The benefits of seeking higher education are well established, including higher wages and lower rates of unemployment. But, did you know that fewer than 65% of first-year students will complete their degree in six years? That’s more than 40 million students leaving college without graduating. How can we encourage them to stick it out?
Infobase can help. We are an educational solutions provider that facilitates the connection between content, people, and the learning experiences that empower students to evolve personally and professionally throughout their lives—including throughout the college experience. We invite you to take a look at some of the many resources we have that can give you ideas to inspire and encourage first-years to get that diploma.
Infobase Quick Hits Webinars
Looking for tools that can help first-year students (and their instructors) get off to a good start? Infobase has numerous tools that can help—and numerous opportunities to take tours of them.
The Critical Thinker’s Toolbox
In this 30-minute presentation, we explore three Infobase resources that can help new academic researchers build their critical-thinking skills. We cover starting research with fact-based background information, supplementing research with decades of polling data, and forming debates by approaching new points of view on controversial topics. In this webinar, we tour:
- Credo Reference: Academic Core: A research starting point, exploratory search tool and resource portal specializing in providing fact-based background information on any topic.
- Polling the Nations: 750,000+ original poll questions and results from 18,000+ surveys conducted in the U.S. and 100+ other countries from 1986 to the present.
- Issues & Controversies: Teach students to look for alternate points of view as they build early research papers or prepare debates on newsworthy topics.
Content to Build Introductory Courses for First-Year Instruction
Students entering higher and further ed institutions today are well versed in in-class, remote, and hybrid learning. Instructors are tasked with finding the most effective way to reach these new students with engaging content that meets them wherever they may be. Join us for a tour of our streaming video and reference content best suited for introductory courses and see how it can be integrated into a hybrid learning model using LMSs and LibGuide integrations.
With this webinar, learn all about:
- How to navigate Films On Demand to find the most useful instructional tools, including playlists, segmenting, embedding, and in-video quizzing.
- How to find Credo’s integrated LibGuides tool for simple reference and Mind Map integration.
Content Foundations for First-Year Instruction
If teaching basic information literacy to beginning researchers is “teaching them to fish,” then providing basic background information for first years is akin to ensuring the ponds are filled with fish—academically curated, citable, thoroughly vetted fish. But seriously, for students taking their first steps in academic research, Infobase provides premier reference content in any subject. Join us for a quick tour of why students should start research with Infobase.
With this webinar, learn all about:
- How to navigate Credo Reference: Academic Core, our academic alternative to Wikipedia, and use the Mind Map and federated search features to facilitate research’s first steps.
- How to write about popular authors and literature works using Bloom’s Literature‘s popular “How to Write About” feature.
Information Literacy for First-Year Instruction
How do you build successful academic researchers? By first teaching them what academic research is. Start with teaching the basics of information literacy and building critical-thinking skills, and then let them begin to explore. But, how can you fit successful IL instruction into a crowded course load and curriculum? Where can you find materials to build critical thinkers? Join us for a brief presentation to see how Infobase can support the basics.
With this webinar, learn all about:
- How librarians and educators can provide information literacy instruction asynchronously with more than 100 simple plug-and-play modules covering everything from academic integrity, recognizing bias, and lateral reading to proper citation techniques using Information Literacy – Core (also known as InfoLit – Core).
- How building critical-thinking skills is supported by both InfoLit – Core and Issues & Controversies.
College- and Career-Readiness Workshops
Check out our series of five workshops for schools, colleges and universities, and public libraries, led by Adam A. Smith, nationally recognized higher education expert. These informative sessions will provide educators and mentors with the skills and knowledge to effectively coach students to succeed in getting TO and THROUGH their higher education—and INTO their careers.
Check out our College- and Career-Readiness Workshops now!
College-Ready Students? Let’s Try Student-Ready Colleges
After facing the adversities of the pandemic and our ongoing climate of hate and trauma, students will never be the same. These historic realities, coupled with changing demographics, the realities of grade inflation due to virtual learning, and institutions becoming SAT/ACT optional, force educational innovators to press colleges/universities to abandon the premise that students must be college ready in favor of a STUDENT-READY institutional culture.
