Debbie Phillips
Earlier this year, I attended a conference in Liverpool – the Librarian’s Information Literacy Annual Conference (Lilac). One of the presentations I found very thought provoking, as it may provide a solution to a perennial problem in Information Literacy teaching, which is my main teaching area.
As a librarian, I often need to demonstrate different databases to students, and showcase the strengths and weaknesses of each, and their relevance to a particular subject area or assignment. This can be challenging to make interesting, as many databases are (superficially at least) very similar, and the session can become repetitive. One novel way to avoid this is to use an approach known as ‘speeddatabasing’, which borrows from the phenomenon of speed dating to allow students to familiarize themselves with the new resources.
The session would consist of an overview of common features using a single database, and then students are given a list of databases and a few criteria on which to evaluate them. As with speed dating, there is a limited time for investigating each database – MacGregor & Chisnell suggest five minutes per database, with a bell rung at intervals to remind participants that they should change to a new one.
This technique is reported to be very successful – students learn a lot more by actively engaging with the resources and are also active participants in their own learning. This teaching method also allows the instructor to use the time effectively to answer any questions, and to help students who are learning at a different pace. It seems like it would be a very effective tool and I am going to incorporate it into my teaching this coming academic year.
References
MacGregor, T. & Chisnell, J. Librarian matchmakers: using speed dating to introduce students to library databases.
Written by: Emilia Brzozowska-Szczecina
Audience response systems (ARS) have been proved as very effective in information literacy teaching. Student engagement is here very important, as it enables students to develop key information literacy skills. ARS have been successfully applied in teaching by Librarians from Queen Mary University of London in the past few years (Funnell, 2017) and at Royal Holloway (Burke et al, 2015), when my colleagues from the Library usedSocrative to create quizzes. In the previous academic year, my team colleague Leanne Workman introduced another tool to the team – Mentimeter, which also has a variety of applications. It is a great tool to gather anonymous feedback.
When I was creating my first lesson plan within the InSTIL training at Royal Holloway, I wanted to find some way to motivate my students to be more involved in the session. I decided to do aKahootquiz, which was a perfect solution for me; this eLearning tool adds a fun element to the training. It is also a very good way to assess if the objectives of the session were achieved as students are replying to questions related strictly to the content of the session.
I have discovered Kahoot by accident when reading through a blog authored by Ned Potter (Potter, 2016), who writes a lot about interesting tips and tools for librarians. The Kahoot platform is free and very easy to use. It has a very friendly, colourful user interface. During the game, the questions are viewed on the screen and students choose the right answer by tapping the right colour panel on their smartphones (Wi-Fi required).
For my session, I have prepared five questions and for each of them there were four answers. The participants had to choose one correct answer and tap the correct symbol on their phones. Students were indeed having fun and a little element of competition made the session more exciting. I was also very pleased to see mostly correct replies to the questions in the quiz, which demonstrated that my teaching was effective.
In the future, I am planning to search for new eLearning tools and discover how to apply these tools in my teaching.
References:
Burke, R., Coles, K., Downes, S. & Woods, E. (2015) Teachmeet handout: Using Socrative polls in IL teaching. [PDF Poster] Royal Holloway, University of London. Available at: https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/5b794d66-659d-467f-9cad-93388765907a/1/[Accessed 18/05/2018.]
Funnel, P. (2017) Using audience response systems to enhance student engagement and learning in information literacy teaching. Journal of Information Literacy 11(2): 28 - 50. doi:10.11645/11.2.2238 [Accessed 18/05/2018.]
Potter, N. (2016) Using Kahoot in Library induction and teaching sessions. [Blog post] Available at: https://www.ned-potter.com/blog/using-kahoot-in-library-induction-and-teaching-sessions[Accessed 18/05/2018.]
Written by: Frances Madden, April 2017
As Research Data and Curation Manager, one of the main challenges I face in teaching is that it tends to be one-off sessions arranged as part of the postgraduate researcher development programme or the OnTrack programme for academic staff. As a result I do not have an opportunity to build a relationship with participants and I don’t have much of an awareness of participants’ level of knowledge before the session.
I taught an introductory session to postgraduate research students twice this year and I made some amendments to it between both sessions. While both followed the pattern of 45 minutes lecture followed by 45 minutes of practical, the second session was more interactive to encourage active learning and included more input from the students through answering questions in the lecture part of the session, as suggested by Brookfield, (2006, p.109) and Lang (2016).
When I teach similar sessions in the future, I will retain the existing interactive, questioning elements and also introduce some further interactive elements such as an exercise using Lego I heard about which is used at Cambridge to make the potentially dry topic of metadata more exciting (Lamb and Higman, 2017).
