Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Practices, Policies, And Problems In The Management Of Learning Data: A Survey Of Libraries’ Use Of Digital Learning Objects And The Data They Create, Graham Sherriff, Daisy Benson, Gary Atwood

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This study analyzed libraries’ management of the data generated by library digital learning objects (DLO’s) such as forms, surveys, quizzes, and tutorials. A substantial proportion of respondents reported having a policy relevant to learning data, typically a campus-level policy, but most did not. Other problems included a lack of access to library learning data, concerns about student privacy, inadequate granularity or standardization, and a lack of knowledge about colleagues’ practices. We propose more dialogue on learning data within libraries, between libraries and administrators, and across the library profession.

From Passive To Active: A New Model For Library Orientation, Nancy A. Bianchi, Gary S. Atwood

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Objectives This poster shares the experience of academic librarians turning a traditional, passive library orientation at a Graduate Medical Education Fair for new residents into an active learning activity.

Methods Every summer, new residents enter postgraduate medical training programs at the medical center. In an effort to introduce the library early in their clinical careers, liaison librarians have participated at a Graduate Medical Education fair since 2012. In the past, the library’s orientation activity consisted of a table full of paper handouts, staffed by overzealous librarians. Feedback from the residents, however, revealed that they politely collected the paperwork but frequently …

Recoding “Guide On The Side” To Collect Learner Performance Data: Collaboration, Customization, And Assessment, Graham Sherriff

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

University of Vermont (UVM) libraries use the open-source tutorial platform “Guide on the Side”. This flexible and robust platform for split-screen tutorials provides learners with dynamic, authentic learning experiences. But the out-of-the-box program has a major shortcoming: learners’ performance data is generated in the form of email “certificates”. This poster describes how we collaborated with a UVM Center for Teaching and Learning programmer on the integration of custom code that aggregates and reports this data. It explains how our custom installation now supports the validation of our learning objects and the large-scale assessment of our students’ performance.

What Does It Take To Make Discovery A Success?: A Survey Of Discovery Tool Adoption, Instruction, And Evaluation Among Academic Libraries, Aaron Nichols, Emily A. Crist, Graham Sherriff, Megan Allison

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Discovery tools have been widely adopted by academic libraries, yet little information exists that connects common practices regarding discovery tool implementation, maintenance, assessment, and staffing with conventions for research and instruction. The authors surveyed heads of reference and instruction departments in research and land-grant university libraries. The survey results revealed common practices with discovery tools among academic libraries. This study also draws connections between operational, instructional, and assessment practices and perceptions that participants have of the success of their discovery tool. Participants who indicated successful implementation of their discovery tool hailed from institutions that made significant commitments to the operations, …

Guide On The Side And Libwizard Tutorials Side-By-Side: How Do The Two Platforms For Split-Screen Online Tutorials Compare?, Graham Sherriff

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Split-screen tutorials are an appealing and effective way for libraries to create online learning objects where learners interact with real-time web content. Many libraries are using the University of Arizona’s award-winning, open source platform, Guide on the Side; in 2016, Springshare released a proprietary alternative, LibWizard Tutorials. This article reviews the advantages and limitations of this kind of tutorial. It also examines the differences between each platform’s distinctive characteristics. These platforms create similar split-screen tutorials, but have differences that affect diverse aspects of installation, administration, authoring and editing, student learning, data management, and accessibility. Libraries now have the opportunity to …

Mapping The Way To Success: Collaborating With Academic Faculty On Library Services And Information Literacy For International Students, Fred C. Pond, Graham Sherriff, Nancy Fawley

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The University of Vermont recently introduced a formal pathway for international students to gain access to UVM’s degree programs at both an undergraduate and graduate level. The Global Gateway Program (GGP) offers academic courses while providing additional support for the cultural and pedagogical needs of English as a Foreign Language students. International students are a new and expanding demographic with diverse educational backgrounds, language needs and cultural characteristics. We will address strategies to help librarians prepare and anticipate a library’s role with international students, paying particular attention to being a part of the curriculum and introducing principles of information literacy.

Apples To Apples? Lessons Learned From A Comparative Evaluation Of Online Platforms For Interactive Tutorials, Graham Sherriff

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

What does your library need from a tutorials platform? For several years, the University of Vermont has flipped library instruction with tutorials created in Guide on the Side. This open-source program, provided by the University of Arizona, is a simple tool for producing frame-based tutorials centered on the learner’s interaction with web content. UVM adopted it principally because of its suitability to formative learning. But in 2016 Springshare launched LibWizard, an alternative platform for frame-based tutorials. It offered important functionalities that were not available in Guide on the Side, while lacking others that were integral features of our existing tutorials. …

How To Prevent Your Flip From Flopping: Five Key Mistakes To Avoid When Switching To The Flipped Classroom Model, Gary S. Atwood

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Contrary to popular perception, successfully adopting the flipped (or inverted) classroom model requires more than just recording videos of lectures for students to watch outside of class. This poster will highlight five key mistakes that teachers sometimes make when adopting the flipped classroom model, and outlines effective strategies to avoid them.

