Active learning in library instruction revisited: feedback and development in veterinary education at the University of Helsinki

INTRODUCTION

Information Literacy (IL) teaching has been remodelled in Viikki Campus Library (part of the Helsinki University Library) from the Autumn term 2010. A follow up study started in August 2011 among the 1^st year students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. In this paper, we present how Active Learning  method was applied to the orientation phase of the curriculum.

OBJECTIVES

We improved the Information Literacy training in Viikki Campus Library by adding the elements of the Active Learning practices into IL training, which is embedded in the curriculum of veterinary education. The program starts on the orientation week in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The ICT Driving Licence study material includes a module called “Seeking information”; it is taught by the liaison librarian of veterinary medicine. The degree programme in Veterinary Medicine comprises a three-year Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and the students prepare a small written essay or article during their second year.

The students do information seeking exercises using their own topics given by the teachers. Thus the procedure of scientific literature search is guided by both the librarian and the teacher.

Like the other students of the Campus of Life Sciences the veterinary students participate in the library instruction course in the Viikki Campus Library during their orientation week. In the fall of 2011, for the second time, the introduction course was an activating one, i.e. the students followed an orienteering track in the library premises and collections with a questionnaire. The veterinary students were also given a feedback form. On the basis of this data, the Library evaluates its processes and developing new methods for IL training.

METHODS

In the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine there are early ca. 70 new students. Nearly half of them have studied two or more years in the University, some even have academic degrees. Some have years of experience in veterinary practices. The heterogeneity of the group challenges the Library in its IL training: how to keep all the students motivated in learning information seeking.

The orientation track described in our previous presentation in 2011 is one answer. The active learning method lets the students to choose a suitable way to study the use of the academic library. During the track, the support to find the answers was available all the time.

The questions 1-6 of the orientation track were common to all the students; questions 6.a-c and Feedback P1-P3 was gathered from every veterinary student.

Questions:

1.      What is Helka? (Checkpoint 1.)

2.      Where do you find course books? (Checkpoint 2.)

3.      Where can you get help for IT problems? (Checkpoint 3.)

4.      At the ”New journals” area look for a journal that interests you.
Which journal did you choose? (Checkpoint 4.)

5.      How do you book a group work room? (Checkpoint 5.)

6.      What do you find at the library’s top floor (4^th)? (Checkpoint 6.)

6.a. Find shelf  classifications  619 – 619:618. What did you found? Give one example of the title :

6.b. In which class do you find the books of anatomy ? (4th Floor)

6.c. In which class do you find the books of physiology ? (4th Floor)?

Congratulations! You found all the  checkpoints.

 Feedback:

P1 Was the track  (  ) easy  (  ) difficult?

P2 Would you have preferred making the library tour with a guide ? (  ) yes  (  ) no

P3 Other comments and suggestions :

RESULTS

The hypothetical result was that the students would easily find the veterinary textbooks from the classified shelves, but the library classification appeared differently to the new students. Without prejudices, they found different shelf classes – a lesson to the librarians how browsing can be made possible in many ways. The majority of the student preferred the orientation track to the traditional librarian-led tour, but some of them wished, however,  to hear the guide’s voice.

The results give a very positive outlook for the future courses. The library became visible and useful source for learning material, as well as a good meeting point of other students. Apparently this method or a similar one could be used in following IL training.

DISCUSSION:

In veterinary education, the Active Learning method has been used e.g. in teaching pathology: case discussions enhance students’ understanding of important concepts by demonstration of practical applications and generate strong interest in learning the subject matter.  Veterinary students’ learning styles are active, visual and they prefer to process information when engaged in physical activity or discussion. They prefer to learn with understanding, i.e. meaningful learning, to achieve a level of scientific knowledge to solve problems relevant to the disciplines being studied.

A lot of feed-back is gathered during the six-year curriculum of the veterinary student and the library may use these results, too. The faculty is awarded many times of its quality processes. The IL teaching embedded in the curriculum is one way to add quality in the learning process of a veterinary student.

The idea of learning by doing and solving problems using library resources seems to be fruitful in veterinary science; the academic studies intent to prepare students to become veterinary practitioners. In practice the evidence based veterinary medicine requires the good skills of information seeking.

According to the results of feedback questionnaires, the library will continue in the way started in 2010: active learning is useful in library education and could be applied in other courses. Feedback gathered from the veterinary students will also continue to get data comparative to earlier queries.