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Workshop on Virtual Training Suite and discussion on information skills' delivery
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Using the Virtual Training Suite to enhance information skills
University of Plymouth,Learning Technologies seminar
Angela Joyce 27 April 2010
What is VTS?
• Origins• Free tutorials for teaching info skills for H.E.
students, subject-based• Flexible, easy, fun• Popular service, funded by JISC• Part of Intute service – but Intute itself to be
wound down from July 2010
• http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/
VTS today
VTS templateEach tutorial is divided into four main sections: • Tour
the best of the Web for your subject • Discover
how to find scholarly information online • Judge
which Internet resources are appropriate for university work • Success
examples of students using the Internet for research
Example – Internet for Business and Management
http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/tutorial/business/
What do users think of VTS?
User surveys & link analysis…
• VTS popular part of Intute• Users link mainly thru
lecturers, course materials, not search engines
• Users impatient!
• Tutorials emphasise difference between academic & popular Web 2.0 content
• Include Google tips• Recommend libraries &
specialist d/bases etc.
Why bother with VTS?
• Higher education in a Web 2.0 world
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/generalpublications/2009/heweb2.aspx JISC, 2009
On prior experience of H.E. learners:
‘Information literacies, including searching, retrieving, critically evaluating information from a range of appropriate sources and also attributing it – represent a significant and growing deficit area…’
VTS can help students to acquire valuable information skills.
30 new tutorials due, summer 2010
• Architecture• Archive Studies* (MIMAS tutorial)• Art and Design• Classics• English• Fashion and Beauty• Linguistics• Media and Communication• Music• Anthropology• Hospitality and Catering• Social Policy• Social Statistics• Sociology• Sport, Leisure and Recreation
• Travel and Tourism• Women's Studies• Allied Health• Dentistry and Oral Health• Food Safety• Pharmacy• Plant Sciences• Earth Sciences• Electrical Engineering• Geography• Health and Safety• Materials Engineering• Mathematics• Mechanical Engineering• Petroleum and Offshore Engineering• Video/audio
Ideas for using VTS… •Put a link in Blackboard to one for your subject
•Use it in lectures, as part of learning
•Get students to pick their top 5 sites, and why
•Share useful websites on Blackboard, delicious, etc
Future plans
Community-driven
modelFree JISC-funded
model
Keep in touch
• VTS Twitter channel coming
• Intute blog for updates/tipshttp://www.intute.ac.uk/blog/
• Email me with any comments/[email protected]
Thanks!
Angela Joyce