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New horizons: taking information literacy teaching from the
classroom to the MOOC
Karina Bradshaw. Subject Librarian:
Departments of Biology & Biochemistry, Physics, Natural
Sciences. University of Bath
Outline
• Background
• Creating the information literacy tutorial
• Learner feedback and analytics
• What I learned
Background
• MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) provided on the
FutureLearn platform
• FutureLearn, owned by the Open University, has 40
partners which include universities and non-universities.
University of Bath is a partner
• January 2014: University of Bath launched “Inside
Cancer: how genes influence cancer development”
Department of Biology and Biochemistry, led by Dr
Momna Hejmadi
Technical support within the University
e-Learning team:
• e-Developments Manager
• Learning Technologist
• Learning Technologist (MOOCs)
• What do they provide?• Filming, recording, arranging for transcripts, trouble-shooting,
analytics
The “Inside Cancer” MOOC attracted:
• 7,861 registrations
• 2.5% completed the optional pre-course survey
• Profile:
• 45 countries
• UK, US, Ireland, China, India, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Japan
and New Zealand
• Unusually wide range of backgrounds for a MOOC, from college
or ’A’ level students to health professionals, carers & patients
Post-course feedback was positive
• 94% of those who responded rated the course as
good/excellent
• 97% would recommend it to a friend
• The high quality materials and the engagement from the
academics were some of the best features of the course
• 34% of those who logged on to “Inside Cancer” stayed
for the whole 6 weeks
• Retention rates on MOOCs, in general, are around 5-10%
• September 2014: planned re-run of the “Inside Cancer”
MOOC
My remit
To contribute a brief tutorial about using search engines to
help find relevant resources beyond what was being
recommended
Creating the information literacy tutorial
How to teach… potentially thousands of learners
wide range of educational backgrounds
from anywhere in the world (with internet connectivity)
how to find quality information using freely-available
resources
in a 5 minute video
access to varying resources
up to 70 learners
more defined country profile & range of educational
experiences
to find quality information using selected academic
sources bought by the library
in 50 minute PC-lab workshops
When I normally teach…
What did I know?
• Short course: 6 weeks / 3 hours of study per week
• Pedagogy
• Content
• videos (12-14 minutes in length) with transcripts
• “articles”
• Recommended resources
• Self-assessment
• Learner engagement: online forum
• Academic engagement and support
The “Inside Cancer” MOOC week 1
• Time constraints
• Re-use/link to existing videos or create from scratch?
• Rely on external technical support or do in-house?
Creating the tutorial: initial considerations
• Aim?
• Search tool or information-finding process? Stick with what I
teach
• Audience?
• Pitched at those unfamiliar with finding scholarly information
and those wanting a refresher
• Resources?
• Scholarly literature / websites?
• Freely-available catalogues and databases / commercial
databases?
• General / subject-specific databases?
• Obtaining books and articles
Planning the content
Final structure of the tutorial
• Different types of information and how to find it
• Books - catalogues
• Journal articles - databases to trace journal articles e.g.
GoogleScholar & PubMed
• Websites
• Search tips
• Video highlighting the advanced search in Google
• How to evaluate content
Copyright-cleared material
• Permission to video Google?
• Permission to video a website demonstrating how to
evaluate information e.g. NHS Choices
• Images?
Time taken
Approximately 2-3 working days to create content, record
and review
The result?
A “no frills” recording of Powerpoint slides, with audio,
including a screencast of Google advanced search
lasting 6 minutes 32 seconds
Things to consider before the launch…
Monitoring learner engagement or enquiries and
considering contingencies
1st September 2014: the day of the launch…
England, G., 2008. Everybody scream [online]. Available from:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Everybody_scream_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1134052.jpg?uselang=en-gb [Accessed 10th March 2015]
Terror and
excitement
in equal
measure!
Pole position in the MOOC!
Comments
“Unable to download Dr.
Hejmadi's e-book, after
trying numerous times. Is
anyone else having
problems?”
“Audio is very quiet,
hard to hear”
Not a good start. Couldn't' download
the ebook, couldn't hear the video
because I'm hard of hearing, and
couldn't download the transcript of
the video. Course does sound
interesting though.
