Embedding Library Resources in Canvas: Credo

Credo Instruct is a set of online videos, text tutorials, and quizzes covering topics relating to information literacy. The LAVC Library has subscribed to Instruct and it is free for you and students to use, on campus or off. 

This resource aims to:

• Help students learn how to find relevant and reliable sources
• Formulate appropriate, workable research questions
• Synthesize what they learn into a final product such as a research paper, including citations

Instruct offers nine modules for students to use independently and/or for faculty to use as part of classwork or assignments:

• Getting Started with Research: Introduces why information literacy skills matter, how to get started with a research project including understanding the research process, narrowing your topic and developing a thesis statement.
• Sources of Information: Covers how information is created, peer-review, secondary and primary sources, how to read a scholarly article, and how to incorporate information.
• Searching for Information: The basics of searching for information, including choosing a database and the right source, identifying keywords, and employing search techniques.
• Evaluating Information :The basics of evaluating resources for authority, accuracy, and other criteria. How to choose the best web source and identifying fake news.
• Presenting Research and Data: Introduces the concepts of digital privacy, synthesizing information, and writing an annotated bibliography.
• Citations and Academic Integrity: Covers the importance of academic integrity and introduces the basics on citing sources in MLA 7 & 8, APA, Turabian, Harvard, and Chicago.
• Visual and Quantitative Literacy
• Using Critical Thinking and Logic
• Culture and Citizenship

Scaffold

We recommend integrating information literacy (IL) concepts throughout your course where the concepts introduced will be the most relevant to your students. If you have scaffolded an assignment, with milestones such as a research question, topic choice, working thesis, or annotated bibliography, consider having students view a relevant piece of multimedia as they begin that particular component of the assignment. Quizzes associated with many pieces of the multimedia will help you assess their understanding of a particular aspect of research or information literacy.

For example: are your students struggling with MLA (or APA or Chicago) citations? Why not share the MLA (or APA or Chicago) tutorial and video with them? 

The Whole Shebang 

You can share the entire suite of Credo modules with your students (off-campus access will require a login).*  Just remember: this is A LOT of content!!! You may want to assign the tutorial early, or consider assigning bits and pieces at a time. We recommend reviewing the content before assigning to see which portions will be most helpful for your students.

*Off-campus students and faculty will be prompted to login as the tutorial content is provided through a database. Content accessed through Canvas does not require an additional login

Additional resources: