A presentation on the development and integration of active learning tutorials in information literacy instruction.

1. "Guide on the Side"
Active Learning Tutorials in
Information Literacy Instruction
Council of Chief Librarians California Community
Colleges
April 2014 Technology Tools Workshop:
Power Searching & Instructional Design
Alicia Virtue
Santa Rosa Junior College
avirtue@santarosa.edu

2. Creators of Guide on the Side
Leslie Sult and Mike Hagedon
University of Arizona Libraries
Acknowledgment and Gratitude

3. Acknowledgment and Gratitude

4. Acknowledgment and Gratitude

5. Guide as Coach During Exploration

6. Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating experiment in the classroom.ASHE-ERIC Higher
Education Report No. 1.Washington: GeorgeWashington University.
Learning Objects Using Active Learning
Engage
Learners
Increase
Retention
“Anything that
involves students
doing things and
thinking about the
things they are
doing.”
Personalized
Learning Paths
Use technology to apply principles of active learning to instructional outcomes.

7. Finch, J.L. & Jefferson, R.N. (2013). “Designing authentic learning tasks for library instruction.”
Journal of Academic Librarianship, 39(2), 181-188.

8. Why such a good
fit for community
college students?
Students come to community
colleges in need of a quick,
effective, crash course in how to
navigate the complex research
systems they must use. Their
success will depend on their fluency
in using the tools of the library.
California ranks at the bottom of
professional library staffing
numbers. In 2012, the California
ratio was 1 librarian for every
7,374 students.
Student Research
Context:
Ill-prepared,
Limited Exposure
Academic Library
Context: Complex,
Technology-Based
In California, 70% to 85% of
students who are new to the
community college system are
assessed as needing basic skills
courses in one or more subject
areas.Association of Research Libraries (2012); Santa Rosa
Junior College (2014); California Department of
Education (2014);TheCenter for Student Success
(2007)
Academic libraries allocate over
65% of purchasing budgets to
electronic materials.
A typical community college
library will offer ~40 individual
databases, ~5 e-book
platforms, 1 online catalog, and
x# of individual e-journals, all
presenting unique search
interfaces.
Discovery layer technology is
being introduced in CA CC
libraries since 2011. New
interface, huge impact.

9. Teach Tools?

10. Teach Concepts?
• Analyze a research need
• Find information effectively and efficiently by using a
variety of search techniques
• Access needed information in multiple publication
formats
• Evaluate the quality and relevance of information
sources
• Recognize several ethical and legal issues related to
the use of information

11. Three Tutorials to Start
• Discovery Layer
• E-Books
Features in
Discovery Layer
• Topic
Exploration

12. Highlight interface
features
More Guides Different Characteristics
Instructor, class, or
discipline oriented
Student group
specific
Citation management
Topic development & points of view
Locate material by lexile text level
General Customized
Process Oriented
Introduce search
techniques

13. Uniform User Interface for Training

14. Interactive Questions

15. What’s The Point? Reality Checks

16. Tailored Responses

17. Assessment

18. Completion Certificate

19. E-Mail Copy of Certificate

20. In the Online Classroom

21. Test….Solicit Feedback…Revise…Test…
Written scripts provided the basis for the initial
prototypes.
Prototype
Assess Stakeholder review and feedback:
1) Librarians – ouch! Toughest crowd!
2) Six Information Literacy classes – overwhelmingly
positive, but pay attention to the complaints –
valuable design information
3) Discipline instructors – hybrid and online – valuable
insights for catching jargon and identifying course
specific applications

22. Test….Solicit Feedback…Revise…Test…
Refine
Implement
The prototype was refined based on the feedback
and impact analysis conducted in the assessment
phase.
The final version was implemented, with careful
monitoring of user feedback to make rapid
adjustments where needed.

23. Troubleshooting

24. Troubleshooting

25. Troubleshooting

26. Student
Feedback
180 students in
Summer 2013
Information Literacy
classes tested the first
two discovery guides.
110 provided voluntary
feedback
94% of students felt the tutorials were “just right in length.”
5% felt the tutorials were “not long enough.”
1% felt the tutorials were “too long.”
Student Assessment of two discovery layer tutorials for
length, value, feature effectiveness, and ease of use

27. Student
Feedback
180 students in
Summer 2013
Information Literacy
classes tested the first
two discovery guides.
110 provided voluntary
feedback
96% of students felt they increased their understanding of the
discovery layer.
4% felt they didn’t learn anything new of value.
Student Assessment of two discovery layer tutorials for
length, value, feature effectiveness, and ease of use

28. Student
Feedback
180 students in
Summer 2013
Information Literacy
classes tested the first
two discovery guides.
110 provided voluntary
feedback
Student Assessment of two discovery layer tutorials for
length, value, feature effectiveness, and ease of use
69% of felt “what’s the point?” explanations were helpful.
23% felt they didn’t increase concept understanding.
8% didn’t open the “What’s the point?” explanations.

29. Student
Feedback
180 students in
Summer 2013
Information Literacy
classes tested the first
two discovery guides.
110 provided voluntary
feedback
Student Assessment of two discovery layer tutorials for
length, value, feature effectiveness, and ease of use
91% found guide layout easy to follow.
9% got confused.

30. Student Comments

31. Student Comments

32. Student Comments

33. Get Guide on the Side
Built using the CakePHP framework, GOTS
requires
• a running web server,
• a database server,
• PHP, and
• a Mail Transfer Agent to support e-mail.
All installation information is available from the University of Arizona Libraries
http://code.library.arizona.edu/gots
Version 1.0-beta3 was released
in December 2013.

34. See GitHub for the Specifics
https://github.com/ualibraries/Guide-on-the-Side

35. What’s CakePHP?
http://cakephp.org/
Free
Open Source
Rapid Development Framework
Based on PHP
“…makes building web applications simpler, faster and require less code.”

36. Build a Tutorial
More gratitude to Leslie Sult and Mike Hagedon at UAL…
“
“

37. Build a
Tutorial
Definition box – insert useful
information without taking up a lot of
space … a “clarification pause”
Interactive questions – engage and
focus the learner
Chapter breaks – pace the content,
frame the context
Visual prompts – orient the learner

38. Build a
Tutorial
Questions
Immediate
feedback

39. Get Started!

40. Thank You
Alicia Virtue
Santa Rosa Junior College
avirtue@santarosa.edu