Using Prezi to Structure Online Videos for Information Literacy Instruction: A Case Study

This case study describes how librarians at Radford University use Prezi, a free, cloud-based, online presentation software, as a platform to structure the content of short online videos focused on various research skills. By utilizing Prezi's flexible formatting, templates, and panning and zooming features, librarians are able to visually illustrate the relationships between varying concepts. This article discusses the online video creation process, best practices, and lessons learned from delivering structured information literacy instruction in the video medium.     

Power up! Using Digital Gaming Techniques to Enhance Library Instruction

ABSTRACT

Incorporating digital gaming into education is an increasingly popular topic in academia. Educators’ views of digital gaming (e.g., computer, video, and online games) have shifted from categorizing these games as an entertaining, yet pedagogically void activity to a promising medium that engages students in the learning process. With over 70% of college students enthusiastically playing digital games, educators are tapping into digital gaming as an effective means to teach millennials problem solving and communication skills. This article investigates gamer characteristics, motivational and engaging aspects of digital games, and the parallels between gaming and the information retrieval process. The authors build on this information to present approaches to incorporate digital gaming techniques into the library classroom since it is not feasible for all libraries to create instructional digital games.     

Integrating Library Reference Services in an Online Information Literacy Course

SUMMARY

The Internet Navigator, an online information literacy course developed by a team of academic librarians in Utah, offers a model for teaching independent research skills to remote students. The course uses an online textbook that doubles as a self-paced tutorial, and a set of assignments that take students step-by-step through the research process. Assignments are submitted by e-mail and evaluated by reference librarian/instructors. Questions on the assignments follow the pattern of a reference interview helping instructors guide students to use useful research strategies and information sources. Other methods of integrating reference services with online learning are discussed.     

Using Blackboard to Assess Course-Specific Asynchronous Library Instruction

The authors conducted a pilot project in Spring 2011 at the University of Idaho in which information literacy video tutorials were developed and embedded within Blackboard for a psychology research methods course; students were given pre- and post-tests to measure confidence and knowledge. This article will review the literature, describe survey and video development and implementation within Blackboard, present the methodology used in analyzing test results, and discuss results and implications. The results of the study indicate that students benefit from asynchronous instruction materials, and that video tutorials are an effective instruction tool for libraries.     

Creating a Colorful Classroom: Incorporating Multimedia and Graphics into Library Instruction

Students need varied and engaging content to learn more effectively, but librarians struggle to bring interesting and engaging techniques and tools into the library classroom. Incorporation of multimedia and graphics will not only engage students, but help them better grasp various concepts and skills. As educators learn more about how people learn, we know that traditional slideshows and database walkthroughs are not the most effective tactics. This article presents ideas for librarians to use multimedia and graphics to engage students and learn research skills in the library classroom.     

Using a Murder Mystery to Teach Evaluation Skills: A Case Study

Evaluation of sources and information is an important part of information literacy and the research process. Evaluation skills and their application to daily life might be reduced to a checklist in a one-shot lesson or a semester-long information literacy class. To demonstrate the transferability of evaluation skills, one teaching librarian created an active-learning, online murder mystery to engage students. Instructors have established using games as an active-learning lesson in the face-to-face classroom. A murder mystery game challenges students to evaluate information from the course, verify the information using online searches, and demonstrate critical thinking skills in the context of a game. This case study explains the rationale of using such a game in an online, semester-long class, the process of creating the mystery, and its benefits in the virtual classroom.     

Using Qualitative Data to Identify Student Learning Barriers and Alleviate Instructor Burnout in an Online Information Literacy Course

For-credit, online information literacy instruction is gaining momentum in academic libraries. It provides library outreach to a broader spectrum of students, and reinforces information literacy skills and concepts more than once. In this article, librarians from a small, private, rural, four-year university will provide an overview of their library's for-credit online research skills course for nontraditional students in the university's degree completion program. The article will identify student learning barriers, share factors that contribute to and prevent instructor burnout, and describe how data-informed decision making is used to make improvements to the curricular and course design.     

Guide on the Side: Testing the Tool and the Tutorials

Guide-on-the-Side (GOTS) open source software is emerging as a popular new platform for library tutorials. Unlike video tutorials, GOTS tutorials provide an active learning experience for students. This research sought to determine student preference for passive video screencast tutorials versus interactive GOTS tutorials. In addition, the study compared creation time for GOTS versus video screencast tutorials, an important consideration in the adoption of this technology. Findings suggest that students are evenly split on tutorial preference, largely based on their individual learning styles. Furthermore, results showed that GOTS tutorials take significantly longer to create than simple screencasts, but may save time in the long-run because they are easily edited.     

Research Performance Support: Connecting Online Graduate Students from the LMS to the Library

Universities expand their online graduate programs daily, which challenges academic librarians to maintain research support and information literacy instruction for the growing number of online students. Performance support offers a scalable solution to the problems of limited time and staffing that academic librarians face. When embedded in the learning management system throughout a course or program, performance support provides point of need research help and scaffolds students' information literacy development. Librarians are able to focus their limited time helping students with their more advanced research needs.     

Designing a Library Information Literacy Program Using Threshold Concepts,Student Learning Theory,and Millennial Research in the Development of Information Literacy Sessions

This article will discuss Ferrum College's approach toward developing and delivering varied one-shot information literacy instruction sessions based on knowledge of millennial students’ information retrieval practices and on literature regarding threshold concepts and teaching and learning theories. Identifying threshold information literacy concepts helped the library to develop session specific learning outcomes to meet the needs of their students. Moreover, knowledge of learning theory and millennial learning preferences aided in developing lesson plans and activities that encouraged student mastery of these concepts. Ultimately, this approach contributed to a more comprehensive information literacy program that could be scaffolded over multiple instruction visits.     

Initiating the Learning Process

ABSTRACT

Access to federated search tools is increasing and many academic libraries are now looking beyond implementation, and are considering the broader implications of federated searching such as its impact on information literacy programs. Although this emerging technology is still experiencing acknowledged growing pains, its potential for transforming the way students conduct research is promising. Reviewing information seeking behavior research and analyzing how federated searching fits within the Association of College and Research Libraries' Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education (2000) enables academic librarians to consider an integrative instructional model that utilizes federated searching as a way of initiating the learning process. doi:10.1300/J136v12n03_01     

“I'm a Visual Learner so I like this”: Investigating Student and Faculty Tutorial Preferences

Online tutorials are useful for reinforcing information literacy concepts addressed in library instruction. A wide range of tutorial types cater to different learning styles and feature varying levels of interactivity. In this study, students and faculty reported experiences using two types of tutorials teaching basic search strategies—an interactive tutorial, and a video tutorial. Although both groups favored the video, faculty were split about which tutorial they would rather assign, a discrepancy suggesting questions about how tutorial developers should balance user preferences with learning needs. These findings provide valuable insights for librarians and instructional designers considering creating information literacy tutorials.     

Library Outreach and Instruction to Academic Departments of Military Science and ROTC Cadets

Colleges and universities across the United States have seen increases in the number of students of traditional college age choosing to enter college and the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) simultaneously to attain college degrees and begin their military careers. ROTC students, cadets, will benefit from knowledge of library services and resources and from specialized library outreach and instruction. Librarians who understand the military system and culture, and who examine their own attitudes toward military service, will be better prepared to work with military science faculty and ROTC cadets. The outreach session to the Department of Military Science/ROTC and the one-session library instruction provided to ROTC cadets by librarians at a Midwestern, comprehensive university are described and assessed.