Instructor's Guide

 

Quizzes, Reflective Questions, and Activities

The following are the assignments embedded in the Databases tutorial:

• Activity 1: What is a Database?
• Activity 2: Sorting and Searching
• Activity 3: A Job Search Database
• Activity 4: How to use Microsoft Access?

 

Relationship to Other iStudy Tutorials

This tutorial is related to the iStudy Search Strategies and Source Evaluation tutorial. Many of the strategies illustrated here are used when accessing information.

 

Suggested In-Class Methods of Presentation

Lecture

• Explain the purpose of the session. Refer to the Purpose section of this tutorial for more detail.

• Explain general information about the structure of databases, including files, records, and fields.

Discussion

• Provide examples of information sets that could be stored in databases. Instructors should provide several examples, and invite students to cite some examples as well. Discuss how to structure the database for each example.

• Break the students up into small (four-five person) groups. Provide each group with a set of data. Each group should work with the data to create a database, listing the records and fields.

• Each group should present its decisions to the class and be prepared to discuss them. Instructors can assess students' understanding of databases at this point by observing how each group presents its findings and responds to questioning.

Note : This is an excellent opportunity to utilize and reinforce the cooperative learning techniques from the iStudy Cooperative Learning tutorial.

 

Key Points

These points are covered in the iStudy tutorial, but should be emphasized in any discussions:

• Database Description
• Types of fields
• Forms and layouts
• Sorts
• Queries

 

Assessment Criteria

Through observing both group and the individual activities, the instructor may assess student performance. Assessment criteria are as follows (instructors supply the percentage weights):

 

Assessment Rubric

Where	Domain	Activities	%
iStudy tutorial	Knowledge	The student can define a database by identifying the parts of which it is comprised.
iStudy tutorial	Comprehension	The student can explain how a database stores and displays information by giving examples.
In-Class	Application	The student can manipulate a database by creating a new database, adding and deleting data, sorting and querying data, etc.
			100%

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