STLHE 2016 SAPES

In the summer of 2015, the University of Alberta Libraries began to create short, semi-interactive online tutorials covering the basics of legal research. These learning objects were assigned as a part of the Legal Research & Writing course within a blended-learning model of information literacy instruction. It was initially delivered to approximately 180 first-year Law students in two sections, and complemented by a series of in-person sessions with librarians. However, the tutorials were also designed to be openly available to the wider community.

Our initial motivation for adopting a blended model was a combination of course restructuring, staffing limits, and an institutional focus on online tutorials. This model allows librarians to optimize the time we have in front of students, by condensing the procedural and information-dense content into short, succinct tracks. It allows in-person sessions to be more hands-on, increasing active and skill-based learning. It also gives students another resource they can revisit online, in their own time throughout and after the course.

This poster will introduce our objectives, processes, workflow, and rational for adopting the blended model. It will also address some of the content-related, technical, and workflow challenges we faced. Finally, it provides some early assessment and addresses our ongoing plans to maintain, improve, and make the tutorials more accessible to a wider audience. Going forward, we would like to increase interactivity by including more interactive activities, and improve technical quality.