One of main learning objectives of an introductory research data management session is that participants gain an understanding of the importance of RDM generally but more particularly the ability to reuse data. To be able to reuse data, they need to understand what the data is and how it was created. The Lego exercise lets researchers construct a small model in groups and then they have to describe it so another group can recreate it. As this is actually quite hard to do it shows to illustrate the need to document their research in details.
This exercise particularly appeals to me because it makes the training very relevant to the participants, which has been identified as a key barrier to learning (Illeris, 2009). This technique will also reinforce the learning objectives through a practical demonstration and be applicable to all attendees regardless of level of knowledge of RDM due to its novelty (Nuthall, 2007, p.161).
References
Brookfield, S., 2006, The skillful teacher, 2nd Edition. [e-book] San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Available through: Royal Holloway Library website https://librarysearch.rhul.ac.uk [Accessed 6 April 2017]
De:Benutzer: Priwo. 2005. LEGO and DUPLO bricks. [image online] Available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LEGO-01.jpg [Accessed 11 April 2017]
Illeris, K., 2009. A comprehensive understanding of human learning. In: Illeris, K., (ed.) Contemporary theories of learning. Oxford: Routledge.
Lamb, K. and Higman, R., 2017. Making Metadata Matter (with Lego)!, Librarian in Training. [blog] 4 January. Available at: http://www.librarianintraining.com/2017/01/making-metadata-matter-with-lego.html [Accessed 6 April 2017].
Lang, J.M., 2016. Small changes in teaching: the first 5 minutes of class. The Chronicle of Higher Education. [online] 11 January. Available at: http://www.chronicle.com/article/Small-Changes-in-Teaching-The/234869?cid=cp44 [Accessed 7 April 2017].
Nuthall, G., 2007. The hidden lives of learners. Wellington: Nzcer Press.
What particularly resonates with me about the challenges you've described here, is the need to address that some students' aren't sure the subject matter is of much relevance to them. It is an issue that can go completely un-noticed by teachers, especially if they teach one-off sessions, and what at a glance seems like lack of interest, can simply be attributed to any number of reasons students are unengaged. By making sure they see how their academic needs/interests fit in the picture, you improve your chances of avoiding this.
Also, I think most lessons, even those that aren't (as you say) "potentially dry", might actually benefit from some interactive group activity, as it energises people and creates useful momentum.
- Ehud.
Written by: Rachel White
March 2017
Each year we hold library inductions for new Drama students, this normally consists of an hour long talk during welcome week where we see the students in a large lecture theatre and provide a 1hour talk that covers the basics of starting to use the libraries and the resources available.
Although this session does convey a lot of information I feel that this is a lot of detail in the first few weeks of term and doesn’t involve the students visiting the physical library, student attention in these lectures can also be a factor (Bunce, Flens and Neiles, 2010). For some students visiting the library can be a daunting experience as they may never have visited a large academic library before and may lack information literacy skills (McPherson, 2015), so anything we can do in those first few weeks to help this would be great.
Plans for the future
I would like to keep the traditional 1 hour library induction but supplement this with a physical activity/game that involves the students actually visiting the library in person to complete a series of questions/tasks. This would include answering questions, finding items on the shelf, taking pictures of things of interest in the library, drawings, sketches etc. Including active learning methodologies like these can enhance instruction and build on student learning experiences (Ross and Furno, 2011).
I would then have another 1 hour long follow up session where students could bring in their sketches/pictures/videos and we could share these with the rest of the group. We could also discuss any difficulties they had in answering any of the questions and also move on to more advance information literacy that they might need for researching their first assignment.
I feel like this novel approach to an induction session will engage the students with the information more fully and also increase the retention of information following the initial lecture and the physical activity (Keyser, 2000). I would also hope that students would feel more comfortable in visiting the physical library.
References
Bunce, D.M., Flens, E.A. and Neiles, K.Y. (2010) ‘How long can students pay attention in class? A study of stundet attention decline using clicker’, Journal of Chemical Education, 87(12) pp.1483-1443. Available at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed100409p (Accessed: 15th March 2017).
Keyser, M.W. (2000) ‘Active learning and cooperative learning: understanding the difference and using both styles effectively’, Research Strategies, 17(1), pp. 35-44. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0734331000000227 (Accessed: 15th March 2017).
McPherson, M.A. (2015) ‘Library anxiety amount university students: A survey’, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, 41(4), pp.317-325. Available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0340035215603993 (Accessed: 15th March 2017).
Ross, A. and Furno, C. (2011) ‘Active learning in the library instruction environment: An exploratory study’, Portal: Library and the academy, 11(4), pp. 953-970. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/452640 (Accessed: 15th March 2017).
