Videos supplement library chemistry instruction

For many years librarians at the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering (at McGill) have been giving information literacy sessions to U0 science students taking General Chemistry (CHEM 120). The entire laboratory period (2.5 hours) is devoted to information literacy with the theme ‘Scientific Inquiry’. Students have the opportunity to choose an experiment from the literature and modify it to suit their level and time constraints. They perform the experiment three weeks following the session, after it has been approved by the teaching assistants. This year’s class totaled 912 students but not all students show up for their lab session, perhaps because they feel that they can find an experiment on their own and use the time to complete other coursework. Still others come to the session and feel that they understand everything and so leave without trying out the recommended resources. For whatever the reason it is clear that in past years a number of students would arrive at the library a week or two after the session for help. To supplement the sessions and give students a chance to learn at their own pace I created four Camtasia video tutorials: 1) Finding experiments (3:35) - sample search in General Science Full Text (Wilson). Size: large / medium / small / podcast 2) Understanding citations (4:43) - points out the differences between citations for websites, books, and articles. Size: large / medium / small / podcast 3) Locate an article from a citation (4:59) - sample search in the McGill Library catalogue to find the full text of an article. Size: large / medium / small / podcast 4) Locate a book from a citation (3:53) - sample book search in the McGill Library catalogue. Size: large / medium / small / podcast. Although the first video is fairly specific for chemistry the other three videos are general in nature and can benefit students in other areas. The tutorials can be easily updated to keep up with rapid changes in the search tools utilized.
http://www.mcgill.ca/schulich/collections/links/course/chem120/

Goals:

• Provide a tool for self-directed learning with interactive features and video controls.

• Reinforce lessons learned during the information literacy session.

• Have the tutorial used when and where needed and at a time when it could be played concurrently with database searching.

Assessment:

The evaluation is still to be undertaken but will be.

Exercise-based library skills workshop

The workshop is held in a computer lab with two students to a computer. The class is centered around a research problem, closely related to one that students are currently working on. With a series of exercises, interspersed with group discussion, students are guided through the research and using the databases. The class typically begins with the Librarian asking some questions of the class to get them thinking about the company/industry/topic. Next I typically run a "think, pair, share" exercise where students talk in a pair about some aspect of the research problem and then we share it as a group discussion. Then in the share part I classified all the specific ideas into broad information categories (company, industry, regional/economic). After this opening exercise, much of the class is based on database exercises. After each database exercise the Librarian debriefs the class, revealing how the search could have been improved demonstrating further features of the database. Generally this type of workshop is for advanced students (MBA or 4th year students).

Goals / Assessment:

NA

Videos created with iPod version.

Videos were created by librarians to be used in Chemistry, and also on IPODS.

Goals / Assessment:

NA

Library presence planned for Second Life.

A McGill University Library in Second Life is currently being developed. Open 24/7/365, it will house a virtual information services desk open staffed by librarian avatars or helpful robots, virtual computers which will link directly to the Library website, catalogue, indexes, databases, e-journals and Google Scholar, and Library brochures and other instructional materials. There will be a virtual 3-D representation of the Cyberthèque on the roof that could be used by students for meeting and chatting. The second floor will contain an "idea" centre where students can explore and discuss Library resources together via displays on a large screen and possibly their thoughts falling through the air or binding together -- literal brainstorming (the thoughts might also be retained in the form of a log). The second floor could be used for meetings or classes as well. Power Point displays, Word documents, etc. could be shown on the large screen. Please note that not all of these features are available yet, and that some of them are experimental and may take some time to function smoothly. A communication plan is also being prepared.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City/214/122/24
One must have an SL avatar to access.

Goals / Assessment:

NA

IPods used to provide e-reserve music clips for student review.

Support of music teaching using IPods.
http://www.mcgill.ca/files/library-about/matters_07_01.pdf

Goals / Assessment:

NA