Poster 1:

What Is Lost When Flipped Face-to-Face Teaching Courses Are Converted to Online-Only Courses?

Marion Kennedy, Heriot-watt University  m.l.kennedy@hw.ac.uk
Thomas Farrington, Heriot-Watt University  t.farrington@hw.ac.uk

Learning how to learn through development of good academic study skills, including information literacy (IL) skills, is a key part of university education. These study skills enhance subject learning, can lead to better outcomes for students and are transferable to the workplace and lifelong learning. Research suggests the relevance and impact of academic study skills teaching is improved when it is embedded in courses, delivered alongside course subject teaching and when assessments are aligned to assess these skills. In terms of IL skills in particular, collaboration between academic teaching staff and academic support librarians has been shown to increase the relevance of these skills for students.  This session describes course leader and librarian collaboration on a 3rd year undergraduate course taught online across global campuses.   With reference to recent literature, the session will discuss the approach used to embed information literacy skills in the course, the IL support offered and the alignment of assignments with IL content.  Methods used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data on the effectiveness of the approach will be described (a student focus group and a course entry/exit questionnaire assessing IL skills). Preliminary results on the effectiveness of the embedded approach to IL skills development will be reported and future research directions discussed.