scholarly journals Electronic information resource use: implications for teaching and library staff

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Ottewill ◽  
Alison Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Resource Use ◽  
Information Gathering ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
First Year ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
State Of Affairs

Within institutions of higher education, teaching staff and library-based information specialists have tended to occupy separate worlds. Although there has been some contact, in the main this has been partial and intermittent. For first-year students, one consequence of this state of affairs has been the absence of a systematic and co-ordinated strategy for enabling them to acquire, practise and develop information-gathering skills. Teaching staff have seen their role in this respect mainly in terms of issuing students with reading lists containing a mix of books and journal articles, and underlying this approach is the expectation that information specialists will be on hand to provide whatever additional help is needed to access these resources, for example through the provision of introductory talks and one-to-one support sessions. Relatively few teaching staff have incorporated library exercises into their teaching and assessment, or adopted a more creative approach to information gathering by students, such as helping them use bibliographic and other aids to prepare personalized reading lists. Consequently, when students have been required to do this at later stages of their studies, especially in the context of preparing a dissertation, they have not been adequately prepared, and often find it extremely difficult to access and evaluate information resources effectively.DOI:10.1080/0968776970050204

Challenges Facing Undergraduates in the Use of Electronic Information Resources in Universities in Southwest Nigeria

2022 ◽  
pp. 327-340
Author(s):  
Atanda Saliu Sambo ◽  
Gbntogo-Saghanen G.B. Ntogo ◽  
Rita Eda
Keyword(s):  
Information Overload ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Computer Training ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
First Year ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Electronic Information Resources ◽  
Southwest Nigeria ◽  
Alternative Sources

This study aims at identifying the challenges facing undergraduates in the use of electronic information resources (EIR) in a university in Southwest Nigeria. The descriptive survey design was adopted for this study. The population for the study comprised 85,526 registered undergraduate student (2018/2019) academic session in the federal and state universities in Southwest Nigeria. The sample for the study was 398. Proportionate sampling techniques were used to draw the sample. Questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection from the respondents based on a four-point scale rating. The findings revealed high cost of access, power outage, information overload, lack of proper maintenance, funding of library services, among others. Based on the findings, the study recommended provision of alternative sources of funds, constant maintenance of e-resources, and first year students should be introduced to computer training, among others.

scholarly journals What Can Students’ Bibliographies Tell Us?- Evidence Based Information Skills Teaching for Engineering Students

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Yu ◽  
Jan Sullivan ◽  
Leith Woodall
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Internet Resources ◽  
Information Skills ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Department Faculty

Objective - This project sought to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses in locating, retrieving, and citing information in order to deliver information skills workshops more effectively. Methods - Bibliographies submitted from first-year engineering and second- and fourth-year chemical engineering students’ project reports were analysed for the number of items cited, the variety of items cited, and the correct use of citation style. The topics of the project reports were also reviewed to see the relationships between the topics and the items cited. Results - The results show that upper level students cited more items in total than did lower level students in their bibliographies. Second- and fourth-year engineering students cited more books and journal articles than first-year students cited. Web sites were used extensively by all three groups of students, and for some first-year students these were the most frequently used sources. Students from all three groups had difficulties with citation style. Conclusion - There was a clear difference in citation frequency between upper and lower level engineering students. Different strategies of information skills instruction are needed for different levels of students. Librarians and department faculty members need to include good quality Internet resources in their teaching and to change the emphasis from finding information to finding, interpreting, and citing accurately.

Online pre-laboratory tools for first-year undergraduate chemistry course in Uruguay: student preferences and implications on student performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 229-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolás Veiga ◽  
Florencia Luzardo ◽  
Kenneth Irving ◽  
María N. Rodríguez-Ayán ◽  
Julia Torres
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Chemistry Laboratory ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Laboratory Activities ◽  
Specific Teaching ◽  
Student Laboratory

