Packing Slip 
item |
iTour |
contact |
Jenny Vargas (Scottsdale Community College) jenny.vargas@sccmail.maricopa.edu |
credits |
Rhonda McDonnell John Liffiton |
college(s) |
Scottsdale Community College |
discipline(s) |
Information Literacy, Library Science, Instructional Design, Educational Technology |
summary |
As in many disciplines, library faculty are finding that they must strive to understand and deliver instruction in ways that meet the needs of Generation Y/Millenials/NetGeners. The iTour is an instructional program that meets these needs as it requires active learning, utilizes different sensory modalities, and allows students to control its delivery. |
details |
Program Overview As in many disciplines, library faculty are finding that they must strive to understand and deliver instruction in ways that meet the needs of Generation Y/Millenials/NetGeners. Most of the students belonging to this generation have grown up playing interactive video games, communicating through IM, and in general using technology that works instantly, is engaging, and allows users to determine the time frame and manner in which it will be used. The iTour meets the needs of these students as it requires active learning, utilizes different sensory modalities, and allows students to control its delivery. The iTour is an instructional program pre-loaded on iPod shuffles, which students check out from the library. The delivery format allows students to determine the pace of instruction and repeat sections as needed, which is especially helpful to students for whom English is a second language. The delivery format also allows students to complete the iTour on their time frame, as it is available anytime the library is open and can be completed in as many visits as they would like. The iTour provides a portion of the instruction typically conducted in a traditional one-shot classroom session and allows students to interact directly with library resources through touch, sight, sound, etc. As students receive instruction about basic concepts via the iPod, they are asked to complete a worksheet which requires them to explore the library, touch resources, and think critically about the instruction they have received in order to respond. Thus the iTour requires active participation and engagement thereby promoting retention of key concepts and increasing motivation. Students are not just passively listening to a lecture about library materials, but are actually moving around and interacting with the library environment and materials as they learn about them. See Appendix C. After completing the iTour individually, students come to the library as a class to receive a follow-up instruction session. As students complete the iTour before arriving in the classroom, the instruction provided in the follow-up session can be more in-depth and can cover higher-level information literacy concepts. This is quite different from how information literacy instruction is conducted currently as classes come to a traditional one-shot instruction session with no prior instruction. They walk in with a wide range of prior knowledge and given the time constraints of the session, higher level concepts are barely if at all addressed. The iTour ensures that all students are able to receive a basic level of instruction before they come into the follow-up session thereby facilitating their ability to learn more advanced concepts. The scaffolding the iTour provides also allows library faculty to explore more discovery or constructivist learning during the follow-up session such as problem-based learning, which would be impossible in a traditional one-shot session. The iTour also allows students to experience manageable cognitive load during the in-person session. In the current format, they are given a lot of instruction in one session thus experiencing heavy cognitive load with no time to process. Breaking the instruction into two sessions by using the iTour allows students to experience manageable cognitive load in each part. Also, by using the iTour a two part instructional program can occur without taking additional classroom time from the course the students are enrolled in. Students complete the iTour as an out-of-class assignment and then come to the follow-up as a class. Key to this process is communication with the faculty teaching the course so that the iTour is not optional, but a required assignment. The iTour program also allows students to have more opportunities for practice and feedback. While completing the iTour, students are required to practice what they are learning in order to complete the worksheet. They then are given more opportunities to practice in the in-person session and library faculty have more time to give individualized feedback. Currently the same level of practice and feedback is not possible given the time constraints of a traditional one-shot session. Instructional objectives for the iTour instructional program: Objective 1: Library Catalog Searching Given a research topic, students will be able to identify the correct keywords to use in the library catalog to successfully find one book or one specialized encyclopedia that covers the topic. Objective 2: Scholarly/Popular Periodicals Given characteristics of scholarly and popular articles, students will be able to identify which characteristics describe a scholarly article and which ones describe a popular article. Objective 3: Online Database Searching Given a research topic, students will be able to identify appropriate keywords to use in a database search in order to successfully find an article on the topic. Objective 4: Topic Selection Given a research topic, students will be able to determine if the topic is too broad, too narrow, or appropriate for research. Objective 5: Evaluating Web Sources Students will be able to identify four criteria to use when evaluating web sources. Instructional Materials Materials used with the iTour instructional program include twelve iPod shuffles pre-loaded with the iTour, an iPod instruction sheet, an accompanying worksheet, a pretest and posttest, and student/instructor surveys. The program materials provide all the content, practice, and assessments library faculty will need for the objectives of the program. The iTour is self-paced and typically takes students between 20-45 minutes. The follow-up in person session can be 50 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes depending