Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Integrating iPads into academic library information literacy
Heather Lincoln, Imperial College London, [email protected] Evans, Imperial College London, [email protected]
The aim of this paper is to share practice-based innovations in how information literacy (IL) teaching and support has been developed to meet changes in the technology used by Business students at Imperial College London. For the academic year 2012-13 students on Business Master’s programmes were given iPads as a tool to facilitate paperless course delivery, utilising the devices to read, search, communicate and maintain currency with information both in and out of the classroom.
Library IL induction teaching sessions were remodelled to make students more information literate in accessing and using library resources using iPads. The content and mode of delivery of sessions were enhanced by developing the experiential learning possibilities and ensuring that content included up to date information on academic online resources and apps.
The most significant change for the induction training was that all students had a mobile device in the session, providing an excellent opportunity to make the session active, practical and engaging. The induction integrated hands-on experiential learning, incorporating a number of active learning tasks including searching and opening an e-book on an iPad and adding the Business subject Library web pages as a link on their iPad home screen. Recent research (Fusco, 2010) indicates that mobile searchers like to use apps, bookmarked pages or direct URLS to find information, and our aim was to promote library resource use and engagement in this way. It was observed that students expected library/institutional resource access to function in a similar fashion to individual subscriptions.
To address the large group experiential learning now delivered, roving assistance and student observation was conducted. Post training 1-1 appointments were offered to give students further individual help and support if required, and few of these were requested, hopefully indicating student familiarity with iPads and ease of use of Library resources.
References
Fusco, P. J. (2010) Going Mobile with SE. [Online] Multichannel Merchant, Available from: http://multichannelmerchant.com/ecommerce/seo-going-mobile-0901/ [Accessed 31st October 2012].