This conversational webinar, led by thought leaders Adam A. Smith and Heather C. Lou, brings together higher educational experts from TRIO, intercollegiate athletics, student success, and more to discuss how to support this more informed generation of young people and assist students in applying skills like critical thinking to embrace real societal change and create new pathways for success.
Check out “College-Ready Students? Let’s Try Student-Ready Colleges” now!
Credo’s Interactive FYE Guide, Second Edition
First-year students arrive with varying levels of library experience and of information literacy, so assisting them can be a challenge. In Credo’s First Year Experience (FYE) Guide, Second Edition, Raymond Pun, formerly First Year Student Success Librarian at Fresno State, and now Instruction/Research Librarian at the Alder Graduate School of Education, offers guidance and case studies related to the crucial first year.
Check out Credo’s Interactive FYE Guide, Second Edition now!
5 Instructional Strategies to Keep Students Engaged in Virtual Classrooms
Although many colleges have returned to in-person education, online classes at the higher ed level have hardly gone away—and with the right strategies, you can create an effective and productive learning environment, even remotely. Our infographic highlights five essential tips to engage, empower, and connect with your students—and make them feel a part of your virtual classroom community.
Check out this infographic now!
No Discovery? No Problem. How One College Library in Quebec Is Building Smart Researchers with Credo Reference
Teaching students how to research effectively is challenging—especially when they have not had much experience doing it—but research instruction creates a foundation that they can use throughout their lives. Champlain College Saint-Lambert in Quebec is a longtime subscriber of Credo Reference and a Cégep (general and vocational college). Nicole Haché, Librarian at Champlain’s George Wallace Library, shares her experience and ideas on basic research instruction for her college’s first-year students. She discusses the specific challenges of working with young students and why starting research with resources like Credo Reference are so effective for this user group.
Check out this case study now!
Keene State College Helps First-Year Students Successfully Navigate the Research Process with Credo Reference
Keene State College in New Hampshire is helping first-year students learn and strengthen their research and writing skills with an effective peer-to-peer mentoring and instruction program centered around Credo Reference. We had the pleasure to speak with Elizabeth Dolinger, Information Literacy Librarian at Mason Library, Keene State College, to learn why this model has been so successful.
Check out this case study now!
Valencia College Leverages Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center to Empower Students in Their New Student Experience Course
We had the pleasure to speak with Valencia College staff members about their New Student Experience (NSE) course and how Ferguson’s Career Guidance Center helps their students link their college experience to a career path. Our Q&A profiles their unique and innovative course and how they leverage this award-winning career database for student success.
University Students Get the Technology and College-Life Tools They Need to Succeed with Infobase Learning Cloud’s Upskilling & Microcredentialing Courseware
A private 4-year institution in Texas has been an Infobase Learning Cloud partner since 2016. Initially, this institution partnered with Infobase to satisfy their student technology training accreditation requirements. However, they soon realized that Infobase Learning Cloud was more than a solution to their immediate problem—it was a gateway to enhancing the college experience for all students and faculty. Read this case study to learn more.
Check out this case study now!
Blogs on the First-Year Experience
Infobase features many blogs for even more resources to help with the first-year experience and student engagement.
- Trending Topics: What Students Are Searching for in 2023
- Creative Assessments for the First-Year Experience
- More Creative Assessments for the First-Year Experience
- Collaborating with Student Affairs for Student Success
- Accreditation and the FYE: Selected Resources for Longitudinal Studies
- Celebrating the FYE: Ideas for Recognizing First-Year Students
- Hosting a Meme Contest for Your Library? Give It a Try!
- Organizing a Virtual Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon Event: An Interview with Stacy R. Williams
- Teaching Remotely? Exploring Creative Ways and Resources to Support Online Learning
- Trauma-Informed Librarianship: Interview with Healing Coach Nisha Mody
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