Abstract:

The higher education sector has been going through very significant changes in the last decade. Technology is integrated in every aspect of teaching and is nowadays an integral part of the learning experience for both students and instructors.

At Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar, the library plays a key role in developing students’ information literacy skills and building their lifelong learning competencies to survive in the era of fake news, false claims, and disputed truth.

A review of the library’s instructional program was initiated in 2017 by the Learning & Student Outreach Librarian and led to the revamp of our teaching program to include life-long learning skills and critical thinking competencies for future medical students.

An online course was designed to cover all aspects of information fluency and a series of basic, intermediate, and advanced e-learning modules were created each one covering 2-3 learning outcomes.

e-Learning modules were developed in the college Learning Management System (LMS). Each one consisted of online and print reading materials, audio-visual resources, websites and online teaching materials, and assessment tools such as quizzes and assignments.

e-Learning modules were integrated in faculty online courses and librarians were assigned roles to monitor and facilitate students’ learning and provide additional face-to-face class sessions for hands-on activities when needed.

The Learning & Student Outreach Librarian managed the development of this project by providing detailed and documented guidelines on creating the modules and developing the content. She also coordinated, with the college IT department, training sessions for librarians on the latest features of LMS and online learning tools.

During this presentation, she will be sharing her experience in planning, developing, and coordinating this project and will provide some insights on developing, integrating and maintaining online learning resources.

Keywords:

e-learning, information fluency, life-long learning skills, critical thinking.