Teachmeet Abstract

1. Encounters of the digital kind
Julie Moody, Plymouth University, julie.moody@plymouth.ac.uk
Kate Russell, Plymouth University, kate.russell@plymouth.ac.uk
The challenges of delivering quality information literacy training to all HE students
are well documented. Providing training at point of need, to part-time, distance
students and to large cohorts requires new approaches.
In the last year, the team of subject librarians at Plymouth University have created a
suite of online interactive tutorials, hosted on a website, known as LiliPad (Learning
Information Literacy in Plymouth Academic Development). Not a new idea in itself,
but since September 2011, the team has also started to experiment with using
interactive tutorials in the classroom environment to improve the delivery of
information literacy sessions. To create the tutorials, we wanted to use a system that
would involve the minimum of outside technical support and could be adapted and
developed easily by the librarians themselves, and most importantly, would be fiscally
neutral! As a result, we chose Xerte, developed by the University of Nottingham.
A variety of different approaches were adopted by the team in their teaching sessions
from using individual tutorials as part of the session to producing a customised
tutorial for a particular group as a session plan. The effectiveness of these approaches
has been evaluated by the use of surveys to gain student feedback and by the use of an
assessment delivered by the QuestionMark Perception software.
Delegates attending will learn about:
• Our reasons for choosing Xerte/QuestionMark Perception
• The different teaching methods adopted by the team
• Our methodology (teacher and student evaluation and performance measurement)
As a result, delegates will be able to see the benefits/pitfalls of this approach to inform
their own practice.