LIBRARY COMMITTEE. Wednesday 11 th May Library support for online and distance learners (ODL)

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1 LIBRARY COMMITTEE Wednesday 11 th May 2016 Library support for online and distance learners (ODL) Description of paper 1. This paper provides a summary of resources, services and support provided for online and distance learners (ODL). Action requested 2. The Library Committee is asked to note and comment on the contents of the paper. Recommendation 3. The Library Committee is asked to provide feedback which may be used in planning further developments or service improvements in this area. Background and context 4. The Library has been actively developing services for ODL since 2004, when the first fully online programme was launched in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. Online learning continues to be a growth area for the University. This paper covers current Library services and support provided to students of online and distance courses, and is intended to support an informed discussion among the Committee members around developing and scaling services to support our ambitions in this area. 5. In March 2016, the Senatus Learning and Teaching Committee discussed a fiveyear plan to expand our online Masters provision but focus on areas of likely high student numbers with an expectation of increasing to 75 degree programmes with up to 3000 annual enrolments. 1 The Committee also discussed plans to provide additional distance PhDs and to initiate at least 20 fully online Undergraduate courses/modules to create blended degree programmes. 6. The contents of this paper link strongly to the Education and Student Experience strands of the University Strategy. In addition, the continued expansion of resources and support for ODL is necessary to underpin the next Strategic Plan, which is in consultation phase at the time of writing. For example, under the learning and research objective of Delivering an outstanding student experience within formal learning and beyond, the consultation draft stipulates: Flexible pathways through programmes developing new online and blended learning opportunities and less traditional approaches to teaching and assessment; and enabling student co creation of learning 2 1 Digital Education: update for Learning & Teaching Committee (Paper LTC 15/16 4 N) 2 Strategic Plan

2 Discussion Definition of online and distance learners 7. For the purposes of this paper, online and distance learners (ODL) are those students matriculated on postgraduate taught Masters programmes which are delivered fully online, though there may be a short residential component. These students may be based in Edinburgh or the United Kingdom, but may equally be living in any country around the globe. 8. The very small number of postgraduate research students researching at a distance from Edinburgh would also benefit from the services described in this paper, but the size of that group is not specified in the data below. 9. We are seeing some degree programmes develop blended aspects, for example where the bulk of the degree programme is delivered face-to-face on campus and where one or more courses within the programme are delivered in an online format. The university is also participating in delivering MOOCs (massive open online courses). These two categories of student are not the main focus of this paper. Current numbers of online and distance learning students 10. The first fully online MSc at the University ran in 2004, and there are now 66 online programmes across 16 Schools. 3 7 Schools are not offering an online programme in session , but there may be courses in development. 11. CHSS is currently offering 23 ODL programmes, CMVM is offering 36 and CSE is offering Details of available programmes can be found at: There is a total of 2579 ODL students, 812 of whom are in CHSS, 1,732 in CMVM and 35 in CSE. See appendix for a breakdown of course and student numbers by College and School. Library support for online and distance learners 14. Library services for distance learners are intended to provide access to resources and support for those students who are not based in Edinburgh. In this section we outline key current service areas as well as key areas for improvement. Online resources and materials 3 Course and student numbers as of 5 April

3 14.1. Library staff work with course organisers to ensure that core materials are available electronically. Where materials are not available electronically for purchase or subscription on institutional licences, we work to identify alternative routes of access or alternative materials. In some cases, where institutional subscriptions are not available, course teams negotiate directly with publishers to purchase access for their students only, on an individual licence basis (these purchases are funded from course budgets, not Library funds) The Library and Information Services provide a range of online resources these are available to all members of the University, but are key to support ODL programmes. These include: Ebooks (over 412,000) Ejournals (61,351) Online bibliographic databases (243 general and subject specific databases) Electronic encyclopaedias and dictionaries Subject specific multimedia online resources (e.g. Henry Stewart Talks, Anatomy Online, VetMed Resource) Other general online tools (e.g. Cite Them Right, EndNote Online) Edinburgh Research Archive ( a digital repository of original research produced at the University of Edinburgh, including digitised theses Online digital image collections of unique material (images.is.ed.ac.uk, collections.ed.ac.uk) Where materials are not already available electronically, there are services to provide access: E-reserve Service Resources which are not already available online may be made available through the Library s E-reserve Service which can provide copyright-cleared scans of materials (e.g. book chapters, journal articles), within copyright allowances, for use in teaching. Scans are made available within password-protected course Virtual Learning Environments. Interlibrary loan service As students enter the dissertation phase especially, it is not possible to anticipate all the sources that will be relevant to their coursework. Students can use the Library s Interlibrary Loan service, within copyright allowances, to request scans of book chapters or journal articles that are only held in print by the library. Students also use this service to request scans of items which are not held by the Library. This service cannot be used to request physical loans. The provision of postal loans of physical items was discussed by Library Committee in 2012 and was not found to be feasible. We have also learned from some course teams who previously sent print materials to students that there were delivery problems, and our understanding is that this distribution has stopped. Request a Book (RAB) All students may use the Library s RAB Service to recommend books for purchase. The Library s e-preference strategy supports online learners by our purchase of the 3

