Web-based database tutorials
Marion Kelt
Abstract
This article describes GCU’s interactive CINAHL tutorial and its evolution from a paper “work-through guide”. It is available on or off campus 24-7 and can be worked through as many times as required, providing access to training when the student needs it. The course uses split screen format, with a live session in the top screen and the step-by-step instructions in the bottom one. The article highlights the advantages and some of the disadvantages in using this type of tutorial. The format has been adapted to show Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Science Citation Index and Recal.
Why do it?
The original CINAHL tutorial was developed quickly to meet the needs of a new Nursing course that had gained late approval. The tutor arrived in the library announcing that she had 400 students to train in database searching during induction week. Originally she had requested a training video, but our experience has shown that video is not effective during the first weeks of term as students are so busy that they tend to fall asleep! Due to an unexpected staff shortage within the library we could not utilise our traditional small group “work-through” training sessions, so had to think of another training method. We had previously used a paper worksheet with screen shots of a guided search. This had been successful when backed up with a live trainer. The most practical way forward seemed to be to adapt this for use as part of our more general web-based information skills course. One of the principles of this course has been to make each section as interactive as possible to keep the students involved. My first attempt involved two windows, one running a live CINAHL session, and a second with work through instructions. However, this demanded a certain amount of knowledge on behalf of the user, as they had to flick between the two windows on screen. I decided that this was unsuitable as we have a large number of “return to practice” nursing students with minimal PC skills and they would be put off by this format. I took another look at our FrontPage package and it seemed that I could take our existing text and examples and incorporate them into a “frames” format. This would allow an upper screen showing a live database session, and instructions on the lower part. I felt that this would be a more suitable format, though it may still present some problems for the novice windows user. This was more easily said than done, but with some effort, I managed to get the first version up and running in time to meet the needs of this group of students.
Advantages
Some of the advantages of this type of tutorial are especially relevant to nursing students as they are often out on placement, working at odd hours, or have family commitments which make it hard to attend more traditional library training sessions. Using the web tutorial, learners can work at their pace and as it is always available it can be worked through when, or as often as required. It can be accessed from any Internet connection as long as the Athens passwords have been set up on campus. One unforeseen advantage has been that once the original tutorial had been written, it could be fairly easily adapted for use with other resources. We now can offer online tutorials on Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Science Citation Index and Recal. Over the summer we have produced a guide to advanced Science Citation Index searching for the Science students, and plan some modules more tailored to the needs of social science students such as a PsychInfo tutorial. These will also be available online as part of the main Information Skills Course. Another advantage of retaining control of the files on the server is that I can quickly update the text in response to user feedback. This is especially useful as the CINAHL course has been through many versions. As every trainer knows, you think that you have written a very clear, concise set of instructions, but students will always surprise you with their new and wonderful interpretations of them. Using the tutorial with different groups of students has also been very useful from this point of view, as a group of Physiotherapists will react very differently to a group of Nurses. This has enabled me to make the instructions shorter and clearer. The students also said that they would find small graphics within the instructions useful, as they would help guide them around the main search screen, so these were incorporated.
Disadvantages
As with all web-based services, we are at the mercy of technical gremlins! The tutorial uses a live search session, so we can be vulnerable to overload of the service provider’s server. This can be a particular problem during the first week of the academic year. We have also experienced many “timeouts” when students are trying to log in using their Athens passwords. There is also our old favourite - network faults. These always get worse during the busiest part of the academic year, and when the whole system crashes, all you can do is call an early coffee break! Not all problems are technical, all trainers will relate to the perennial problem of students not reading instructions! No matter how short and simple you make them some students will just not take the time to read instructions properly. We have also found that because the two screens are independent of each other, Instructions can get out of step with the actions performed. There is not much we can do about this if we want to keep the technical side as simple as possible. Again we try to address this in the instructions and in the trainers talk at the beginning of the session. One last problem is that split screens not very “accessible” to visually impaired students who may be using screen reading software such as Jaws. We have addressed this problem by putting a note on the main index screen asking these students to contact their academic liaison librarian directly to discuss their individual training needs.
Who uses it, and how?
Staff and students of Glasgow Caledonian University are our main users. It is also used by Health Service Staff attending short courses on campus. Recently it has been made available to North Glasgow NHS Trust for Nurse training in conjunction with the NHSScotland eLibrary Athens passwords. The course is used on a self-service basis as outlined above, and we integrate it into our library teaching sessions. However, we also still use the original paper work through guide (which we can produce using different font sizes for visually impaired students) with smaller groups and offer one-to-one sessions. The type of training offered varies according to the needs of the user and the size of the group to be trained. We like to think that this gives us more flexibility to meet the needs of our staff and students.
Have a look!
The Information Skills Course is available from GCU library home page. No password is needed to access main course, only to access the databases Any feedback and suggestions (especially for a snappy title for the tutorial!) are welcome.
Marion Kelt
Assistant Librarian
Glasgow Caledonian University Library
Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow
email m.kelt@gcal.ac.uk
phone 0141-331 3021