Abstract:

In 2013, the University of Arizona’s open source software program the Guide on the Side won an American Library Association Innovation of the Year Award. Since then countless libraries across the United States have used the program to create online tutorials in order to teach a variety of information literacy skills including how to use and get the most out of robust databases from across disciplines. Other libraries have used the program to teach students how to evaluate websites, how to create better searches, and how to search for medical information. The Guide on the Side was created by a group of University of Arizona librarians in order to replicate the hands-on experience students received when they attended a library session on how to use a research database. Librarians aimed to give students the guided instruction they received in face-to-face sessions. Sophisticated research databases are often difficult for undergraduate students to use, and they need both background knowledge and repeated practice to use a database successfully. With the Guide on the Side, students are presented with authentic tasks and are able to conduct “live” searches as they are guided through the database and learn how to use it to locate the information they need quickly.

Although a valuable and easy to use software program, instructors and librarians are often at a loss for how to create tutorials that are appealing to students and that are aligned with best practices for online instruction. This presentation and paper will focus on best practices when using the Guide on the Side to create tutorials. These best practices have been developed by the author and are based on current educational research focused in on online instruction and on usability studies with the Guide on the Side. Attendees will learn about the development of the Guide on the Side, how to download it, and how to implement these best practices in order to create learning experiences for their students that are both engaging and effective. Attendees will also learn about an efficacy research study the author is currently conducting that analyzes how students use and learn from the Guide on the Side. These preliminary findings will also be discussed.

Keywords:

Online instruction, tutorials, library, information literacy, guide on the side.