Kicking The Tires: A Usability Study Of The Primo Discovery Tool, Aaron Nichols, Amber Billey, Peter Spitzform, Alice Stokes, Catherine Mundy

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Discovery tools offer users a powerful way of searching library holdings, as well as external databases and indexes. They are becoming an increasingly common part of the library user experience, and research on the usability of such tools is expanding. In 2012, a mid-sized academic research library implemented Primo Discovery and Delivery by Ex Libris and conducted a diagnostic usability test to investigate how the tool is used without instruction, to discover patterns in searching behavior, and to uncover how compatible Primo is with user search behavior. This paper will describe the design and implementation of the usability study. Despite …

Why Some Students Continue To Value Individual, Face-To-Face Research Consultations In A Technology-Rich World, Trina J. Magi, Patricia E. Mardeusz

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

For decades, academic librarians have provided individual research consultations for students. There is little information, however, about why students schedule consultations, the kinds of assistance students feel are provided by librarians during consultations, and what students find valuable about face-to-face consultations, even with the availability of online research help. This exploratory, qualitative study of individual research consultations at the University of Vermont gathered students’ views on these questions. The findings will help librarians better understand how individual consultations serve students and what role consultations should play in the mix of reference services offered.

What Students Need From Reference Librarians: Exploring The Complexity Of The Individual Consultation, Trina J. Magi, Patricia E. Mardeusz

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

The article reports on an exploratory study that identified the skills used by reference librarians during individual research consultations with undergraduate and graduate students in a wide range of disciplines. The skills fell into eight categories. As expected, librarians needed knowledge about information sources and their effective use, but the project revealed that consultations often involve higher-order skills, as well, such as knowing how to approach and organize the research endeavor, shaping a topic appropriate for the scope of a project, making connections among various pieces of information and applying them to the problem at hand, and identifying alternative research …

Rethinking Information Literacy In A Globalized World, Laurie Kutner, Alison Armstrong

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

As a profession, librarians have an important and unique role to play in higher education in producing information literate students equipped to be successful in a complex, twenty-first century global society. It is our contention that our guiding professional information literacy definitions and standards need to be reconsidered in order to remain relevant within the global learning context. Our preliminary conclusion is that the predominantly skills-based approach facilitated by the current ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education, is not sufficient to facilitate teaching of twenty-first century “deep information literacy,” which we feel encompasses additional content-based engagement with the …

Information Use In History Research: A Citation Analysis Of Master's Level Theses, Graham Sherriff

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This article addresses the need for quantitative investigation into students' use of information resources in historical research. It reports the results of a citation analysis of more than 3,000 citations from master's level history theses submitted between 1998 and 2008 at a mid-sized public university. The study's results support the hypotheses that the predominant format in history research is the monograph and that history research entails use of older resources, and in greater proportions, than other disciplines. Results also support the conclusions that journal usage is comparatively low and that there is a high degree of citation dispersal across journal …

Applying Evidence-Based Librarianship To Developing Countries Based Ict Training Programs, Fred C. Pond

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

As information communication technology (ICT) continues to develop in all areas of the world, ongoing technology training is vital for information professionals to keep abreast of technological advances in their practice However, planning and managing developing country-based training programs can be challenging under extraordinary conditions, such as training in non-native languages and variable skill levels among trainees.

Applying principles of evidence-based librarianship, in particular the use of measurement data offers several opportunities for improving ICT training. First, assessing trainees’ skills and experience will provide the trainer with important data in order to tailor training to the needs of the trainees. …

What's Best For Students: Comparing The Effectiveness Of A Traditional Print Pathfinder And A Web-Based Research Tool, Trina J. Magi

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

This quantitative study compared a print pathfinder and a web-based research tool in library instruction for two sections of a first-year business course. The traditional print pathfinder received higher ratings on use, ease of use, and helpfulness, but both tools resulted in students citing a similar number of recommended sources.

Issues In Providing Information Literacy Training: Our Kosovo Experience, Fred C. Pond

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

As part of a partnership of two medical schools, Dartmouth's Biomedical Libraries is providing leadership in the provision of information literacy training to students, faculty and staff of the Medical Faculty of University of Prishtina. Initial steps include establishing rapport between University of Prishtina and Dartmouth College partners, identifying knowledgeable trainers/educators, and designing a responsive training protocol, to act as the basis for initial train-the-trainer personnel as well as the end user.

This poster focuses on issues which arise, such as the more apparent ones of language and culture differences, and the less clear, such as navigating a steady Internet …