Your library induction physical activity/game is a great idea! A physical in-person activity at the library promotes active learning methodologies that is beneficial to university students, especially those who are daunted by going to a large library for the first time. Your post reminds me of library scavenger hunts I did as an undergraduate student – these kinds of activities promote productive questions about what kinds of materials can be accessed in the library and what is available to students that they may not be aware of.
- Katie Young
Written by: Leanne Workman, January 2017.
The perennial problems of ensuring student engagement with the session, gathering student feedback and assessing student learning lurk in every librarian’s information literacy (IL) programme. A number of interactive polling tools such as Socrative and Poll Everywhere have been used to great effect in IL sessions to gauge the students’ engagement with the session and also obtain feedback (Osterman, 2007; Corcos & Monty, 2008; Gewirtz, 2012; Hoppenfeld, 2012; Jones, 2014; Snyder & Hallam-Miller, 2014; Burke et al, 2015; O’Conner, 2015; Greenwich Connect, 2016).
I am currently using Mentimeter, which has not seen as much limelight as its polling peers in information literacy literature, but its functionality and ease with which it can be used make it a worthy interactive technology in any teacher’s arsenal, especially for that difficult classroom vibe when engagement is low. The other thing that makes Mentimeter useful is that it embeds into LibGuides, a series of webpages the Library uses to compile subject relevant information and resources, for example, the Biological Science Subject Guide. It shows what other students have thought about the training session and thus encourages others to attend.
Mentimeter allows you to create your own questions and lets students vote or answer questions in a variety of ways encouraging their participation in the IL session. It is easy to do and doesn’t require an App to be downloaded like Socrative (Burke et al, 2015). The quick, easy and straight-forward use of Mentimeter makes it a tool that be easily introduced to well-established information skills formats. In fact, I have inserted Mentimeter into IL sessions at Royal Holloway to poll students’ current search strategies and what resources they currently use. From this information, I have tailored my training session to plug the identified gaps in students’ knowledge. In doing this, I have been able to illustrate to Science faculty students the value of information literacy skills sessions that I offer.
Review of recent literature demonstrates that the use of quizzes is directly related to positive learning outcomes, including increased engagement and improved student learning (Greenwich Connect, 2016). I honestly feel that I agree with this and have seen how students feel more confident in engaging and submitting their answers without fear of recrimination or embarrassment, and because of this anonymity, they answer more honestly.
References
Burke, R., Coles, K., Downes, S. & Woods, E. (2015) Teachmeet handout: Using Socrative polls in IL teaching. [PDF Poster] Royal Holloway, University of London. Available at: https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/5b794d66-659d-467f-9cad-93388765907a/1/[Accessed 01/11/2016.]
Corcos, E. & Monty, V. (2008) Interactivity in Library Presentations using a personal response system. Educause Quarterly 31(2): 53-60. Available at: http://er.educause.edu/articles/2008/5/interactivity-in-library-presentations-using-a-personal-response-system [Accessed 01/11/2016.]
Gewirtz, S. (2012) Make your library instruction interactive with Poll Everywhere. College & research Libraries News 73(7): 400-403.
Glassman, N. R. (2015) Texting during class: Audience response systems. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries 12(1): 59-71.
Greenwich Connect (2016) Using Moodle quizzes, polls and survey activities in Teaching and Learning. [Blog post} Available at: http://blogs.gre.ac.uk/greenwichconnect/2016/04/22/quizzes/ [Accessed 01/11/2016.]
Hoppenfeld, J. (2012) Keeping students engaged with web-based polling in the library instruction session. Library Hi-Tech 30(2); 235-252.
Jones, M. (2014) Implementation Plan – Polly Everywhere to Engage. [Prezi presentation] Available at: https://prezi.com/0zybj_joj-ow/implementation-plan-poll-everywhere-to-engage/ [Accessed 01/11/2016.]
O'Connor, K. (2015) Interactive library instruction: The use of Poll Everywhere as an assessment tool. Endnotes 6(1): 1-13.
Osterman, A. C. (2007) Student response systems: keeping the students engaged. College & Undergraduate Libraries 14(4):49-57.
Snyder, A. & Hallam-Miller, J. (2014) Using polls to gauge and engage. [PDF Poster] Available at: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.palibraries.org/resource/collection/97236BE9-0C7F-484D-A54F-3E8FD2D586A0/Using_Polls_to_Guage_and_Engage.pdf [Accessed
01/11/2016.]
I've not come across Mentimeter, as you say it perhaps hasn't received so much limelight, but it seems like a really useful tool. I'd like to give this a try as part of an online resource or online coursework assignment for feedback in order to adapt my teaching to strengthen weaker areas -James