Making information skills interesting (tue 14th june 2011)

Making information skills interesting: gaps, beanbags and

congas

Joy Cadwallader, Katrina Dalziel

Karl Drinkwater, Sahm Nikoi

Don’t always play it safe

QUIRK & EDGE “Attaining coolness is impossible if you play it

safe. You need a brave infusion of both quirk and edge. Cool = guests who are astonished, shocked, and intrigued, yet challenged, involved and sometimes slightly uncomfortable.”

http://blog.eventbrite.com/guest-post-the-5-counter-intuitive-signs-your-event-is-cool

"Karl is the legendary Balloon / Bean-Bag / Library Conga Man of Aberystwyth"

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

GAP Day

Once upon a time…

GAP Day 2009

10.30-11.00 Safe Assign demystified for students 11.10-12.00 How bibliographic software can help you

organise references, footnotes and bibliographies 12.10-13.00 Effective use of published material

(critical use of reference sources) 13.10-14.00 Unfair practice (plagiarism, how and

when to cite) 14.00-14.15 The Royal Literary Fund Writing Support

Service - one-to-ones to develop your academic writing

Trying new things…

Target audience New location New group New programme But really the same old message!

Librarians Guild of Students staff

Media and Printing Services staff

Student Support Services

Academics

Royal Literary Fund staff

E-learning Team

"Mind the GAP - avoid pitfalls with Good Academic Practice“

• Good study skills lead to better marks and make you more organised and less stressed.

• Good referencing and reading widely help to avoid plagiarism.

• Using high-quality sources of information improves the quality of your work.

Promotional activities

Name Web 2.0 and the rest Programme flyer Information Station Informal Immediacy effect Two levels

Weekly emails leading up to the event

RSS feeds

Displays on our information monitors

Entries in three blogs

Twitter

Posters

FlyersInforming departments during liaison meetings Emails to the

Directors of Learning & Teaching and to IS Reps

Some lessons learnt

Point and time of need Bookings The date Spread the risk

GAP Day 2009: student quotes

"Most useful. Thanks." "I thoroughly enjoyed the bibliographic [session], it was

in-depth advice." "Yes useful to hear how sources on the internet could

be used for work". "Different ideas from different tutors." "I personally found the talks I attended interesting and

useful!" "I have actually photocopied some of the handouts for

my brother who has just started university and he was very grateful, especially for the info on university rules and plagiarism!!"

GAP Day

More information: see Y Ddolen / Information Wales #51, Summer 2010

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

Love Your Library Day

Promotion of Library services

Launch of the Assignment Survival Kit (ASK) online tool

Feedback Fun

Launch of Assignment Survival Kit - ASK

Love Your Library Day: 14th February 2011

Love Your Library Day: 14th February 2011

15 text messages

13 tweets

Love Your Library Day: 14th February 2011

Love Your Library Day: 14th February 2011

231 post-it notes completed

“The library is awesome it has all the facilities needed to help me with my degree, it also provides me with the quiet I don’t get at home having 4 kids!”

“The library is well stocked with research materials;homely and quite inviting to serious scholars”

“The smiles were infectious, the cake delicious”

Judge’s comments included…

The strategy of the campaign had at its heart a clear and emotive ‘call to action’: Love your library – and again this emotive tied into an ongoing marketing extravaganza – namely St Valentines Day!

I think the range of feedback mechanisms are worthy of comment and praise – again recognising that different audiences (users) will want to use different types of media...I especially liked the ‘wordle cake’.

Award and happy Library staff

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

Beanbag inductions

Why did we want to change things for the 2010 ‘Welcome To Your Library’ sessions?

NOTICE The attention of students is drawn to the

following extracts from the Library Rules:- 

A) Students must enter the Library not later than 10 minutes after the hour.

B) Students must take their seats quietly and are not permitted to move about unnecessarily.

C) No books shall be taken out of the Library except on delivery of a receipt to the Librarian in person.

D) Before leaving the Library readers shall return the Books to the Librarian at his table.

