Building a Library Presence in Online Courseware
When colleges and universities are developing distance learning programs, library services are often an afterthought. Sometimes, only once the programs have started do concerns crop up about how libraries can provide services to distance learners. Obvious issues that arise when libraries provide services to distance learners include interlibrary loan policy changes, how to provide online reference services, and whether the library's online resources are sufficient to serve the new programs. However, something of equal importance is the online presence of the library.
Distance learners in many schools can do almost everything school-related within their online courseware. Their syllabi are there, their readings are there, their professors are there (through the online communication system), and their mechanisms for getting help are there. The only thing that may not be there is the library. Distance learners often have to leave their virtual classroom, visit the library Web site and authenticate into the library's proxy server to visit the library databases. For students who are probably looking for the easiest and fastest way to do their research, this sets up an unnecessary barrier to using library resources.
This is why it is so important that libraries build a presence within the online courseware. Distance learners should never have to visit the library's traditional Web site; all of the functions they will need can be placed inside of the library courseware. This includes information literacy tutorials and instructions on accessing the library's online resources, instructions for obtaining reference assistance online, interlibrary loan forms, a link to the library catalog, and links to library databases. Since only online students, faculty and staff can log into the online courseware, it seems that users could be authenticated into the online library as soon as they log into the courseware. Creating a presence within the online courseware can also put a human face on the library, encouraging distance learners to take advantage of what the library has to offer.
At Norwich University, we have built what is essentially a library portal for distance learners inside of WebCT. The portal includes information on accessing library resources; information on how to get reference and technical assistance; for each program, a separate page with annotated links to databases and Web links that are useful for research in that subject; a database access FAQ; a research guide and information literacy tutorials; and a page where they can get to know their Distance Learning Librarian (me!). In order to communicate directly with our online patrons, we created a news blog outside of WebCT and used Feed2JS to display the RSS feed in WebCT. Since building this portal, use of the library by distance learners has increased, as evidenced by increases in database use, reference questions asked and use of ILL by online students.
The more accessible we make the library for distance learners, the more likely it is that they will utilize the library resources we have invested so much money in.
Update: I just learned from the Distant Librarian that a new article has come out on just this topic. You can read "A_FLIP to Courseware: A Strategic Alliance for Improving Student Learning Outcomes" by John Shank and Steven Bell at the Innovate Web site though you will need to register (its FREE).
John and I have been advocating the integration of the library into courseware for a number of years, so IT is always good to see this being promoted to academic librarians. I would just add that integrating the library into courseware should be happening for local blended courses as well as completely online courses. We've got students who live near the library but may not visit or use the resources. Reaching them where they are learning - in courseware space - is always a good outreach strategy. John has written other good articles on this topic, and we have a resource page where those and other CMS resources for librarians can be found:
http://staff.philau.edu/bells/cmsresourcepage.htm
Thanks for providing a link to our Innovate article. It is appreciated.
I would like to commend the WONDERFUL staff in the IT division of our library at the University of Oklahoma (David Corbly et al.) - they have crafted an amazing array of RSS feeds for new book acquisitions, so that you can select extremely broad or extremely narrow call number ranges and get new book updates. I then use Feed2JS to display these new books inside my Desire2Learn course area, with information for the books specifically relevant to the courses that I teach.
You can see the array of RSS options here: Univ. of Oklahoma Libraries: New Books RSS
Just to take one example, here are the subranges for the P call numbers.
I absolutely love this service - it gives our library a dynamic online presence for the students right there inside our course webspace.
Unfortunately, I would guess that maybe out of the hundreds and hundreds of faculty on our campus, there are perhaps a handful of us making use of this service. Perhaps, in fact, it is only me. Ha ha. Still, it is an excellent service, and maybe someday the faculty will wake up and realize that instead of complaining about how the students never go to the library, they will use this great tool to give the students a REASON to go. New books! It's exciting stuff. I know personally that several students have gone to the library in search of the new books they have learned about via the feed in our Desire2Learn course this semester.
While some libraries may be thinking of ways to bring the library to online courseware, others may be looking to apply online courseware to libraries. I think Moodle might be a solution for some. It is at least worth a watch, considering it is open source and seemingly well-supported.
The opensource CMS site hosts a
Admin Demo for Moodle . You can play with it all you want, because the site re-installs the software every 2 hours. Go ahead, try and break it!
There are other eLearning product demos available as well.
Moodle is a great option! Our on-campus professors wanted their own courseware and since WebCT is so expensive, our Academic Computing staff set them up with Moodle. So we have a lot of undergraduate (on-campus) classes that are on Moodle and as far as I know, people seem very happy with it.