Abstract:

Students and academicians in higher education had to adapt to remote or online learning quickly during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the biggest challenges was to keep learners engaged during remote learning because instructors and students had to be physically separated. This paper shows how the University of Malaya librarians delivered information skills courses during the crisis period to foster students’ digital literacy development. This involves collaborative active learning, empowering students to self-track their learning progress and setting learning targets. These are then broken down into modules according to the level of achievements so that students can self-assess and analyze their learning progress. By self-reflecting on their own achievements, students can learn and relate to the concepts more effectively. This paper also discusses practical implications that can be considered for better student engagement and strategies towards the adoption of the new normal as learning becomes deeper and more creative, and students are empowered to learn and being stretched beyond their limits.

Keywords:

Pandemic, student engagement, academic libraries, digital literacy development.