on the content. If the pretest, posttest, and student survey are used for assessment it is recommended that they be completed during the class time of the course the students are enrolled in instead of during the time students spend in the library. ------------------------------------------------------------ How did the project improve, advance, or enhance student learning? Please provide specific examples. ------------------------------------------------------------ Conclusions •The iTour program effectively delivered instruction that students retained as evidenced by their worksheets and gains in student achievement from the pretest to the posttest. •The two-part instruction program made possible by the iTour has allowed for more manageable cognitive load for students. They are not overwhelmed with information in a one-shot session and have time to process in between the iTour and follow-up session. •Students are able to receive instruction on their time frame as they can complete the iTour anytime the library is open and in one or multiple visits. They can also repeat any sections they would like or pause the instruction at any point. •The iTour allows for students to utilize different sensory modalities for learning. They are asked to walk around, touch resources, visually experience the library, and listen to instruction instead of being passive participants in a lecture type setting. •The iTour program allows students to come to the in-person session with the same amount of prior knowledge thus facilitating the teaching of higher-level concepts and more in-depth information literacy instruction. Library faculty can also try more discovery learning as the iTour provides scaffolding for the follow-up session. •The iTour program allows students to have more opportunities for practice and feedback. While completing the iTour, students are required to practice what they are learning in order to complete the worksheet. They then are given more opportunities to practice in the in-person session and receive individualized feedback from library faculty. Currently that level of practice and feedback is not possible given the time constraints of a traditional one-shot session. •As reported on student surveys, students enjoy the use of iPod technology to deliver instruction and feel that they have benefitted from the instruction. •As reported on faculty surveys, faculty whose classes participated in the tryouts appreciate the instructional program and feel it is worth the time of their students to participate. •The positive results from the tryouts of the iTour program conducted during fall 2007 have been recreated in spring 2008 with additional classes from different disciplines. •Utilizing instructional design principles to create the iTour has resulted in an effective instructional program, which will continue to be revised and improved. ------------------------------------------------------------ How did you evaluate your project's success? What did it tell you? ------------------------------------------------------------ Evaluation Methods Participants Three levels of formative evaluation were conducted in Fall 2007. The first was a one-to-one tryout with three students. The second was a small group tryout with and ENG 107 class of 12 students. The third was a full-scale field tryout with three classes of ENG102 with a total of 38 students. Data provided shows assessment results for 34 students, as four students did not complete the iTour. Process During the one-to-one tryout the designer had three students complete the iTour while trying to complete the accompanying worksheet. The designer then conducted an interview with the students to discuss which parts were unclear, difficult, or too simple. The designer then redesigned the worksheet and script to address the feedback provided. During the small group tryout, students completed the iTour/worksheet/follow-up session as a class. The students were administered a pretest and posttest after completing the iTour/follow-up session. The small-scale tryout revealed that the iTour is best done individually and not as a group of students. Results from the small group tryout also led to further revising of the script and worksheet. During the full-scale tryout, students in three sections of the same instructor’s ENG102 course were administered a pretest, completed the iTour, completed an in-person follow-up session, and were then administered a posttest as well as student surveys. The instructor also filled out an instructor survey. Data Sources and Collection The pretest and posttest for this instructional program consisted of 16 item parallel-form tests worth a total of 22 points. The tests were made up of 12 multiple-choice items and 11 fill in the blank items. The items directly measured the program’s objectives. The student survey consisted of 14 closed ended and 2 open ended questions. The questions addressed reactions and perceptions students had regarding the content, practice, attitudes, and assessments used. The instructor survey consisted of 12 closed ended and 2 open ended questions. The questions sought information regarding the instructor’s perception regarding ease of use and the design of the program as well as the student’s performance and transfer. Results Student Achievement The actual and percentage mean scores of students on the pretests and posttest for each objective are found on Table 1. Gains were shown for each objective. The greatest gains were revealed for objectives three, four, and five. The most significant being objective five, evaluating web resources, which increased from 42% to 91%. The smallest gains were for objective two, identifying characteristics of scholarly/popular sources. Student Attitudes Responses for the student survey are shown in Appendix A. Results from the student survey show that over 80% of the students strongly agreed or agreed with the following statements: As a result of having completed the iTour program: •I feel better able to identify the correct keywords to use in the library catalog and databases. •I feel better able to distinguish between scholarly and popular articles. •I feel better able to decide if a topic is at the right level for research (broad, narrow, appropriate). •I feel better able to evaluate web resources Students also expressed a preference for the “ability to work independently and at your own pace during the iTour” (87% of respondents) over “would