Cloning Ourselves: One Librarian’s Experience

Judith A. Downie

California State University San Marcos

LOEX, San Diego, CA May 4, 2007

Instruction Trends

Library instruction pedagogy has moved from library skills to course-integrated and information-literate focus Many more sources, methods and tools are being taught Supports student retention, especially in the first year

12-16% growth in academic enrollment between 1997-2009 (Gerald & Hussar, 2000) Instruction requests have increased Scheduling conflicts

0% growth in Academic Librarian positions between 1998-2008 (OOQ, Winter 2000-01, pg. 9)

Access issues Distance education Our users want anytime/anywhere Equitable technologies

“Victims of our own success”

Options?

STOP

Give up other tasks

Too much instruction?

Too many other duties?

Turn down requests

Hire more Librarians

Redistribute or reschedule requests

My trial solutions

Asked myself, what do students want/need? I considered

Shortening the one-shot—two visits in one class period relying on comprehensive web page

‘Teaching the teacher’ I trialed

Combined course sections Help from colleagues Cloning myself

Possible cloning options

Tutorials Text based, some screen shots

Webinars Real time interactive (may be archived for future

use) Webcast

One-way presentation that can be archived for referral

Cloning with Mediasite

Web video presentation tool (webcast) Multiple modalities Free access for end user On demand--anytime, anywhere There are alternatives…

Low cost (Powerpoint with voiceover) Fee-based (commercial providers)

Why Mediasite?

Campus choice Asynchronous distance learning in traditional

teaching arrangement Provider reputation for reliability Low labor costs for post-production

No cost to library as a campus-wide purchase Opportunity for collaboration

Faculty/faculty Faculty/librarians Librarians/IT staff

CSUSM’s Mediasite space

Mediasite at CSUSM

Mediasite elements

Positives

Available to the end user without additional software Aids in learning retention Easy to learn and manipulate Modular segments to mix and match Can be set up in classrooms or dedicated studio IITS support Embraced by many classroom faculty Burn to a CD or load the audio to an I-Pod

Issues for librarians

Dependent on others for certain services Scheduling space and personnel Limited interactivity How to measure effectiveness? Availability through web can be a double-

edged sword

Functional limitations

‘Real Estate’ Editing Preparation time Connection speed for user Unable to measure use Access and use without creator’s knowledge Some features are not intuitive nor readily

visible

Assessment

Assessment of learning OR evaluation of instruction?

Integrated into the CSUSM IL Program from the beginning

Promoted by WASC and other accrediting bodies Limited ability through Mediasite’s poll function Use a separate survey tool

Self-created survey Commercial tool

Mediasite Poll

Questions are T/F, Y/N, or multiple choice Must take poll in order to view results Simple-to-read results

Viewing poll results

Survey Monkey

Purchased by the library Professional research as well as student

assessment Anonymous and automatic data collection Web-based, anytime, anywhere Create a URL to link to your survey Easy to learn Download and manipulate data using Excel

SurveyMonkey

My results to date

Minus Room for refinement of presentation Some segments are too long High-speed connection a must Low use of evaluation tool

Plus Meets faculty need for instruction Appeals to students Re-usable Saves time later

Tips

Design Keep date-free KISS and TEST!

Recording Design short segments Practice and time yourself Prepared screen shots

Incorporate interactivity Pose questions to promote attention Use the poll feature Guided notes or fill-in worksheet to accompany

My conclusions

Successful Student outreach Faculty and IITS collaboration

Not for every instructional situation Has been a time-saver Include and promote assessment tool Work with classroom faculty to assess

learning

Future considerations

User ADA compliance Faculty and student acceptance Compare effectiveness with first-years to upper-division or

discipline-based vs. general Back-end

Copyright Classroom Management Systems Impact of upgrades or new versions

Tools Podcasting Additional tools

Thank you! Enjoy the conference…

and any future cloning

Judith A. Downiejdownie@csusm.edu

CSUSM Mediasite: http://prawn.csusm.edu

Bibliography of resources: http://library.csusm.edu/about/people/judith.asp