The Story of the Research Skills Tutorial

Bowman LibraryMenlo College

Beginnings

A bit of history Library skills tutorial became General Education

requirement for 2005-2006 academic year Old TILT-based tutorial called

Big Picture Goals for Tutorial: Apply to life and job skills as well as academic – making

students know they will use these skills after college Describe the kinds of information, how each is used and

packaged, and authority of producer ; the academic publishing and research process

Explain the student’s role in research process

Goals of our tutorial: Incorporate tools and services of library web site; provide

visual recognition Explain subscription resources & their availability at public

libraries after graduation Act as a foundation for information literacy skills with mini-

modules on specific topics that could be revisited Assess student skills with varying levels of difficulty for

quizzes Be relatively easy to update later on

User-oriented Goals: Be engaging to Menlo students/not cutesy

photos include Menlo students, faculty, assignments, & places focus on business & psychology

Use timely examples that differ from module to module Be easy to use Provide definitions of library lingo Provide estimated time to complete modules Provide a place for feedback

Reviewing existing tutorials

Google Docs Survey

Reviewing existing tutorials

Surveying Bowman LibrariansSample Questions

Sample Answers

Creating content From outline

to PowerPoint

High level tutorial content

High level theme concepts

Module creation Text,

images, division of labor

Recurring content Interactive opportunities

for practicing of skills Try it! (Concept check -

not graded) Where you, the student,

fit in

Borrowed content Scholarly/popular sources

interactive segment (mod.1) CRAAP criteria for

evaluating websites (mod. 4)

Quizzes Read literature and

education sites for suggestions on quiz writing

Quiz taking becomes learning experience for student because the quiz responds back to student and offers ability to retry questions

Videos Writing scripts Finding/creating images Technology trial & error & training Tools

Powerpoint Camtasia (video & audio production) Jing (screenshots & web-friendly, fast-

loading images) Smartphone camera (instant uploads) Techsmith.com (primary video hosting)

& YouTube

Production Worked remotely with Sarah via shared files on a server to

which she had access Design and coding Collaborative feedback via e-mail

Usability testing Tested with 3 freshmen Script, observation What we changed

Less text per slide Added slide numbering, you-are-here navigation Quiz revisions

TimelineSummer 2011 -- brainstormed; looked at other

tutorialsFall 2011-Spring 2012 -- refined content; online

course in producing tutorials; design conceptsSummer 2012 -- recorded videos; more content

refinement; design; production of siteFall 2012 -- usability testing; minor refinementJanuary 2013 -- rolled out finished tutorial

Post-Production Assessment

Test results file Freshman completion rate at 89.4%

What we might do differently Length Less elaborate, shorter videos Repurposing an existing tutorial Current technology changes?

Contact info Sarah Clatterbuck (sarah at secadvertising.com) Linda K. Smith (lsmith at menlo.edu) Lisa Velarde (lvelarde at ccsf.edu)