YouTube For Library Instruction?

Here's an interesting article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on the use of YouTube for educational purposes. Has your library considered YouTube for library instruction?

Study Examines Student Research Behavior

Beyond Google: How Do Students Conduct Academic Research? is a departure from the findings of some other research studies on the topic. The study used student discussion groups, content analysis, and a student survey to determine that students may not be relying as exclusively as previously thought on search engine results and Wikipedia for research in lieu of library catalogs and databases.

Summary of ILI-L Listserv Discussion on Mini Instruction Sessions

There has been a pretty good discussion going on at the ILI-L listserv for a week or so about mini instruction sessions, which we have also referred to as "one-shot" presentations on this blog. Mary Murray, Instruction Librarian at Juniata College, was nice enough to post a summary of the discussion with lots of great ideas as an easily accessible MSWord document.

Handout Exchange

You may find some useful instruction/orientation materials in the CCLA Handout Exchange. CCLA (College Center For Library Automation) supports Community College libraries in Florida.

Ideas For Developing Interesting Research Assignments

The following resources may be helpful in developing new ideas for one-shot instruction sessions or creating assignments with faculty:

Ideas for Library Related Assignments
Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound

Ideas for Research Assignments
Library, Spokane Community College

Sample Library Assignments That Meet Information Literacy Goals
Lakeland Community College

Oregon Library Instruction Wiki
Oregon Library Association’s Library Instruction Roundtable

More Resources for "One Shot " Instruction

Here are some other resources for improving "one-shot" instruction classes. You may have to register as a member first before searching listserv archives:

• Search the LIBREF-L Listserv Archive
• Search the ILI-L Listserv Archive
• Search the FYE-LIB Listserv Archive
• take a look at PRIMO (Peer-reviewed instructional materials online, from ACRL)

Improving the "One-Shot" BI Class

• Make sure the teacher attends the class if possible; this stresses the importance of the class to students.
• Try some type of pre-test (paper or online) to get a sense of student's research skills and what to stress in your presentation.
• Tie any book/database searches to current events. This is really effective when you are researching a breaking news story somewhere in the world.
• If your class is in a computer classroom, include one or two searching exercises as part of the presentation. Students can email article citiations or catalog bib records to their instructor complete the exercise for credit
  
• Introduce a seemingly reputable web page at the beginning of class (you probably already have some of your favorites bookmarked like this and this) ... then use some evaluative criteria or compare to web pages on the same topic to show that the page is a fake, or at least dubious ... good segueway into evaluation of web pages and the use of subject directories like LII.
• Evaluation and feedback from students and the instructor can be useful in refining your presentation and deciding what should be stressed in a 50 minute class. We use an online form at RCC.