Building bridges with nursing students:

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• Building bridges with nursing students
• connecting how we want to teach
• with how they want to learn
• Margaret Forrest
• Andy Jackson
• John Lee

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Outline of Session

• Introduction
• Traditional and developing approaches to learning
• Workshop 1 How do you like to teach?
• Workshop 2 Learning outcomes
• Information Skills (IS) Teaching for Nurses
  Midwives at Dundee University
• Presenting findings of a small-scale study

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Traditional Approaches to Learning

• Training delivery methods
• Leaflets and guides
• One-to-one
• Small groups
• Lectures
• Using the educator-centred approach

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Alternative Approaches to Learning

• Constructivist approach
• Individuals building on their own experience
• Learning through activity and interaction with
  peers, experts and information
• Resource-based learning
• Learning through researching topics
• Problem-based learning
• Learning through problem solving
• Using the student-centred approach

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Further Information

• Learning and teaching column, edited by Nicky
  Whitsed in Health Information and Libraries
  Journal
• See especially
• Weller, M., (2004).Developing pedagogy for the
  Internet. HILJ. 21(1), pp. 74-77

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Workshop 1

• How do you like to teach?
• How do you think your students like to learn?
• Introduction to the library
• Referencing skills
• Web resources
• Literature searching (databases)

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(No Transcript)
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Workshop 2

• What are the learning outcomes?
• How do you know your students have learned
  anything?
• Introduction to the library
• Referencing skills
• Web resources
• Literature searching (databases)

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(No Transcript)
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Information Skills (IS) Teaching for Nurses
Midwives at Dundee University

• Programme developed gradually and grew
  organically
• Redesigned from scratch in 2000
• Library involved in the development of new
  curriculum from the start
• Information skills sessions articulate directly
  with the competence-based curriculum
• Sessions delivered using a variety of learning
  styles

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Developing A New Curriculum

• A new curriculum for 2005
• Outcomes-driven
• A greater utilisation of eLearning
• What should the new IS curriculum look like?
• It should continue to articulate with new
  curriculum
• The advent of NHS Scotland eLibrary allows us to
  introduce the idea of the Lifelong Library
• What do our students think about the IS teaching
  we do?

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Surveying Undergraduate Students

• Look at the different learning styles used
• Large-group lectures
• Orientation visit/tour
• Demonstration lecture
• Hands-on workshops in smaller groups
• Self-test quizzes
• eLearning using VLE
• Measure student attitudes to learning using above
  styles
• Not too much statistical rigour!

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How Do Librarians Like To Teach?

• In smaller groups
• In the Library rather than in a classroom or
  lecture theatre environment
• In an anonymous fashion
• Avoiding any form of assessment
• There is a tendency to want to use VLEs to take
  out the personal contact aspect

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How Do Our Students Like To Learn?

• They dont like to be bored!
• In the classroom rather than in a Library
• They want the Librarian to be visible
  accessible
• Self-paced learning is favoured
• but not in their own time!
• Avoiding any form of assessment
• Prefer hands-on for technical subjects
• They dont like to read leaflets/training guides
• They dont like everything done through a VLE
• but they would like more teaching done through a
  VLE!

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What Have We Learned?

• Our students have differing expectations of the
  learning process
• Librarians try to treat all students similarly
• Our students are actually quite keen on computers
  as a medium for learning
• Librarians sometimes find it hard to teach using
  computers
• Our students arent always the best judges of
  what works
• Librarians arent always the best judges of what
  works
• Our students want to be able to choose how they
  learn
• Librarians tend to concentrate on one approach

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Is There A Solution?

• We have adopted flexible approaches to learning
• eLearning/VLEs have helped
• We need to keep talking to students
• Do we know what they are studying, and when?
• We are involved in course planning and monitoring
• We are trying to get Assessment for IS
• We start with the curriculum, not with the
  Library
• We live in the students world we dont expect
  them to live in our Library world!

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• Building bridges with nursing students
• connecting how we want to teach
• with how they want to learn
• Margaret Forrest
• Andy Jackson
• John Lee