Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Publication Title

Internet Reference Services Quarterly

Volume

13

Issue

4

First page number:

363

Last page number:

380

Abstract

Librarians at Oregon State University (OSU) Libraries used the discussion board features of Blackboard courseware to create an interactive experience for graduate students at a distance who could not attend the on-campus “Literature Review Workshops.” These recently developed workshops have been extremely popular with graduate students across the disciplines and have generated a growing demand from distance education graduate students and faculty to offer similar information online. Reluctant to simply deliver content via an online tutorial, librarians sought to duplicate the workshop atmosphere by making the sessions available for a short time-period online, asking participants to respond to discussion questions at specific points in the workshop, and offering audio-mediated online demonstrations of tools and resources. Student feedback and follow-up requests for more workshops support the perception that this approach offered a rewarding learning experience that addressed their specific adult learning needs.

Keywords

Adult learners; Discussion boards; Distance education; Graduate students; Library instruction; Literature review; Online workshops

Disciplines

Library and Information Science

Language

English

Publisher Citation

Rempel, H. G., & McMillen, P. S. (2008). Using courseware discussion boards to engage graduate students in online library workshops. Internet Reference Services Quarterly, 13, 363-380.

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