Teaching and learning about libraries and information: some experiments and some experience

1. Teaching and learning about libraries and information: some experiments and some experience Paul.Nieuwenhuysen@vub.ac.be Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Universiteit Antwerpen Belgium Paper presented at theInternational Conference on Information Management ICIM 2005in Mumbai (ex-Bombay), India,21-24 February 2005

2. Some methods are described that have been applied in teaching university students about exploiting and managing information. - contents - summary - overview of this contribution

3. A few words about Belgium Belgium is a small country in Western Europe.

4. The target audience: university students in Belgium • Vrije Universiteit Brussel • Master Communication Studies (in Dutch) • Master Literature Science (in Dutch) • Master Science … (in English) • University of Antwerp • Master Library and Information Science (in Dutch) • Occasionally in other organisations and projects

5. The contents of the courses Information literacy Other topic Other topic Exploiting available digital libraries Creating a small and simple digital library Other topic Other topic Other topic Other topic

6. Methods for teaching & assessment: introduction Besides the application of traditional, classical, proven methods and approaches, experiments are going on continuously and more experience is acquired with less traditional methods.

7. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

8. Electronic learning environment Time Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

9. Methods for teaching & assessment: electronic learning site on the WWW • http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/courses/ • This offers for each course • an outline of the contents and aims • a description of the evaluation procedure • a link to the student discussion group that has been created for each course • slides used in classroom with explanations, exercises, references for further reading • a bibliography for each course chapter • Available for everyone through the Internet = “open access”

10. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

11. Methods for teaching & assessment: communication through the Internet • For each course, we have created a discussion group based on e-mail and the WWW. • This is available through the electronic learning WWW site for the course. • This supports communication • student  students ! • (professor  students)

12. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

13. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-operative learning (1) • Each student works not only on small individual assignments, but contributes also to a bigger assignment that is carried out by a group of students.

14. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-operative learning (2) • Some reasons why to organise group work: • It can enhance the group spirit of the class. • Students learn to cope with problems of working in group, such as • co-ordination and management; • heterogeneity in language, motivation, expertise, punctuality; • leaders versus followers… • A larger work can be realised, which is more motivating, more realistic, more interesting…

15. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-operative learning (3) • The groups are formed in such a way that they are NOT composed only of friends or of students from the same region or who speak the same language or who have the same level of expertise.Instead they are created on the basis of alphabetical order of the names of the students, because this guarantees heterogeneity in the group.Heterogeneity is desirable as it enhances the learning experience during the group work.

16. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-operative learning (4) • The co-ordination of the group work is organised by the group members as an exercise in management and democracy. • The groups compete to create the best report.So working with at least 2 groups is desirable. • Each report includes of course the names of the contributing students, but also their portraits and an outline of who contributed what.

17. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-operative learning (5) • Example 1 of group work by students: • Information retrieval about a particular subject that is related to the main focus of the curriculum

18. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-operative learning (6) • Example 2 of group work by students: • Building a small web site = creating a digital library, starting from a classical, hard-copy, printed document that includes structure, at least 1 picture and at least one computer-screen shot.This confronts students with many aspects of digital libraries, such as dealing with • analog to digital conversion; OCR • pictures with various resolutions and file formats • structure and architecture of a web site • HTML versus PDF versus Word-XML

19. Methods for teaching & assessment: co-op. learning & communication Co-operative learning is supported by efficient communication independent of place and time,through • the discussion group that has been created for each course • electronic mail • closed discussion groups that are created by the groups of competing students

20. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

21. Methods for teaching & assessment: student portfolios (1) • Besides a classical examination to assess the level of knowledge of each student, each student creates also a portfolio = a collection of reports concerning small assignments. • That portfolio is also used in the assessment.

22. Methods for teaching & assessment: student portfolios (2) • Some advantages of the portfolios are the following: • The portfolio is a direct, physical reflection of skills and knowledge, that is closer to reality and more satisfactory than a mark on an exam and that can also be shown to other interested persons. • The portfolio forces students to improve their presentation skills. • Creating the portfolio enforces active learning = learning by doing (“constructivist approach” in education).

23. Methods for teaching & assessment: student portfolios (3) • Some examples of the contents of such a portfolios: • A written proposal of an approach to solve a specific problem in an information-environment • The digital version of a personal WWW site created by the student, and a print-out • The digital version of a series of slides to support a live presentation of their personal scientific work,and a print-out of “hand-outs” for the audience • The digital version of a poster created to support the live discussion of their personal scientific work,and a print-out

24. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

25. Methods for teaching & assessment:study close to reality(1) • Library and information science is NOT the main point of interest for most students. Therefore, the illustrations/contents/subjects/examples used in teaching and for the assignments are chosen as close as possible • to the main focus, the core of the curriculum, and • to the personal interests of the student • to the “reality” of the student

26. Methods for teaching & assessment: study close to reality(2) • Examples of choosing illustrations: • The subjects of assignments in scholarly information retrieval are chosen so that they are close to the core of the curriculum. • Students learn how to present information by presenting their own scientific research to the whole group of students. • Students are guided to create their personal site on the WWW and to explain their scientific interests there.

27. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

28. Methods for teaching & assessment: peer assessment (1) • The report by each student is not only assessed / questioned by the responsible teacher / professor, but also by peer students who are member of a competing group.

29. Methods for teaching & assessment: peer assessment (2) • Some advantages of peer assessment by students are the following: • All students together can spend more time than the busy professor, to discover errors or weak points in the work of others, and more importantly: to suggest improvements. • The student who evaluates can learn from the different approach by another student to the same problem. • The students learn to have scientific and constructive discussions.

30. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

31. Methods for teaching & assessment: active learning • Less: • classical professor  student teaching • More: • question & answer sessions • practical work • presentations by students • co-operative learning • creation of a portfolio by each student • peer assessment

32. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

33. Methods for teaching & assessment: inviting feedback (1) • Each student is formally invited to provide some critical but constructive feedback on any aspect of the course, such as: • contents, coverage, illustrations, subjects • assignments, tasks, exercises • bibliography, recommended reading • the WWW site for the course • the educational methods applied • …

34. Methods for teaching & assessment: inviting feedback (2) • Why inviting the students to provide feedback? • Constructive remarks can lead to improvements of the course in future years. • Stimulates critical thinking by the students. • Students learn that constructive criticism is more difficult but more rewarding than simple negative criticism.

35. Electronic learning environment Active learning Communication through Internet Co-operative learning Each student creates a course-portfolio Study close to reality Peer assessment of students Students offer feedback on the course

36. Methods for teaching & assessment: conclusion: some recommendations • Consider co-operative learning as a possible additional method. • Consider asking students to create a portfolio. • Choose illustrations, examples, subjects of assignments that are close to the core interests of the students. • Consider peer assessment as a possible additional method to assess the achievements of the students. • Invite students to provide constructive, critical feedback.

37. Thank you Questions?