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LILAC award: Terry Charlton

Congratulations to Terry Charlton who won a LILAC  Digital Award for Information Literacy 2019.

Terry won the award for his fantastic work  in the University Library Liaison team developing Newcastle University Library’s Online Learning Resources.

What did the project involve?

The project started with in depth consultation with students. This highlighted a preference for rich media and short,  focused videos that could be viewed on a range of devices when students needed them.

After listening to student views a number of videos were produced to cover information literacy skills areas such as literature reviews, finding information and evaluating information. Attention  was paid to the style of  these videos which included background illustrations and animations. Other team members were the friendly face of the videos, which involved a bit of green screen acting. Take a look at one of the videos below:

The second phase of the project included the development of a new search planner tool which is a step by step approach to planning a literature search. This results in a personalised search strategy and can be shared with others, for example supervisors or the library liaison team.

Project successes

  • Over 9000 views of the videos in the first 6 months
  • 94% of survey respondents rated the videos as ‘very good’ or ‘outstanding’
  • Greater student understanding of information literacy issues
  • Using a flipped classroom approach enabled lectures to focus on areas where students demonstrate less understanding
  • A fivefold increase in visits to dissertation pages
  • The resources are accessible, responsive, device independent and mobile friendly.

Find out more

Terry has recently moved to work in the Learning and Teaching Development Service and if you want to find out more you can contact him at terry.charlton@ncl.ac.uk

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Star Case Study: Dr Rajesh Tiwari: Flipped Classroom Videos

Enhance the variety of teaching, create a resource students like to engage with and save time in the long run.  These are just a few positive outcomes Dr Rajesh Tiwari, School of Engeneering,  has seen through his use of videos when using a flipped classroom approach.

The videos work brilliantly well when Rajesh wants to give information about practical skills, as well as when there are difficult concepts that need some extra explanation.

Photo of Dr Rajesh Tiwari, School of Engineering
Dr Rajesh Tiwari, School of Engineering

Student Voice

Students have fedback some really positive comments about the videos: Continue reading “Star Case Study: Dr Rajesh Tiwari: Flipped Classroom Videos”

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Videos of Wenger-Trayner Keynotes Available Online

Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) in China recently welcomed social and community learning experts Etienne and Beverley Wenger-Trayner and have made videos of their talks and workshops available online.

The videos – recorded over a three day visit during which the pair were keynote speakers at the University’s International Colloquium – are all available online.

Each offers a short insight into the sessions delivered around social learning and communities of practice as approaches to teaching.

Both are global leaders in the field. Etienne has authored and co-authored seminal articles and books on learning, including Situated Learning (1991) where the term ‘community of practice’ was coined.

A ‘community of practice’, as Wenger describes on the pair’s website is a group of people ‘who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.’

He has also published Communities of Practice (1998),  Cultivating Communities of Practice (2002), and Digital Habitats (2009).

Beverly is a learning consultant who specialises in social learning systems.

She has worked with international organizations such as the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the International Labor Organization, and The World Bank.

The videos include their keynote address, interviews and a CPS/CPD workshop. They are quick to view and very informative, offering a range of tips and insights from two experts in the field.