Taming the Dragon

1. Taming the Dragon The Collaborative Revitalization of an Online Library Skills Course Carol Hansen Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah & Nancy Lombardo Eccles Library, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah

2. How many librarians does it take to create an online course?

3. Today’s Objectives • Who’s here today? • Attendees will • Understand the development of the Internet Navigator online course • Get details on its collaborative management and funding • View some of the newer elements of the course • Please ask questions at any time

4. The Internet Navigator Course • What makes it unique? • Long term experiment in collaborative online course development • Multiple uses • Emphasis on information literacy competency assessment

5. The Challenges • Enabling student learning • The ability to define, access, find evaluate and use information effectively • On and off campus • Across the state and around the world • Taking advantage of new technologies, new pedagogies and shared resources • NOT recreating the wheel at every institution

6. Technology Background • Library catalogs go online late 80’s • Email gets popular early 1990’s • Netscape Browser October 1994 • Internet Navigator launched Jan 1996 • Focus is on “what is the Internet?” • Infotrac goes on the Web June 1997 • By 1998 a whole new focus is needed

7. Utah Academic Library Consortium • 14 academic libraries • 9 public (U of Utah, Utah State, Weber State, Utah Valley…) • 2 private(BYU and Westminster) • Over 151,000 students • History of cooperation • Collecting, borrowing • Sharing (Pioneer), Nevada Libraries too • Instruction - Internet Navigator

8. Goals of Online Course • Meeting the needs of a diverse student body • Enabling use of curriculum for multiple purposes • Integrating latest Web technologies • Including latest pedagogies • Managing course for delivery at multiple institutions

9. More Goals • Support lifelong learning • Be learner centered • Emphasize collaboration across distances • Emphasize individual inquiry • Be structured enough for freshman • Enable exploration of values and reflection

10. First version • Included content on • Different versions of email (pine, vax, etc) • Gopher • Telnet • Catalogs • Search Engines • Evaluating information • HTML • FTP

11. The Shift • From - “what is the Internet?” • To- effectively finding and using scholarly content found in Web based library resources • Other shifts • Online and distance ed merge • Emphasis on information literacy and assessing student learning

12. 1998 • Our plans began • June LOEX of the West in Cedar City • New Tutorials – RIO, TILT, Net trail • The UALC Information for Life Task Force formed • Representation from all academic institutions in Utah • The State Library offered PL representation

13. Primary Goals for New Course • Promote information literacy in a global and dynamic information technology environment for all types of learners • Share curriculum • Promote shared resources in Utah

14. New Course Outline • 1. What is the Internet • 2. Getting Started with Research • 3. Information Navigator • 4. Web publishing • Interactive Exercises • Research Assignments • Topic selection • Annotated bibliography • HTML and Web publishing • Quizzes

15. Early Administration and Funding • Began with one time funding from HETI • For 10 librarians • Naively, no funding was sought for maintenance and ongoing support • Technical and server support was donated by U of U Eccles Library • Site has been mirrored since 1995

16. Information for Life Grant • Requested $25,000 from UALC funds for: • Staff • Project Director • Team • Programmer • Graphic design • Development and implementation of the new course • Ongoing maintenance • EXTREMELY time consuming

17. Program Planning • Development • Over a dozen librarians worked in teams to write first drafts of new curriculum over a year • Team worked with programmers and graphic artist • Implementation • Over a summer, 4 librarians rewrote rough drafts of modules • Group of 4 loaded new curriculum • Larger team proofed and made additional suggestions • Maintenance Team meets regularly

18. New course • Tested Spring 2000 • Over 1500 students enrolled each year at WSU alone • Very positive student response • Over 85% rated course as excellent or very good • Funding for ongoing maintenance

19. Assessment • Learning outcomes identified • Pretest, skills survey • Exercises – self assessment • Research project – practical • Quizzes – knowledge • Internal feedback forms • End of course evaluation – their feelings • Cyclical process

20. Still to come • Assignments requiring students to reflect even more • On their information needs,values, ethics • On how they use information now and in the future to gain knowledge in their areas of interest • New Student end of course evaluation • Assessing priority learning outcomes

21. What we’ve learned • Statewide funding is critical • Collaboration is fun • Collaboration takes more time • For those involved in development and maintenance • Results are richer and more useful • Students are loving the course • Students are learning

22. Demonstration of New Course and Questions? • http://www-navigator.utah.edu • Syllabus • Instructors (Global!) • /Faculty page – statewide clearinghouse • Flash Exercises • Call number • Evaluating • Questions? • chansen@weber.edu