you prefer learning in a structured classroom setting” (3% of respondents). Comments made on course reflections, weeks after the instructional program, show positive feedback regarding the iTour including the following statement made by one of the students: “This semester I was able to develop my research skills to a higher academic level. The iTour I took in the library and the in class tutorials that were presented by the school librarians were crucial in developing these skills. The iTour walked me through the library showing me that there are a number of different ways to obtain research. The tour also clarified what types of sources were appropriate for academic research. Before I took this class, I was aware that the school had online research databases. However, I wasn't aware of how many they actually had available. I was able to find a number of very well developed scholarly sources for my writings this semester. One of the most important research skills that I gained this semester is that sometimes it is important to find one source at a time. When I start researching a topic, I obviously don't know that much about it and am trying to learn more. So, I found that if I am able to find a credible source that helps me understand the topic more thoroughly, it was beneficial for me to read that source and thoroughly digest the information. More often than not I was able to find key points and ideas that intrigued my research to go farther. My point is that I found that if I Search broadly on the topic I am looking for I can find a lot of sources. However, when I research in bulk like that a lot of the time I end up with information that is either not beneficial for my argument, or I end up with sources that repeat. If I take it one source at a time and digest the information in my readings I am able to develop a case book that not only satisfies my research goals, but also leads to the development of a strong argument.” Teacher Attitudes Responses for the instructor survey are shown in Appendix B. The instructor strongly agreed with the following statements: As a result of your students having completed the iTour program: •I feel that students are better able to identify the correct keywords to use in the library catalog and databases. •I feel that I feel that students are better able to distinguish between scholarly and popular articles. •I feel that students are better able to decide if a topic is at the right level for research (broad, narrow, appropriate). •I feel that students are better able to evaluate web resources. When asked what could be improved the instructor stated, “This question is tough – student response to the iTour is overwhelmingly positive, and they are more effective researchers. It seems like it’s done its job.” In addition the instructor later sent an email after having looked at the student reflections at the end of the semester and stated the following “As my students reflected on their progress over the past semester, the iTour and library sessions with you came up over and over. If you had any doubts as to the success of the project, the positive feedback I received is proof positive that it makes a wonderful difference in students' abilities.” ------------------------------------------------------------ What is your plan to share this project with others? ------------------------------------------------------------ I have shared this program with the MCCCD Library Instruction Council and with individual library faculty throughout MCCCD and at other institutions. I will be doing a short presentation on this program at the 2008 MCCCD Teaching and Learning with Technology Conference. After conducting further tryouts of the program in 2008-09, I plan on presenting at national library instruction conferences like LOEX. ------------------------------------------------------------ What, if anything, will happen in the future with this project? ------------------------------------------------------------ Future of iTour program •Additional tryouts with other disciplines will be conducted. •As per the instructional design process based on assessments and user feedback, the program will continue to be revised and improved. •Given the positive response this program has received from students and faculty thus far, it will become part of the regular instructional offerings at the library in the upcoming semesters. ------------------------------------------------------------ What, if anything, would you do differently? ------------------------------------------------------------ Revisions The data gathered from the tryouts revealed some areas for improvement. •Pretest/Posttest scores, shown on Table 1, revealed that students overall had a greater skills/knowledge gap as regards identifying keywords for online databases, assessing an appropriate topic level, and identifying criteria to evaluate web resources by. The instructional program can be revised to focus more time on these areas and not as much as time on identifying characteristics of scholarly/popular sources as the prior knowledge for this objective was quite high. •Comments on student surveys highlighted confusion about the encyclopedia module of the iTour in particular. Thus the section could be revised to eliminate confusion. Students also indicated an interest in more information being delivered on the iPod regarding web sources. An additional module could be created to address this interest while balancing the total length of time of the iTour. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below. |
web links |
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/learngrant/ |
supplements |
Program Development Report Spring 2008 (document) iTour Instructions for Students (document) iTour Pretest (document) iTour Posttest (document) iTour Script (document) iTour Worksheet (document) Sample audio file - Unit 1 (audio) Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback below. |
shareback |
A "Shareback" cites the places on the web that mention, reference, or use this MLX package, and "shares" that information back here (more about shareback...) Sharebacks can be generated automatically by weblog tools. |
extra |
Last modified: May-09-2008 Date created: Apr-16-2008 Visitor count: 978 Dublin Core Metadata record  This package is included in the Maricopa Learning Grants special collection. |
Maricopa Learning eXchange
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=2089
