The Implementation of an Independent and Self-Paced Online Library Orientation for Freshman Students and the Use of Sakai as a Quiz Management System (QMS)

Abstract

The Brooklyn College Library's Reference Unit developed the Library's Online Orientation Program (LOOP) to provide freshman students with an entirely online, independent, flexible, and selfpaced introduction to the library's resources and services. The implementation of the LOOP gave the reference librarians muchneeded time to focus their teaching on classes that require research. The LOOP includes an assessment component that was created and is managed using Sakai. Sakai was found to be effective in creating and managing the assessment, with minimal ongoing maintenance required. Reference librarians with serious time constraints can look to this model as an alternative to in-person library orientation sessions. Since very little has been written about the use of Sakai as a means of creating and managing online assessment, its benefits and drawbacks are outlined.

Redesigning library orientation for first-year medical students during the pandemic

“…Our report adds to existing literature on the use of games in academic library orientations [9] and its utility in engaging students by leveraging their sense of competition [10]. Our student feedback data is consistent with that reported by other academic libraries that have implemented virtual orientations: that it students found them effective and helpful [11][12][13] and in some cases even preferred them over in-person orientation [14,15]. Because we were able to compare student data from both in-person and online cohorts using the same survey instrument, our report helps fill the evidence gap reported by Dana Ingalls in her 2015 review of literature on virtual library orientations, who called for more quantitative studies on their efficacy [16].…”

The Effect of Literacy Skills on the Critical Thinking Skills of Mathematics Education Students

“…Besides, there has been a tremendous increase in scientific research related to information literacy (Maddison, T., Doi, C., Lucky, S., & Kumaran, 2017). Much of this scientific and technical literature focuses on literacy skills of this kind (Koneru, 2010;Nagra, K. A., & Coiffe, 2010;Oud, 2009;Summey & Valenti, 2013;Turnbow & Roth, 2017), examples of particular initiatives (Clapp et al, 2013;Georgas, 2014;Holliday et al, 2006;Webb et al, 2017), reviews of best practices (Blummer & Kritskaya, 2009;Dewan & Steeleworthy, 2013;Fernández-Ramos, 2016;Munn & Small, 2017;Somoza-Fernández & Abadal, 2009), analysis of their main characteristics (Fernández-Ramos, 2016;Saunders, 2018;Somoza-Fernández & Abadal, 2009;Yang & Chou, 2014) or studies about their usefulness (Anderson & Mitchell, 2012;Fernández-Ramos, 2019;Haber & Mitchell, 2017;Schweikhard et al, 2018;Weightman et al, 2017).…”

“Don’t Make Me Feel Dumb”: Transfer Students, the Library, and Acclimating to a New Campus

“…As noted earlier, framing the tour as a way to learn insider tips for success, and about library resources and services, may increase participation. We will also modify our virtual tour, the Library Online Orientation Program, also known as The LOOP (Georgas, 2014), and its attendant quiz, to deploy to new transfer students each semester. Perhaps most importantly, library managers need to remind public services staff to treat every semester as each student's first, and to be gentle and helpful to everyone to alleviate the transfer fog that happens in both Fall and Spring.…”