Katherine Hanz & Jessica Lange: Sprint into your library! Developing on online orientation game...

Sprint Into Your Library! Developing an Online Orientation Game for Students

Katherine Hanz | Liaison Librarian, McGill UniversityJessica Lange | Scholarly Communications Librarian, McGill University

Describe the potential for gaming in libraries.

Summarize basic strategies for designing and implementing a successful game.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

They’re fun!

Motivation (Pagowsky, n.d.)

Improved retention of learning materials (Tewell & Angell, 2015)

Why games?

Dartmouth College – scavenger hunt

California State University – Fresno – online orientation game

UC Merced – scavenger hunt

University of Waterloo – scavenger hunt/race

Lots more…

Orientation events + gaming

North Carolina State University Course-integrated library orientation Mobile scavenger hunt (50 min.) Used free tools rather than an app

“One ENG 101 faculty member wrote that the “activity engaged students… on a level that led to increased understanding, deeper learning, and almost complete recall of important library functions.” (Burke, 2012)

Our inspiration

Overview of library orientation:

Committee plans events, coordinates activities etc.

Traditionally a mix of workshops and tours offered

Attendance numbers vary greatly depending on the branch Hard to schedule

Is there a better way to reach students?

Our context – McGill

Learning objectives: Recognize the main areas of their branch library Recall the main services available to them at the library

Intended audience: Undergraduates, primarily in their first year

Included challenges: Locating reserves, group study rooms, photocopying, finding a book etc.

McGill Library Sprint Overview

SCVNGR

Scavify

Goosechase

Edventure builder (Green Door Labs)

Game platform options

Game structure

Social media

McGill Library webpage

Orientation events

Bookmarks at service points

During library workshops

Promotion & Branding

In Fall 2015, used in the following courses: EDEC-203: Communication in Education CEGL-423: Intensive English (for ESL students)

Replaced introduction to the library/basic catalogue searching exercises used in previous semesters

Students worked in small groups rather than individually

Race took place part-way through the workshop to maximize participation

Using the Sprint in course workshops

Provided a short pre/post test:

Evaluation from EDEC-203

How familiar are you with the Humanities & Social Sciences Library? 1 2 3 4 5Not familiar Very familiar  Do you feel comfortable finding your way around the library?  1 2 3 4 5Not comfortable Very comfortable  I know how to find a book in the catalogue YES / NO I know how to check out a book YES / NO

28 responses Comfort Question:

Pre-test, the mean level of comfort was 1.3. Post-test, the mean level of comfort was 3.46.

Survey Results

“This is very fun. I like it- different way to discover the library :)”

“It was very useful! We know where to look for specific things now.”

“It was fun but sometimes it was hard. Even though we didn't find everything it actually helped me to find many things and made me understand a bit more how the library works.”

Class Comments

Get instructor buy-in ahead of time

Make sure that the learning objectives are appropriate

Carefully budget class time

Be prepared to adjust your expectations

Lessons learned from “sprinting” with a class

400 unique users started the game 90 completed the entire activity (included ~15 in-class attempts)

45% of game attempts occurred in the first week of September

Range of disciplines and years represented

Evaluation – overall

Rebrand game (confusion over what playing “online” means)

Provide more guidance for challenging tasks (i.e. locating a book)

Make the game path linear

Better integration into introductory library sessions

Redesign questions so there’s no ‘cheating’

Recommendations

Test test test!

Questions to ask: Is this aspect of library experience suitable for gamification? Is this game experience something the target group would enjoy? What is the ultimate goal of gamifying this aspect of library experience? What are the logistical needs that should be met to ensure the success of the

gamification project? (Kim, n.d.)

Successful game design & best practices

Questions?Katherine Hanz | Katherine.hanz@mcgill.caJessica Lange | jessica.lange@mcgill.ca

Burke, A. (2012). Demystifying the library with game-based mobile learning. Retrieved from http://acrl.ala.org/techconnect/post/demystifying-the-library-with-game-based-mobile-learning

Kim, B. (n.d.). Keeping up with gamification. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/gamification

Pagowsky, N. (n.d.). Literature review: Motivation in gamified learning Scenarios. Retrieved from http://nicolepagowsky.info/documents/pagowsky_etcv524_litreview.pdf

Tewell, E., & Angell, K. (2015). Far from a Trivial Pursuit: Assessing the effectiveness of games in information literacy instruction. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 10(1), 20-33. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.18438/B8B60X

References