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Embedded Librarian Program: Librarians and Faculty Partnering to Serve Online Students. EDUCAUSE 2006 Annual Conference Spurring Innovation and Marshalling Resources October 9-12, 2006 Dallas, TX Victoria Matthew. Community College of Vermont: A distributed campus.
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Embedded Librarian Program: Librarians and Faculty Partnering to Serve Online Students EDUCAUSE 2006 Annual Conference Spurring Innovation and Marshalling Resources October 9-12, 2006 Dallas, TX Victoria Matthew
Community College of Vermont: A distributed campus Librarians and professors connect ahead of time. Librarians plan the library session. Librarians travel to the site.
Program Models • “Ask the librarian” thread in each weekly discussion. • Librarians incorporated into groups. • A librarian forum for specific weeks of class/specific projects. • A general librarian forum for the whole semester.
Program works best when… • An “ask the librarian forum” is set up in the discussion board. • The librarian knows what the assignments are, and can tailor responses and suggestions. • “Asking the librarian” is built right into the specific assignments • The faculty member reiterates to students the importance of “asking the librarian”
Challenges encountered… • Students email rather than post a question in the discussion forum. • Partnership approach not implemented. • Some students need synchronous handholding. • Not enough librarians!
New Directions & Meeting New Challenges • Chat • IP Video Conferencing & NetMeeting • RSS Feeds • Library Courses for Curricular Areas
Chat Meets the need for synchronous assistance, but… • Alternate platforms: • Meeting students where they “chat” • Tough for IT to support • Have to go outside of the class • Blackboard chat problematic but necessary on dial-up.
IP Video & NetMeeting • Meeting the needs of students with: • Reduced library staffing • A distributed campus
How it works…. Students & Instructor at location B Screen displaying NetMeeting image Monitor displaying IP Video Image Librarian at location A Monitor displaying IP Video Image Screen displaying NetMeeting image IP Video Unit Computer w/ NetMeeting running Computer w/ NetMeeting running IP Video Unit
Challenges of the format The library instruction sessions were deemed a success, but: • Technical details & difficulties • Teaching style adjustment required
Recommendations • Coordinate set up and monitoring on the remote end. • Coordinate handout distribution in advance. • Take into account possible delays in video by pausing. • Consider splitting up the session into lecture and hands-on practice with questions. • Discuss protocol for asking questions in advance. • Think about your teaching style/camera setup.
RSS Feeds • A great tool for getting automatically updated information for different content areas. • Blackboard makes it easy to add RSS feeds to any content area. • Concern about stepping on toes because need to post to content area.
Library Courses for Curricular Areas Enable us to : • Serve more students with a limited number of librarians. • Post content (like RSS feeds) without stepping on instructor toes. • Build a sense of community among students who are studying within the same curricular area.
Questions? Ann Schroederann.schroeder@ccv.edu Victoria Matthewvictoria.matthew@ccv.edu CCV Wiki: http://wiki.ccv.edu/index.php/Supporting_Online_Students