My sound is on
maximum but
couldn't hear the
video. Fortunately
it had all been
printed.
I turned on subtitles for the video
although I didn't find the sound
too bad once I'd turned up the
volume!
The audio quality is very poor, i
downloaded the transcript instead. Very useful tips.
I have the e book if u leave me a note on my
email I can forward it to u if this helps
Very helpful, every one should be taught this.”
“The best information
on the approaches to
search for information I
have heard.”
“Particularly liked the comparison between the different literature sources with respect to relevance, authenticity, up-to-date vs general information.“
“Great!! Thank you
Karina for the useful
tips and
information.”
“Amazing
information!” “Great advice. All
points I have used over
the years as I got my
Masters degree and
continued using for all
additional courses.”
“Very good information, i wish I'd had it when i did my
previous futurelearn course!”
“I will use this video lecture repeatedly to be familiar
with searching for articles, thank you Karina.”
Interestingly…
My favourite!
“Good tips. Especially about the web
search. But unfortunately in China
mainland, we have no access to google
now.”
“A useful and concise guide to basic search tools. The
audio was perfectly clear & loud enough on my Kindle
HDX. Lovely voice too. As others have stated applicable to
all courses. Thank you.”
• 7,016 registrations
• 14% completed the optional pre-course survey
• 90 countries represented
• Same as in January i.e. UK followed by US, Ireland,
China, India, Mexico, Australia, Spain, Japan and New
Zealand
Post-course feedback
• 96% of those who responded rated the course as
good/excellent
• 98.5% would recommend it to a friend
• 33% of those who logged on to “Inside Cancer” stayed
for the whole 6 weeks
Sept 2014 “Inside Cancer” MOOC figures:
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Less than high school/secondary
High school/secondary
University/college (Degree level)
University/college (Masters level)
University/college (Doctorate level)
2.58
17.42
52.9
21.61
5.48
3.46
30.52
38.89
21.86
5.27
Percentage of participants
September 2014
Jan 2014
Educational backgrounds of students
participating in the Inside Cancer MOOCs (pre-
course survey)
Week 1: Number of completions per step
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Number of completions per step
Step
“How to find quality information online” video
FutureLearn analytics
Unique visits 2,555
Those who marked completed 2,311 (32.9% of registrants)
Comments 111
Likes 39
Average time spent to complete “step” 18.61 minutes
Google analytics
How to find quality information online 4,209 views
Average time on page 3:43 minutes (how to combine search terms)
• The retention rate was equivalent to that for the “Inside
Cancer” MOOC (approximately 33%)
• 90% of those who visited the tutorial completed it
• It was one of the most completed steps in week 1
• Approximately 70% of comments about the tutorial were
positive
What can I deduce about the information
literacy tutorial?
• It takes longer to create than anticipated!
• Considering copyright issues, tracing copyright-
cleared materials and seeking permissions
• Using templates
• “No frills” is fine
• Take an international perspective
• Supportive discussion environment
• Analytics are interesting!
What I learned
• Partnerships
• Tutorials being requested for developing MOOCs
• MOOC: From State Control to Remote Control: Warfare in the
21st Century (launches on 13 April 2015)
• Raising the profile of information literacy skills
Benefits
Developmental possibilities
• Segmentation / differentiation / creating videos for
advanced searchers
• Re-use video? e.g. for final year students and/or
alumni?
• More work with the analytics
• Potential for comparative research?
In conclusion…
Ikluft, 2007. Photo of July 4, 2007 fireworks in downtown San Jose, California [online].
Available from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fireworks_in_San_Jose_California_2007_07_04_by_Ian_Kluft_img_9618.jpg?uselang=en-gb
[Accessed 11th March 2015]
A challenging but worthwhile experience!
Acknowledgements
• Linda Humphreys, Faculty Librarian, Science
• Katy Jordan, Faculty Librarian, Humanities & Social
Sciences
• Hannah South, Head of Library Academic Services
• Marie Salter, E-Developments Manager
• Dr Momna Hejmadi, Department of Biology &
Biochemistry
Karina Bradshaw.
Subject Librarian: Departments of Biology & Biochemistry,
Physics & Natural sciences programme