4 online versions of recommended materials where available on an institutional licence, and only print where the online is not available. Other libraries Students are encouraged to take advantage of alternative libraries local to them for example, in the UK, via the SCONUL Access scheme Routes of discovery and access to resources The Library currently uses several systems to enable access to online resources. We aim to make these as easy to use and accessible for both off-campus and oncampus students: the combination of the Library s proxy server, Shibboleth authentication and IP range recognition, all working with a student s EASE login, will grant access to the vast majority of subscribed resources. The very small number of resources that use alternative modes of login are still accessible to the remote user, and directions for access are provided in the DiscoverEd entry for each resource and/or on the Electronic resources; usernames page on the Library website. DiscoverEd DiscoverEd is the Library's one-stop platform for students to discover library materials. The majority of the Library's collections may be found via this route, including books, e-books, journal titles, journal articles, databases and more. (NB In some subject areas however, there are some key resources which are not available via DiscoverEd and this will be communicated to students in those areas.) For ODL students, direct links to online resources are provided, and the services to provide access to printed materials is described below. Link resolvers Links to subscribed online journal articles are also integrated into literature databases both subscription (e.g. Web of Science) and free (e.g. Google Scholar) to try to accommodate the various paths that our students might follow in finding and accessing materials. Resource Lists Several ODL programmes make use of the Library s Resource Edinburgh service to create resource lists for their students (e.g. this service is used by all ODL programmes in R(D)SVS). Ebooks, ejournal articles and E-reserve scans can be linked to from Resource Edinburgh. Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) The login arrangements described above mean that links to subscribed resources may be embedded in VLEs and give the students seamless access. Digitised Heritage Collections The archive and manuscript collections are described online at Our collections have a range of strengths including Scottish culture, the research and business of the University of Edinburgh, and literary, scientific and medical work from across the world. The Library is currently working on a ten-year digitisation plan to digitise unique material, such as 4

5 University of Edinburgh theses, an d this will enhance the resources available to ODL students Induction and support Students are introduced to and supported in using the Library services in several ways. The modes of induction described below are offered however, because VLEs are closed, we are not able to gain a clear picture of how universal the uptake or promotion of library services is across all online programmes. Materials via the Library website, which has guidance tailored for ODL students Through generic online induction sessions, many delivered in collaboration with the Institute for Academic Development. These sessions can make use of tools such as Collaborate to allow interactive sessions. Through course specific online induction materials and timetabled online sessions embedded into programmes. For example, R(D)SVS provide an Academic Study Skills for PGTs course. This is online and offered to ODL and campus based PGTs. Online sessions using Collaborate or similar platforms are delivered at different times of the day, including out-with 9-5 or at weekends, to allow more students to attend. Where course teams have surveyed their students to identify optimal times, we work with those times Various degree programmes have requested Information skills sessions on literature searching, systematic reviews, citing and writing, and dissertation preparation these are delivered online and timed to fit in with course activities. Information skills sessions which are provided using Collaborate may be recorded and allows students who could not attend to view the session. Recordings also allow students to review the session, or a particular aspect of the session, at any time Furthermore, students can request individual literature searching support from Academic Support Librarians (ASL) via virtual meeting platforms such as Skype, Collaborate or Connect. This has been particularly helpful where a student would like trouble-shooting advice for literature reviews: through screen-sharing, the student and librarian may share a computer to work through complex steps while addressing questions about issues that are easier to show than to describe by . Virtual meeting platforms are also used to facilitate exploratory or planning discussions, for example on managing a dissertation project this is especially helpful where Academic Support Librarians have been asked to be co-supervisors of MSc dissertation projects. One challenge for this level of service is that it is not scalable, should student numbers increase The Library also provides support to course teams, for example through induction for new staff so that, in turn, academic colleagues can direct their students to relevant resources and services more effectively. As described above we can provide support in finding relevant electronic resources, and to this end, we find it particularly helpful to be included in early course development discussions. Library 5

