Trying it on for Size

ABSTRACT

Most colleges are continuing to see growth in their online education programs. Academic libraries are attempting to strike a balance between traditional library offerings and new online resources and services. Determining how to allocate funds is complicated by the fact that many students in online classes today live near enough campus to come to the library. Should libraries at institutions where most online students live near campus devote scarce resources to providing services such as online reference? One community college library is attempting to answer that question by testing online reference with Elluminate vClass in a limited way.     

Nursing Student Library Usage Patterns in Online Courses

ABSTRACT

This study looked at patterns of online library usage of a sample of undergraduate nursing students (n = 82) from a medium-sized southeastern university. Specifically, information-seeking behaviors of nursing students related to electronic or remotely accessible resources (i.e., electronic databases) compared to physical library resources (i.e., reference books) were examined. Additionally, this study further investigated students' preferred methods for seeking additional assistance and information about library research, as well as overall satisfaction and usage patterns relating to library tools and assistance by librarians or other school personnel. Results indicate that these undergraduates preferred electronic resources (with particular emphasis on electronic databases) to traditional, in-person research. Other relevant findings and suggestions relating to electronic access and training with library tools are provided.     

Using Courseware Discussion Boards to Engage Graduate Students in Online Library Workshops

ABSTRACT

Librarians at Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries used the discussion board features of Blackboard courseware to create an interactive experience for graduate students at a distance who could not attend the on-campus “Literature Review Workshops.” These recently developed workshops have been extremely popular with graduate students across the disciplines and have generated a growing demand from distance education graduate students and faculty to offer similar information online. Reluctant to simply deliver content via an online tutorial, librarians sought to duplicate the workshop atmosphere by making the sessions available for a short time-period online, asking participants to respond to discussion questions at specific points in the workshop, and offering audio-mediated online demonstrations of tools and resources. Student feedback and follow-up requests for more workshops support the perception that this approach offered a rewarding learning experience that addressed their specific adult learning needs.     

Blended Learning to Increase Student Satisfaction: An Exploratory Study

Undergraduate nursing research courses are often difficult to teach due to the challenging content and lack of student satisfaction. To address this issue, two nursing instructors and a librarian embedded online discussions into an accelerated format, introductory nursing research course. The study was conducted over two semesters with two different instructors. The researchers investigated if using the blended learning strategy of discussion boards enhanced the learning experience and tested their theory with two measures: a weekly qualitative questionnaire and a post-study survey. Results suggested that asynchronous online discussions increased student satisfaction in introductory nursing research course work.     

Investigating critical success factors in online learning environments in higher education systems in the Caribbean*

ABSTRACT

Online learning has grown as a key method in education management over the last couple of decades. Studies have shown that significant investments in this technology are being made by universities, yet the full benefits expected have not been realized due to issues and challenges experienced by stakeholders such as learners and instructors in adopting and effectively using e-learning. This is especially true in developing economies where they may be attempting online delivery modes for the first time. In this study, we explore the question “What are the factors that influence university students’ adoption and use of an e-learning system in the context of the English-speaking Caribbean?” using an extended technology acceptance model framework. Partial least squares analysis was used to test the derived research model and found that critical success factors influencing students’ perception and use in online learning settings, particularly those within a developing economy conditions, include supportive cultural practices, access to computers, system or online environment availability, computer and online learning self-efficacy, user perception of usefulness and ease of use. These results have significant implications for university executives and policy-makers as they consider adopting online learning delivery modalities for users.     

基于尔雅通识课的大学生在线学习现状研究

尔雅通识课作为一种在线学习平台,广泛应用于高校公共选修课的教学。本文以X大学学生为样本,调查大学生在尔雅平台的在线学习情况。调查围绕学习动机、学习方法、学习时间、学习环境、学习效果以及学习过程中的重要他人等维度展开。通过调查发现,X大学学生在尔雅平台的学习动机、行为表现、学习效果等方面的特点和存在的问题并提出合理的改进建议。     

The Virtual Librarian and the Electronic Reference Interview

ABSTRACT

For many students, the World Wide Web is their main access point for library research and, therefore, libraries need to find a venue for the virtual reference interview. This paper discusses the use of the library home page as a reference tool and its importance in the online reference interview process. This article also discusses some of the research that went into the creation of a home page for a large, urban, academic institution, how this research was utilized, and how the resulting page serves as an online surrogate for the in-person reference interview.     

