April 14, 2008 Meeting of User Education Committee

Agenda not yet available.

Members Present: Melody Allison (08), Susan Avery (ex officio), Paula Carns (09), Merinda Hensley (ex officio), Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (ex officio) – Chair, Lori Mestre (ex officio), Emily Love (ex officio), Nathan Yarasavage (08), Karen Hogenboom (09)

Members Absent: Ellen Swain (09), Nikki Wright (08), Bernice Harrington (09)

Additional Attendees: Melissa Bowles-Terry (Reference Library Instruction GA), Sarah Hjeltness (Information Literacy and Instruction Services GA)

1. Remaining Meetings for 2007-2008 (All in Library 428)

• May 12, 10-11
• June 9, 10-11
• July 14, 10-11
• August 11, 10-11

2. Campus Initiative on Student Learning Assessment

Inventory Draft and Plans

Based on last discussion of the committee it was decided that an instrument was needed in order to approach this task successfully. Lisa has tried to streamline the assessment document that has already been provided by the University. She asked that the committee review this document and pose any questions they may have. The following outlines changes that will be made to the form based on committee feedback.

• There will be a link to the statement on learning goals and the ACRL standards in the email that will accompany this survey.
• Examples of “teaching methods” will be added.
• The accompanying email will explain that their response is expected to be no more than one page long.
• The accompanying email will explain that their responses may be bulleted or in narrative form.
• The accompanying email will explain that completion of the survey is not expected to take more than 5-10 minutes.
• The email accompanying the survey should describe how the data will be used, for example, that this is an assessment of student learning which feeds into the campus accreditation process.
• The role of campus faculty in these assessments should be clarified for example the text in item 3 reading “evaluations by course instructors/program director” should include the term “ conversations” as well.
• The timeline should be made clearer. Participants should be asked to reflect on their assessment strategies over the last year.
• “Semester taught” should be reported.

3. Active Learning

Robert Slater has joined the committee and Yoo-Seong Song has resigned. It was decided at the last meeting that there are many short video that may be useful to instruction. A list of these videos is being compiled by the working group.

4. Courseware Integration

The group has been creating guides to help faculty create persistent links to full text items in various databases. Many vendors have been reviewed and instructions for persistent linking have been compiled. Each process is very different and some require many steps. All instructions include screen captures and a “finished link.” The group will now work on formatting these instructions for librarians. It was suggested by committee members that they also address student needs in this area. An additional suggestion was that this information be integrated into the ORR.

Subject librarians have been working with faculty members to determine materials which can be integrated into Illinois COMPASS courses. The Courseware Integration group has consulted with these librarians to integrate these materials into a course that will eventually be accessible to all faculty so that they can easily add subject specific materials to their online courses. Learning modules, which are set up like instruction sessions, are also being tailored to meet the needs of faculty. They can include quizzes, evaluations, notes, etc. A separate course will be created for subject librarians so that they can better visualize how the materials they are creating can be incorporate into WebCT courses.

5. International Education Week

There was a “1600% increase” in participation at International Education Week film events (Zero students attended last year. 16 attended this year.) Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday movie events were held in the Undergraduate Library. Refreshments were provided and publicity was improved a great deal this year. Next year, movies that hold “one time only public performance rights” may be shown in order to alleviate the limitations brought on by traditional public performance rights.

6. LibGuides Implementation

15 people attended the recent LibGuides training. The issue of private LibGuides was discussed. The Grab-n-Go LibGuide was shown as an example. Common content such as how to use Refworks and RSS feeds is available to librarians who are creating guides and would like “quick content.” Creators can copy content or link to it. Linking is recommended as pages will stay current when content is updated centrally. The Grab-n-Go guide is available at: http://uiuc.libguides.com/grab. A best practice LibGuide is being developed. It will contain suggestions for how to use LibGuides and keep things looking similar. The History Philosophy and Newspaper Library’s Digital Historian Series: Using Digital Tools for Archival Research  LibGuide was shown as an example best practice. This LibGuide is available at: http://uiuc.libguides.com/content.php?pid=6243&sid=39002.

Respectfully Submitted,
Sarah A. Hjeltness and Lisa Hinchliffe