Flipping Engineering Information Literacy Instruction

Abstract

The UCLA Science and Engineering Library (or SEL) has a longstanding engagement with Engineering 183: Engineering and Society, which requires students to write an in depth team paper on a current engineering ethics issue. Each class section would attend a library workshop to cover key learning outcomes. With growing enrollment, however, this model presented challenges for instructional staff. Beginning in spring 2017, SEL addressed this issue by partnering with the team for Writing Instruction and Research Education (or WI+RE) to create instructional videos covering foundational competencies. For this project the WI+RE team clarified the intended learning outcomes and created storyboards for each video. They then created the videos using a variety of tools (including Camtasia, Videoscribe and Audacity) while receiving feedback from SEL staff. Each video addresses a specific learning outcome and outlines the steps to complete a process or navigate an interface. Interactive in nature, they encourage engagement by prompting students to complete specific tasks for their own research topic while watching, which replicates the participatory structure of the in person workshops. The videos also ensure that students receive a grounding in library research skills without devoting extensive class time to the basics, enabling librarians to make shorter visits to each section while addressing more targeted questions and more sophisticated research skills. We have received highly positive feedback on these videos from the class instructor, who has begun to incorporate the content into his curriculum and to post them in the class CMS as of summer 2017.

Cheney, E., Aponte, T., & Worsham, D. (2018, February). Flipping Engineering Information Literacy Instruction. Lightning Talk presented at the Southern California Instruction Librarians Works 2018, Culver City, CA. Retrieved from http://www.carl-acrl.org/ig/scil/