As a fundamental part of their chemical education, first-year undergraduate students are substantially involved in laboratory activities. Despite the specific teaching staff choices on the main laboratory aims, students normally receive a vast amount of information during these activities. Apart from understanding theoretical content, fundamental skills such as manipulation, data collection and interpretation should be developed. In this context, learners could feel overwhelmed since they can only process a few pieces of information at a time. Indeed, our experience at theUniversidad de la República(Uruguayan public university) shows that many first-year students are in fact not able to cope with all the information they receive during laboratory activities. As a result, many of them only follow the experimental protocol automatically, without gaining significant knowledge or developing the necessary skills. In this work, we assessed the use of new online interactive pre-laboratory activities implemented for 252 first-year university students enrolled in a 12-module General Chemistry laboratory course. The student choice of interactiveversusmore traditional material was evaluated together with observed preferences regarding the different interactive tools offered. Besides, an online pre-laboratory discussion forum was also implemented and assessed. Both the interactive material and the discussion forum were chosen freely by the majority of students (61% and 79%, respectively). Interestingly, the choice was to some extent modulated by student previous performance. Interactive pre-laboratory material was more frequently chosen by low previous performance students, whereas pre-laboratory forum was preferentially used by high previous performance students. Finally, the influence of these new materials on student laboratory performance was statistically analyzed. Other personal and academic variables were also taken into account. Interactive material access was positively correlated with the final laboratory marks for medium previous performance learners. On the other hand, for lower previous performance students, the academic discussion between teachers and partners promoted by the online forum was positively correlated with their academic performance.

Academic libraries in Romania

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 625-634
Author(s):  
Octavia-Luciana Madge
Keyword(s):  
Academic Libraries ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electronic Information Resources ◽  
Medium Level ◽  
The Way

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the results obtained from a study on cooperation, collaboration and partnerships between academic libraries in Romania.Design/methodology/approachThe study is limited to the answers received from interviews with 11 of the 15 invited directors/heads of academic libraries from Romanian universities, but the findings can be extrapolated to assess the overall situation in this country.FindingsThe results’ analysis indicates that 73 percent of the participants (8 participants) consider cooperation in the activities of Romanian academic libraries as being at a low to medium level. National cooperation can be found only in relation to access to electronic information resources. Collaboration between libraries and other departments and services within universities exists, but collaboration with students and the teaching staff is less developed. Despite the small number of partnerships and collaborative projects in which Romanian academic libraries are involved, there is a desire to further develop such activities.Originality/valueThe study is the first of its kind undertaken in Romania and paves the way for further research on this issue.

scholarly journals Features of adaptation of first-year students to the conditions of study at the university

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-91
Author(s):  
L Shkutina ◽  
◽  
K Polupan ◽  
T Smagulova ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Optimal Mode ◽  
Rational Organization ◽  
The University ◽  
Student Team

The article is devoted to the problem of adaptation of first-year students to the conditions of development of educational programs at the University. The article deals with the problems of students' adaptation to higher education. It describes the difficulties that students have during their studies. The authors consider the im-portance of developing the level of adaptation from school, thereby preparing future students for the new sys-tem in advance. A research was conducted to determine the level of adaptation of students of the pedagogical faculty of the specialty «Preschool education and upbringing» E.A. Buketov of Karaganda University. The results of the study showed that the problem of adaptation of first-year students is one of the most im-portant problems and is still a traditional subject of discussion, and as such, adaptation is the foundation of training in junior courses. Students enter the student team, develop skills and abilities of rational organization of mental activity, realize the vocation to the chosen profession develops an optimal mode of work, also adapts to the teaching staff. Based on the results of the study, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were developed to speed up the process students’ adaptation to the system of education in higher education

scholarly journals Evaluating the appropriateness of electronic information resources for learning in pre-clerkship medical education : an eye tracking study

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Dinara Saparova
Keyword(s):  
Medical Education ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Mental Effort ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
First Year ◽  
Electronic Information ◽  
Electronic Information Resources ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
First Year Medical Students

Current U.S. medical students have begun to rely on electronic information repositories -- such as UpToDate, Access Medicine, and Wikipedia -- for their pre-clerkship medical education. However, it is unclear whether these resources are appropriate for this level of learning due to factors involving information quality, level of evidence, and the requisite knowledge base. This study evaluated the appropriateness of electronic information resources from a novel perspective: the amount of mental effort learners invest in interactions with these resources and the effects of the experienced mental effort on learning. Eighteen first-year medical students read about three unstudied diseases in the three above-mentioned resources (a total of 54 observations). Their eye movement characteristics (i.e., fixation duration, fixation count, visit duration, and task-evoked pupillary response) were recorded and used as psychophysiological indicators of the experienced mental effort. Post reading, students' learning was assessed with a multiple-choice test. Eye metrics and test results constituted quantitative data that were analyzed according to the repeated Latin square design. Students' perceptions and observations of their interactions with the information resources constituted qualitative data that were also obtained. Participants' feedback from semi-structured interviews and recordings of students' information acquisition behaviors were reviewed, transcribed, and open coded for the emergent themes. Compared to Access Medicine and Wikipedia, UpToDate was associated with significantly higher values of eye metrics suggesting higher mental effort experienced by learners when using this resource. No statistically significant difference between the amount of mental effort and learning outcomes was found. More so, descriptive statistical analysis of the knowledge test scores suggested similar level of learning regardless of the information resource used. Students' feedback and observations of their behaviors were informative in understanding and interpreting the differences in quantitative findings. Judging by the learning outcomes, all three information resources were found appropriate for learning. UpToDate, however, when used alone, may be less appropriate for first-year medical students' learning as it does not fully address their information needs and is more demanding in terms of invested cognitive resources.

