World Campus Library Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 17
Sustained and New Partnerships
Student Comment: For an overall opinion of World Campus, the Penn State Libraries is the best part and makes it actually affordable for me to pursue my Masters degree. Thank you!
In this edition of the newsletter, the new Online Learning Faculty Development course, the Blind Date with a Book initiative, and an update on the libraries online content offerings including digital badges, Canvas modules, and the Credo Information Literacy modules.
World Campus Faculty Development
Blind Date With a Book
Education Technology
Online Learning Faculty Development Course
World Campus Blind Date With a Book
This is the third year that we will be offering this highly successful program. In this program, World Campus students have the opportunity to complete a simple form and be shipped a leisure reading book in their preferred genre from the library. Our goal with this program is to demonstrate the leisure reading collection that the library has and to introduce the library to a student who has not used it before. The form will go live for students towards the middle-end of January and then our library student outreach team will pull and wrap the books for students. They then receive the books in the mail with instructions for how to return the books. The form always fills up within a few hours of opening and the program is capped at 40 students. There are a few requirements to be eligible to participate.
- The person must be an active World Campus student.
- The student must have registered with InterLibrary Loan.
- The student must live outside of the local State College area to have materials shipped to them.
Library Instructional Technology Integration Updates
Digital Badges
There are three main ways that library instruction and modules are being offered in the online course space. These are through information literacy digital badges, Canvas modules, and Credo Information Literacy modules. I wanted to take a minute to provide a brief update on each of those efforts.
The information literacy digital badges have been used in over 15 courses and we have issued over 3,000 badges to students. The heaviest use is in English, EMS, and CAS. The most popular badge for courses to pick is Academic Integrity and the badge that students feel they learn the most from is the Lionsearch badge. We now have 15 badges to choose from and these undergo content revisions every semester to improve the learning experience. The value of badges is that students have to articulate and externalize their thinking and have active engagement in the learning process.
Canvas Modules
Sometimes, it makes the most sense for a Canvas module to be created that introduces students to valuable library concepts. The most recent example of this was with a political science course where students were able to view a module on research and information management skills that will be critical to a capstone they will be working on during the course. Some of these modules are found in the Information Literacy Repository but others are inserted directly into individual courses. Theses modules are built with the help of a designer and are ideal for any course level. The value of the modules is that they are infinitely scalable and the content can be tweaked and customized for different courses.
Credo Information Literacy Modules
Credo Information Literacy modules are also used to integrate information literacy modules into course spaces. Credo has an LTI with Canvas that makes it easy to import into any course. There are tutorials, videos, and quizzes, and all of the content is accessible. These modules have been used to support a variety of courses and are really good for introductory, foundational, or lower level courses. You can even pick and choose between the content to form your own playlist. The value of the Credo modules are that they are accessibility oriented and there are modules for virtually any information literacy related content you might consider.
Victoria Raish, Online Learning Librarian
Email: victoria@psu.edu
Website: sites.psu.edu/onlinelearninglibrarian
Location: Paterno Library, State College, PA, USA
Phone: 814-863-2597