and become proficient information foragers. We take a hypothetical raccoon making the rounds to secure resources for the day, visiting a variety of patches, like berry bushes, a corn field, a garbage dump, or a storm sewer. Students are asked to think about the effort involved in extracting needed resources, the quality of the resource, and the variety or unique kinds of resources available in the patch. Then, students make the analogy to information foraging, brainstorming (or being supplied with) different sources of information and being asked to analyze along the same dimensions. Students may be asked to explore some different resources, like standards, patents, material properties, and scholarly databases, and report back on the characteristics they found and what they might be used for. Students are asked to make analogies between patches in either scenario, for example, the open Web is like the garbage dump…there is definitely a lot of good stuff in there and a raccoon can probably live successfully in that environment, but it might take a lot of effort to sort through the ‘junk’ to get to the actual food, which might be of variable quality (and safety). First-year students come from very different information environments, typically much smaller in scale and scope than the university library. The information foraging mental model provides students with the language and concepts so they can be reflective searchers who understand why they are learning about ‘library resources,’ as well as non-library information sources, and what the reward is for investing the time to become more sophisticated searchers. 1 P Pirolli and S Card. (1999) Information Foraging. Psychological Review. 106 (4): 643-675. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.643

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Fosmire, M. (2023, March), GIFT: Maximizing first-year students’ ‘least effort’ information gathering habits using Information Foraging Theory Paper presented at ASEE Zone 1 Conference - Spring 2023, State College,, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--45060

TY - CPAPER
AB - It has widely been reported that engineers use a ‘least effort’ approach to meeting their information needs. While some have equated this with a level of laziness, one should rather think of it as an approach embedded in efficiency. Engineers want to find just enough information to be able to make a reliable decision and then get on with their project. This is in contrast to the typical research-based approach to information gathering in academia, where comprehensiveness is more valued. By tapping into the values underlying the least effort approach, however, one can make the case that by becoming more familiar with higher-quality and/or more specialized information resources, it lessens the effort to access those resources, so they can be easily incorporated into a student&#39;s overall search process. A persuasive model we have utilized to make this point in introductory classes is to think of information as embedded in a landscape and that individuals are foragers, looking to find nutritious and easy to harvest information resources. Information Foraging Theory1 (IFT) is similar to least effort, in that, ecologically, an optimal forager is one who can maximize the resources extracted from their environment per unit of effort expended. Using IFT, we align instructor, librarian, and student values to motivate students to explore and become proficient information foragers. We take a hypothetical raccoon making the rounds to secure resources for the day, visiting a variety of patches, like berry bushes, a corn field, a garbage dump, or a storm sewer. Students are asked to think about the effort involved in extracting needed resources, the quality of the resource, and the variety or unique kinds of resources available in the patch. Then, students make the analogy to information foraging, brainstorming (or being supplied with) different sources of information and being asked to analyze along the same dimensions. Students may be asked to explore some different resources, like standards, patents, material properties, and scholarly databases, and report back on the characteristics they found and what they might be used for. Students are asked to make analogies between patches in either scenario, for example, the open Web is like the garbage dump…there is definitely a lot of good stuff in there and a raccoon can probably live successfully in that environment, but it might take a lot of effort to sort through the ‘junk’ to get to the actual food, which might be of variable quality (and safety). First-year students come from very different information environments, typically much smaller in scale and scope than the university library. The information foraging mental model provides students with the language and concepts so they can be reflective searchers who understand why they are learning about ‘library resources,’ as well as non-library information sources, and what the reward is for investing the time to become more sophisticated searchers.
1 P Pirolli and S Card. (1999) Information Foraging. Psychological Review. 106 (4): 643-675. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.643

AU - Michael Fosmire
CY - State College,, Pennsylvania
DA - 2023/03/30
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - GIFT: Maximizing first-year students’ ‘least effort’ information gathering habits using Information Foraging Theory
UR - https://peer.asee.org/45060
DO - 10.18260/1-2--45060
ER -