Freshman chemistry literacy skills. (Engineering & Science Library)

The library designated internal funds to integrate information literacy skills into a core first year chemistry course. This class (3.091: Introduction to Solid State Chemistry) is taken by over 500 students each fall, the majority of which are in their first semester at MIT. To make this project scalable, students were asked to view tutorials created with Camtasia to assist them in their homework assignments (Homework 5c, 8b, and 12b). These assignments were graded by the TAs for the course, with a rubric created by the Librarian associated with the project. Because of the internal funding, we are able to closely collaborate with our Teaching and Learning Lab to assess this project, and are in the process of analyzing the data gathered in Fall 2007.
http://web.mit.edu/3.091/
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/courses/fall2007/3.091/

Goals:

• Become effective researchers by having the ability to search online research tools efficiently.

• Become effective researchers by being familiar with the MIT Libraries system and the Libraries web page.

• Develop a scientific communication foundation by being able to recognize the parts of a citation (source title, author, etc.) and what type of material is being cited (journal, book, conference proceedings, etc).

Assessment:

We have not completed our analysis of the data gathered. Assessment tools include surveys, homework assignments, and performance tasks completed by a control group. We plan on conducting further assessment as the students progress through their education at MIT.

Video tutorials delivered via Camtasia. (Engineering & Science Library)

The Libraries have been experimenting with screen casting using the software Camtasia. Tutorials were created for general topics and specific to a particular course assignment. In addition, working with Academic Media Production Services (AMPS) we have outfitted our library instruction room with video capture technology. Using a video camera and the software and services of AMPS, we were able to capture several hour long workshops for posting. At this time the links are not available to people outside MIT, but they will be linked on the video tutorials page along with the Camtasia screen casts.
http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/courses/fall2007/3.091/
http://libraries.mit.edu/tutorials/video/

Goals:

NA

Assessment:

NA