Browsing by Author "Byrne, Ann"

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    Developing a student-centred approach to academic referencing support for postgraduate distance learners
    (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), 2022-09-14) Byrne, Ann; O’Dowd, Irene
    In Hibernia College, students are expected to take primary responsibility for maintaining academic integrity in their studies. However, lecturers and support staff have an important role to play in educating students about academic integrity and helping them develop the skills needed to practise it. This poster describes a project initiated by the Digital Learning Department (DLD) to improve the College’s online referencing supports, in response to the high volume of referencing queries being received daily by the Digital Librarian. Recent changes to the focus of capstone research projects on Hibernia’s Professional Master of Education programmes, combined with the move to fully online instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic, further highlighted the urgency of ensuring that these resources met students’ needs. The project consisted of a comprehensive update of the College’s core Referencing Guide and the delivery of a series of live drop-in webinar workshops to address specific referencing queries. The project was informed by research literature on online social presence and academic literacies. A preliminary data analysis provides indications of student engagement with and responses to the new supports.
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    Enhancing student access and engagement: A reading list migration project
    (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), 2022-10-27) Byrne, Ann; Davey, Emberly
    In the summer of 2021, Hibernia College Library made the decision to adopt reading list software for all college reading lists. EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) is the library's discovery tool, and EBSCO Curriculum Builder is available as an add-on to this service. Therefore, this was the most economical choice. Furthermore, testing proved that the tool met the college's requirements in relation to reading lists. This project represented a significant departure from the previously established practice of presenting static PDF reading lists on the student VLE. The rationale for this change was to improve the student experience and streamline procedures for reading list management. Communication and collaboration with the college's staff and faculty were critical to the project's success since their support was essential to guarantee a successful transition. Additionally, IT support was necessary for technical installation. It took seven months to migrate existing reading lists, and the software is already being used to create reading lists for new programs. While there were certainly significant benefits to this strategy, there were also implementation hurdles, and the library faces further challenges going forward. Initial feedback suggests that student engagement with the reading lists and the library has increased since implementation.