The Information Literacy Challenge

Abstract

Technological changes are occurring rapidly. As one result, students entering college are bringing very disparate computer skills and attitudes. Some students are reluctant to embrace new technologies; others demand electronic resources for all assignments. By considering the computer access and Internet resources available to elementary school students today, we can only imagine what our users of tomorrow will expect from libraries. Although college students may arrive at our libraries with increased computer skills, their knowledge of electronic information may be lacking. Definitions of information literacy and an overview of information literacy skills are outlined. The Digital Information Literacy program at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as the technological environment and facilities at the institution, serve as a case study for integrating information literacy skills into traditional services and partnerships.     

Centralizing Information About Library Services and Resources

SUMMARY

The School of Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona (UA) has a mix of local and distance students in its program. The librarian at the UA Library who works with this program developed a Web site that centralizes information about several library services and resources that benefit distance learners: online orientation and research guides, chat reference, document delivery, and more. Bringing together this information with a focus on distance learners provides a platform for delivering the library to all users, whatever their distance from the library.     

Librarian Participation in the Online Classroom

SUMMARY

As distance education courses increasingly move to the online environment, librarians are discovering new challenges and opportunities for reaching distant students. Collaboration with faculty is essential in reaching students who may never enter the library building. One such method of collaboration is librarian participation in online courses through “lurking” in Blackboard and Desire2Learn classrooms and monitoring discussion threads devoted to library research. Advantages such as improved access to students, course content, and assessment data are discussed, as are disadvantages, such as time commitment, varying expectations, and privacy issues. Considerations for librarians interested in “lurking” are outlined.     

Embedding Library Reference Services in Online Courses

SUMMARY

The University of Wyoming has a long tradition of providing library services to distance education students. As technology changed and enhanced the delivery mode of distance education courses, the library altered the ways in which it offered services to distance learners. The institution was an early adopter of Web courses, so offering library support in this new environment was a natural expansion of our services. This expansion supports the goals of the ACRL Guidelines for Distance Learning Library Services and the goals of the University. This article will describe the integration of library reference services into online courses.     

Information Literacy and the Distant Student

SUMMARY

This article discusses the development and implementation of a required, credit bearing online information literacy course at the University of Maryland University College. Key factors in its success include administrative support, student and faculty interaction in the online classroom, and outcomes assessment. Student persistence in the course is high, and grade distributions indicate that students are being challenged.     

Permanently online – Permanently connected: Explorations into university students’ use of social media and mobile smart devices

BackgroundWith the availability of mobile smart devices, many adolescents have developed the habit of being online and connected with other users almost all the time.ObjectiveThe aim of this paper is to provide a definition of being permanently online (PO) and permanently connected (PC) and to explore students’ current PO/PC behaviors.MethodsAn online survey was conducted with 178 university students in Germany to explore the intensity of their PO/PC behaviors in various social situations, the differences in being PO and being PC, students’ feelings about a possible loss of Internet access, and their online responding behaviors. We also shed some light on the associations between being PO/PC and various aspects of well-being, as well as between PO/PC and demographics and lifestyle.ResultsSmart device usage behaviors at night and behaviors in various social situations during the day indicate that PO and PC behaviors are occurring frequently. The results show that being connected to others (PC) seems to be more relevant to the participants than browsing the web (PO). Moreover, the participants expressed strong emotional responses about a temporary loss of Internet access. Coping behaviors in response to increasing number of incoming messages and permanent availability are reported.ConclusionThis exploratory study demonstrates the relevance of the concepts of being PO and PC to students, and points out further research gaps.     

Research Performance Support: Connecting Online Graduate Students from the LMS to the Library

Universities expand their online graduate programs daily, which challenges academic librarians to maintain research support and information literacy instruction for the growing number of online students. Performance support offers a scalable solution to the problems of limited time and staffing that academic librarians face. When embedded in the learning management system throughout a course or program, performance support provides point of need research help and scaffolds students' information literacy development. Librarians are able to focus their limited time helping students with their more advanced research needs.     

面向高性能计算的在线教育实践平台的研究与实现

我国在高性能计算专业人才培养方面存在短板,传统的课堂教学中理论学习居多,实践环节偏少。为提升我国高性能计算人才的培养水平,提供一个灵活可用的高性能计算教育实践平台成为一个亟待解决的问题。本文设计并实现了一个面向高性能计算的在线教育实践平台系统,包括在线课程模块、题库模块、互动社区模块、虚拟实验室模块。基于该系统,教师可以在线开展高性能计算的理论和实践教学,布置高性能计算相关作业和并行编程任务,也可以创建高性能计算题库。学生可以在线学习相关课程、提交课程作业、交流讨论、进行高性能计算编程练习。本系统的开发可以提升目前高性能计算相关课程实践教学的水平,方便同学们进行课程实践学习。     