[Library regulations from c. 1900]

Features

Timetabling Short, standard presentation Beanbags and open, inviting space Informality and friendliness Music Video Sweets! Keyguide leaflets Optional tour Learner voice Analyzed feedback

Use of video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jzyxeKearY

Some quotes

“The library seems like a very well organised and pleasant place to be and quite progressive”

“delivered beyond expectation.” “I really liked the bean bags. The video was

amusing, a casual refreshing change” “Informative presentation was very useful, very

clear”. “Enjoyable as it was short and snappy” “Small group size was good”.

Some quotes

“I enjoyed the pleasant atmosphere and nice attitude of the staff”.

“Lovely attitude towards students. Short tight and clear session with a lot of useful information. The small groups of listeners made it all easier for me to take in all the information”.

“The beanbags are amazing”. “we've never had the interest from other staff

before.” “IS is by far THE best department in university for at

least attempting to engage with students.”

Judge’s Comments

“Technically a first class marketing campaign – all the elements were thought through and a strategy established based on target audience and needs and good measurements were established in order to assess the success of the effort. The concept of changing a visitor’s perception of the library by simply changing one aspect of the physical space was well executed and clearly well received and enjoyed. The use of bean bags to make the audience think differently of the service and to make impact for the IS induction was well executed. The use then of the ‘custom’ film within this event was also good. ... The film will retain value and is replicable throughout the sector as an illustration of ‘best’ practice.”

Behind the scenes…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc5Zy4tycaM

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

Promoting skills courses

PG & UG Collaboration with PG Office Ask what they want

After Semester One: developments neededEasy online booking for studentsEasier communicationMore meaningful online feedback to develop contentA single online location for course materialsCertificates of attendance on requestEfficient, shared administrationSourcing rooms and staff for different classes e.g. hand-on workshops, lectures

Study practices 2010-11

The answer?

Self-enrolling BlackBoard modules!

Study Practices 2010-11

Study practices 2010-11

MarketingPostersFlyersBlogs

FaceBookTwitter

Weekly emailsLibrary reps

Library monitor

Student feedback“I learned about new ways of creating a bibliography, which will make my work easier”.“Previously I had some misconceptions concerning the authority and reliability of certain types of webpages, so it was very helpful to clear them”.“It was a good presentation about our possibilities in using Primo. What I liked best was the database tips”.“The fact it was available online afterwards!”“I liked the summarising scheme and the examples”.“useful tools for research projects eg. referencing and content page etc.”

Study practices 2010-11

What next?Aim at first year undergraduates in the first instance but available to allStudents to complete learning objects in lieu of, or as well as, attending face-to-face teachingAvoid duplication of effort by using freely available content sourcesLink more closely to the Key Skills for Personal and Professional Development required for module approvalFor re-use in parts for subject-embedding within departmental modulesTo be viewed as one of a range of linked information literacy services supporting the learner

Study practices 2010-11

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

Roving: Interpol final year dissertation day

Roving

Roving: Interpol final year dissertation day

Lessons learnt:

Skills are best developed in authentic

learning situations

Effective partnership comes through

collaboaration

Focus on gathering warm knowledge

I-ROME[ing]

I-ROME[ing]

Supporting learner transition with blended learning

resources

Maximising the affordances of open learning

technologies

Martini learning [anywhere, anytime any-place]

I-ROME[ing]

OER on:

•Aberystwyth University -

Information Services

•Plagiarism

•Legal information resources

•Information searching

•Citation and referencing

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

Exam Skills Day

What was it all about? Collaboration

Vox Pops plus Q&A Session

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoO7UF7m-Vk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VMBkpTYoAA#t=0m35s

Projects

GAP Day ‘Love Your Library’ Day Beanbag inductions Promoting skills courses Roving & I-ROME[ing] Exam Skills Day Eurofun Day

Eurofun Day

What was it all about? Our involvement – EDC, opportunity

QR code trail (Karl)

Quiz

Quiz

“Roses are redviolets are blueI’m studying in the UKthanks to the EU”

“27 states in the EUjoined together for the benefit of you.Making Europe a prosperous place,no discrimination of cultures or race”

“27 states togethergetting on like birds of a feather”

Questions?