scholarly journals Experience of distance learning for future social work specialists

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (119) ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Lyudmila V. Vandysheva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Offline Learning ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
The One

The current epidemiological situation, which has developed not only in Russia, but all over the world, has become the basis for rethinking the content, forms, methods of training future social work specialists. Distance learning has become the only educational technology that ensures, on the one hand, the isolation of students and their safety in the context of the spread of COVID 19, on the other hand, the mobility of students while continuing their studies. Beforethe official transfer of the education system to distance learning, in foreign and domestic practice of professional training of future social work specialists, little experience in distance learning was accumulated. The purpose of the article is to concretize the essence of distance learning for future social work specialists; identify problems and determine the conditions that improve the quality of distance learning for future social work specialists. The analysis of this experience allows us to conclude that the interactivity of distance learning presupposes the advancement of new requirements for the roles of the teacher and the student, the organization of their interaction. As a result of the author's research, problems were identified related to the implementation of distance learning (imperfection of technical support, unpreparedness of the teaching staff to conduct classes in a distance format, lack of the possibility of «live communication», insufficient self-discipline and self-organization of students, etc.), which do not contribute to high-quality education, personal and professional development of students. There is a lack of readiness of first-year students after the experience of distance learning at school to continue it at the university; sophomores generally prefer offline learning; third and fourth year students are more inclined to study in a distance format. The basis for the formation of a positive experience of distance learning for future social work specialists is: information and technical competence of all participants in the educational process, the formation of certain personal qualities, as well as the possibility of blended learning (traditional and distance).

Staff Accessibility and Online Engagement With First-Year Students

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-60
Author(s):  
Andrew Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
First Year ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Online Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Tertiary Teaching ◽  
Attractive Option ◽  
Personal Challenges

Studying online is becoming an increasingly attractive option to prospective students worldwide, yet external completion rates tend to be considerably lower than those enrolled on campus. Through an autoethnographic critical reflection process of teaching 27 first-year online students at a regional Australian university, this article considers methods for increasing accessibility and student engagement as well as managing personal challenges supporting online students from non-traditional backgrounds. Among seven key implications for practice, this article argues the need for genuine and open-ended interaction with online students at the early stages of a semester. It also recommends that teaching staff consciously recognize the limitations of providing academic support to non-traditional students. Based on these practices, this article confirms the benefits of critical reflection in higher education settings and the broader impact it can have on pedagogic approaches to tertiary teaching and learning.

Student bibliographies: charting research skills over time

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-265
Author(s):  
Catherine Lantz ◽  
Glenda Maria Insua ◽  
Annie R. Armstrong ◽  
Annie Pho
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
First Year ◽  
Library Instruction ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Point Scale ◽  
Research Skills ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Website Use

Purpose The purpose of this study is to compare two bibliography assignments completed after one-shot library instruction to determine which research skills first-year students retain over the course of a semester. Design/methodology/approach A rubric was developed for citation analysis of student-annotated bibliographies and final bibliographies. Each assignment was scored on a three-point scale, and four criteria were assessed: the quality of sources used, variety of sources used, quality of annotations (for first assignment only) and citation accuracy. Findings Students scored highest on the quality of sources used in both assignments, although there was a statistically significant decline in overall scores from the first assignment to the second. Students had the most difficulty with writing annotations, followed closely by citation accuracy. Students primarily cited journal articles in their annotated bibliographies and reference sources in their final bibliographies. Website use increased notably from one assignment to the other. Originality/value This research is unique in its analysis of two separate bibliography assignments completed by first-year students over the course of a semester. It is of interest to librarians teaching one-shot library instruction or any librarian interested in assessing the research skills of first-year students.

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