Toward a Complexity of Online Learning: Learners in Online First-Year Writing

In response to the growing presence of online first-year writing courses, this paper describes a case study of two online first-year writing courses and addresses the questions: What do students in an online first-year writing course perceive as good study habits, and what helps them succeed? Data includes surveys, online discussions, course management statistics, and selected interviews. The study is supported by social cognitive theory described by psychologist Albert Bandura; this methodology allows for examination of internal, external, and behavioral characteristics of participating students. Results of the study indicate that students who rated themselves as making good use of study time also succeeded in the course. Insights from students include information about study activities, management of study time, access to technology, and attitudes about online courses. A surprising result of the study was that students did not consider communication with peers as a productive study activity, despite a deliberate attempt by instructors to build peer interaction into the course. Yet students also reported high levels of engagement and positive attitudes about online learning. The social cognitive lens provides helpful insights about these complex findings by examining the external, internal, and behavioral aspects of online first-year writing students in this study.     

Students and instructors perspective on blended synchronous learning in a Canadian graduate program

Blended synchronous learning (BSL) represents several contexts that enable to bring remote students into the classroom, in real time, by the means of videoconferencing, web conferencing and virtual world. As BSL seems to be more and more implemented in many higher education institutions, especially in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and given the recent interest and scarce published research in BSL, more studies are needed on this kind of learning. The purpose of this research was to explore students and instructors perspective regarding their experience in BSL, according to three dimensions: pedagogy, technology and organization/logistics. To meet the study objective, a qualitative methodology was adopted. The study participants were remote students (n = 4) and face-to-face students (n = 4) enrolled in a graduate program in education offering only blended synchronous courses, and instructors (n = 5) in this program. Semi-structured interviews were selected as the data collection method. Nine sub-themes in reference to the three dimensions emerged from the study participants. They have also highlighted some challenges associated with BSL. The results reported in this study should provide faculties and higher education administrators with additional information and guidance, based on empirical data, on the use of BSL if they wish to implement it in academic programs. Moreover, in regard to the challenges revealed by the study participants, the results will permit to surpass the obstacles when implementing BSL successfully.     

Keep IT Simple

SUMMARY

Distance education students are often goal-oriented and task-driven. They do not appreciate roadblocks that prevent them from gaining access to the information or services they need to complete their course objectives. However, Web-based reference support sites are sometimes more frustrating than helpful. This article discusses some of the difficulties of accessing reference services faced by distance education students and examines ways in which librarians should “keep IT simple” when designing the tools and methods to access reference support.     

Software verification and graph similarity for automated evaluation of students’ assignments

ContextThe number of students enrolled in universities at standard and on-line programming courses is rapidly increasing. This calls for automated evaluation of students assignments.ObjectiveWe aim to develop methods and tools for objective and reliable automated grading that can also provide substantial and comprehensible feedback. Our approach targets introductory programming courses, which have a number of specific features and goals. The benefits are twofold: reducing the workload for teachers, and providing helpful feedback to students in the process of learning.MethodFor sophisticated automated evaluation of students’ programs, our grading framework combines results of three approaches (i) testing, (ii) software verification, and (iii) control flow graph similarity measurement. We present our tools for software verification and control flow graph similarity measurement, which are publicly available and open source. The tools are based on an intermediate code representation, so they could be applied to a number of programming languages.ResultsEmpirical evaluation of the proposed grading framework is performed on a corpus of programs written by university students in programming language C within an introductory programming course. Results of the evaluation show that the synergy of proposed approaches improves the quality and precision of automated grading and that automatically generated grades are highly correlated with instructor-assigned grades. Also, the results show that our approach can be trained to adapt to teacher’s grading style.ConclusionsIn this paper we integrate several techniques for evaluation of student’s assignments. The obtained results suggest that the presented tools can find real-world applications in automated grading.     

Saving time or innovating practice: Investigating perceptions and uses of Learning Management Systems

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are web-based systems that allow instructors and/or students to share materials, submit and return assignments, and communicate online. In this study, we explored the uses and perceived benefits of using a LMS to support traditional classroom teaching as reported by instructors and students at a large American Midwestern university. We examined two years of survey data focusing on specific uses of the LMS that emphasized either efficient communication or interactive teaching and learning practices. We matched aggregate user log data with corresponding survey items to see if system use was consistent with patterns seen in the survey results. Findings suggest that instructors and students value tools and activities for efficient communication more than interactive tools for innovating existing practices. However, survey item analysis reveals that instructors and students also highly value the teaching and learning tools within the LMS.