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Author(s) Bio

Lily Martin, MLIS Reference & Instruction Librarian Levy Library, Icahn School of Medicine and Mount Sinai Lily serves the Icahn School of Medicine and Mount Sinai community in all aspects of research and educational support, providing consultation services covering literature searching, conducting systematic reviews, and using reference management tools to streamline research. She is passionate about supporting evidence-based medicine and information literacy across the institution. Samantha Walsh, MLS, MA Manager of Information & Educational Services Levy Library, Icahn School of Medicine and Mount Sinai As Manager of Information & Educational Services at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Levy Library, Samantha manages reference and instructional services and acts as a library liaison to the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Samantha is passionate about ensuring that students become confident and adaptable information seekers.

Keywords

Academic Integrity, Virtual Instruction, Google Form, Engagement, Reference Management

Description of Proposal

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all library instruction at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Levy Library transitioned to virtual. This transition posed a challenge in terms of student engagement. When moving a virtual EndNote session online, librarian instructors needed a way to ensure that students understood the conceptual need for reference management software and developed proficiency during the session. This led to the creation of an interactive online form completed throughout the workshop, as well as an overhaul of the workshop’s learning objectives. Introducing a synchronous assessment tool allowed us to rethink the class itself and include an interactive component on academic integrity in addition to EndNote instruction. In order to realign our session with medical school priorities, as well as the ACRL Information Literacy Framework and the AAMC Standards, we developed new learning objectives. Previous learning objectives focused on technical aspects of the EndNote software, which remained a requirement for this session. Our new learning objectives were designed to incorporate tangible academic integrity concepts and skills alongside reference management and EndNote-specific skills. Using Google Forms, we created a form shared with students via the Zoom chat feature at the beginning of the session. Students were asked to keep the Google Form, EndNote software, and Zoom software open on their computers for the duration of the one hour session. Students completed the Google Form throughout the session, as each section of the form aligned with a specific learning objective. The Google Form successfully allowed us to track attendance as well as ensure that students worked towards each learning objective. All students that attended submitted their completed form within a few hours of the synchronous virtual session. Of the 107 students who submitted the form, 4 asked questions about EndNote functionality, and 1 student asked about library services. The majority, 27 (69%) students, used the optional “Questions?” space to say thank you. Students commented on the interactive nature as well as the usefulness of the content. While these statements were appreciated, we were most excited by the low number of questions about EndNote functionality (3.7% of all attendees). When these sessions were taught in person without a Google Form or physical worksheet of any kind, a large portion of the class would have clarifying questions about EndNote. This required instructors to provide 30+ minutes of one-on-one assistance to students after each session. An interactive online form may increase engagement and retention during online instructional sessions.

What takeaways will attendees learn from your session?

Attendees will learn about an easy and free way to increase engagement during online library instruction. Our poster will describe how library instructors used an interactive online form to facilitate the move from technical EndNote instruction to a conceptual session that addresses academic integrity concepts as well as introduces the EndNote software. Attendees will appreciate the value of a synchronous online form for increasing engagement as well as assessing students’ understanding of stated learning objectives.

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Student Engagement AND Assessment in the Virtual Library Classroom? Google Forms to the Rescue!

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all library instruction at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Levy Library transitioned to virtual. This transition posed a challenge in terms of student engagement. When moving a virtual EndNote session online, librarian instructors needed a way to ensure that students understood the conceptual need for reference management software and developed proficiency during the session. This led to the creation of an interactive online form completed throughout the workshop, as well as an overhaul of the workshop’s learning objectives. Introducing a synchronous assessment tool allowed us to rethink the class itself and include an interactive component on academic integrity in addition to EndNote instruction. In order to realign our session with medical school priorities, as well as the ACRL Information Literacy Framework and the AAMC Standards, we developed new learning objectives. Previous learning objectives focused on technical aspects of the EndNote software, which remained a requirement for this session. Our new learning objectives were designed to incorporate tangible academic integrity concepts and skills alongside reference management and EndNote-specific skills. Using Google Forms, we created a form shared with students via the Zoom chat feature at the beginning of the session. Students were asked to keep the Google Form, EndNote software, and Zoom software open on their computers for the duration of the one hour session. Students completed the Google Form throughout the session, as each section of the form aligned with a specific learning objective. The Google Form successfully allowed us to track attendance as well as ensure that students worked towards each learning objective. All students that attended submitted their completed form within a few hours of the synchronous virtual session. Of the 107 students who submitted the form, 4 asked questions about EndNote functionality, and 1 student asked about library services. The majority, 27 (69%) students, used the optional “Questions?” space to say thank you. Students commented on the interactive nature as well as the usefulness of the content. While these statements were appreciated, we were most excited by the low number of questions about EndNote functionality (3.7% of all attendees). When these sessions were taught in person without a Google Form or physical worksheet of any kind, a large portion of the class would have clarifying questions about EndNote. This required instructors to provide 30+ minutes of one-on-one assistance to students after each session. An interactive online form may increase engagement and retention during online instructional sessions.