6 staff can meet face-to-face or online with course teams, the latter being particularly useful if any of the course team are external to the University or based off campus. F Systems for feedback and queries from ODL Feedback and queries are gathered in several ways: Through Course Organisers and Staff/Student Liaison meetings Through online discussion boards Helpline queries handled via Unidesk Direct s from students Student surveys, such as the Postgraduate Taught Student Experience Queries may be addressed by , phone or an online meeting, depending on complexity. These modes are very effective and often receive positive feedback for example, one student who recently asked for advice on carrying out a systematic review on a diagnostic test accuracy topic replied by writing, thanks very much. Although I have not gone through all attachments, you have enlightened me a lot about the topic and I am very pleased that I have contacted the right person! I will keep things updated and keep in touch with you regularly Survey feedback is carefully reviewed to try to identify steps to prevent any issues arising again, and are a helpful trigger to open discussion about library-related matters with course teams Key issues and challenges identified by library staff From feedback obtained through surveys and communications with students and course teams, we have identified some of the particular challenges for ODL students: Access to online resources (e.g. lack of online availability from publishers, problems caused by limitations to internet access, connection speed, local regulations etc.) In some countries, internet access is very slow, making it practically impossible for our students to access resources. A report from one MSc student illustrates the problem well: because the Wi-Fi available at his local university is slow and unreliable, he uses his smartphone s 3G connection to download reading materials late at night when downloading speeds are better, then manually transfers the materials to his laptop for reading. Judging from queries received from students, many appear not to be aware of the variety of services available to them this may be because there is no Library induction as part of their course or because the timing or content of the induction was not quite right. Lack of student participation in induction can be influenced by issues out-with the control of course teams or the Library, e.g. late matriculation of students due to delays in receiving English language results, or access to systems pending unconditional firm application status. This has been identified as a key issue, because those awaiting test results can often be the very students who would benefit from access and support as early as possible, and who may find it difficult to catch up. 6

7 Different time zones can make attending live sessions difficult. Some students may feel they are missing something if they do not have face to face access to library staff Changes to improve support service In this section we outline some proposals for Library Committee s consideration. These activities could be taken forward during Run an updated version of previous surveys of ODL students experiences of Library services to identify student priorities for improvements Explore potential network solutions to improve the student experience of access to learning materials in key countries where we have growing numbers of online students Ensure that all online programmes, at a minimum, include an introduction to Library services as part of induction and in course handbooks Scope the feasibility of allowing new students to be able access resources prior to the start of their course, while matriculation is being finalised. This would enable pre-course induction activities that include those students awaiting unconditional firm application status. F Explore potential scalable approaches to one-to-one research support, using virtual meeting platforms. This allows a student to show an ASL how they carry out a literature search, in real time, with ASL feedback. This is currently done to a limited extent by screen sharing in e.g. Skype, but could be more systematically rolled out To further scope an agenda for service development, systematically gather targeted feedback from current students and staff involved in ODL courses: The UoE Survey Team will be requested to include targeted ODL questions in relevant user surveys College library committees or equivalents will be asked for input Course survey teams will be asked to ensure Library provision is included in student evaluations Services provided at comparator institutions with an online learning portfolio will be researched to identify anything that Edinburgh might wish to explore. Resource implications 15. No additional resource is being requested to complete the exploratory activities proposed above, which can be undertaken by Library staff in conjunction with relevant colleagues. Should any service development costs be identified as a result of the research and information gathering described in section 7.6, those will be handled as separate pieces of work. Risk Management 16. The risks centre around our ability to provide quality services to ODL students. There are no risks associated with this paper. 7

8 Equality & Diversity 17. Equality and diversity will be addressed in any service developments and an Equality Impact Assessment will be compiled as appropriate. Next steps/implications 18. This paper will be discussed at College Library Committees or equivalents. An update paper will be presented to Library Committee in 2016/17. Consultation 19. The paper has been compiled with the help of the Academic Support Librarians and University Library and Collections colleagues, and the paper has been reviewed by the Library Management Team. Further information 20. Authors Marshall Dozier and Fiona Brown Academic Support Librarians Library Academic Support Team Presenter Richard Battersby Head of Library Academic Support 29 April 2016 Freedom of Information 21. Open Appendix I: Breakdown of ODL course and student numbers by College and School 8

9 Appendix I: Breakdown of ODL course and student numbers by College and School College School Number of courses by School Number of students by College/School Number of courses by College 23 CHSS 812 (9 of which listed as CHSS) Business 0 Divinity 0 Economics 0 Edinburgh College of Art 2 62 Education (Moray House) Health in Social Science 2 46 History, Classics and Archaeology 1 92 Law Literatures, Languages and Cultures 2 60 Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences 1 50 Social and Political Science 4 65 CMVM Biomedical Sciences Clinical Sciences Edinburgh Medical School Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies CSE 35 7 Biological Sciences 2 17 Chemistry 1 2 Engineering 0 Geosciences 4 16 Informatics 0 Mathematics 0 Physics and Astronomy 0 Total