ALA Webinar

Getting Started with the Course

Management SystemBest practices for academic

libraries

Lily Todorinova, Undergraduate Experience Librarian, Rutgers Universitylily.todorinova@rutgers.edu

Lindsay Johnson, Public Services Manager & Subject Librarian, HSS & Law Libraries, University of Albertalindsay.johnston@ualberta.ca

ALA Webinar

Overview๏ Why the CMS?๏ Designing your library’s approach

to the CMS๏ Project management tips &

lessons๏ Assessment

ALA Webinar

Overview๏ 2 Question Breaks๏ Polls๏ Discussion & Q&A

ALA Webinar

Background๏ ALA Annual in Las Vegas, 2014:

“Libraries in the Course Management System”

๏ ALA Midwinter in Chicago, 2015: “Assessing Integration of Library Services into Course Management Systems"

๏ ALA Annual in San Francisco, 2015: “Lessons Learned: Libraries, Course Management Systems, and Future Directions" ALA Webinar

Why the CMS?51%

11%

ALA Webinar

+

Source: http://www.educationdive.com/news/12-learning-management-system-providers-and-what-they-bring-to-classrooms/97613/

7%

The CMS International Market

ALA Webinar

POLL

ALA Webinar

Which CMS platform does your institution use?

ALA Webinar

A. Blackboard/Moodle

A. Blackboard/MoodleB. CanvasC. SakaiD. PearsonE. Other or homegrown

A. YesB. No

ALA Webinar

Has your institution gone through the process of

reevaluating (or changing) their CMS?

“ Embedded librarianship occurs in the online space familiar to students who log in daily for course work...it delivers relevant library resources and services needed by students grappling with course-specific research assignments in the campus LMS. Undergraduates associate this familiar online environment with the academic world. They may conveniently log in 24/7.” - Tumbleson & Burke, 2013

Why the CMS?

“Blended learning is generally defined as, “an instructional approach that substitutes online learning for a portion of the traditional face-to-face

instructional time”. - Owston, York & Murtha (2013)

ALA Webinar

Educause Report, The Current Ecosystem of Learning Management

Systems in Higher Education:Student, Faculty, and IT Perspectives

https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers1414.pdf

ALA Webinar

FINDINGS๏ 15% of higher learning institutions will replace

their CMS in the next 8 years๏ Faculty and students value the CMS, but rarely use

any of its advanced features and full capacity๏ User satisfaction is highest for the most basic of

CMS features and lowest for features that involve collaboration and engagement

๏ Although students’ general digital skills may be strong, they do not transfer to a proficiency in the use of the CMS

๏ 86 % of faculty and 83 % of students use the CMS

ALA Webinar

“To meet users’ needs and expectations, the next-generation LMS

should be mobile friendly, personalized, customizable,

adaptive, intuitive, integrated, and designed to enhance student

learning.”

ALA Webinar

QUESTION BREAK

ALA Webinar

Designing your approach

Creative Commons Image

ALA Webinar

LESSON 1: Keep it simple

ALA Webinar

Project name

๏ Students and faculty value traditional functionality

๏ Avoid flash, as well as page crowding

๏ Users do not want extraneous features. The more seamless the library content is, the less likely it is for users to view it as unnecessary

๏ Available by default is ideal. Opt-in works as a compromise

Project name

Example 1: Link to course guides (libguides)

Example 2: Simple “library

block”

LESSON 2: Relationship Building

ALA Webinar

Important Questions

ALA Webinar

What is the organizational, political, and technological context?

๏ Who maintains the CMS at your institution?๏ What is your existing relationship with that group?๏ What is the best way to establish contact with them? ๏ Buy-in from library administration & CMS administration.

Who should present a proposal on collaborating with the library?

๏ What CMS platform(s) does your institution use? ๏ Find your community of practice. Explore possibilities

for integration of library services.๏ What can you bring to the table?

Proposal Example

Poll

ALA Webinar

Does your institution use more than one CMS platform?

a. Yes.b. No.

ALA Webinar

LESSON 3: Scalability

ALA Webinar

Scalability: Staffing & Technical Considerations

๏ Build on existing infrastructure - link to existing services (ex. Embed a chat widget. Is using a third party software inside CMS a problem for CMS developers?)

๏ Direct contact with librarians, service points, or both?๏ Features that instructors can add themselves (ex. customizable

block) OR librarian added to class OR option for both. ๏ How can instructor “enroll” a librarian in the course - librarian role

available? ๏ Mapping to library guides to push content (ex. Canvas) -- guides must

be of constant excellent quality๏buy-in from all staff

๏ What does the mobile interface look like?

ALA Webinar

Scalability: Examples

ALA Webinar

Scalability: Examples

Automatic library modules in every newly created CMS course (University of Chicago)

Introduction to the Libraries CMS course for all students (Nova Southeastern University)

ALA Webinar

QUESTION BREAK

ALA Webinar

ALA Webinar

Assessment

Assessment

ALA Webinar

๏ Work with the course instructor to assess the impact of your presence in the course

๏ Analytics: Counting clicks, using LibGuide or Google Analytics

๏ Surveys๏ Case Study: University of Alberta

U of A Libraries: Current Stats on use of the Library Block in

Moodle๏ Total uses of block in all credit courses: 730

๏ Total number of eClass credit courses Fall 2015: 2231

๏ Library block is in ~30%

ALA Webinar

Google Analytics: CMS to Library Website

Google Analytics: CMS to Library Ask Us page

Surveys

ALA Webinar

What to Include in the Block?

Design update: new look!2013-2015 Current

Assessment: Use Study Survey

What Kinds of Questions Did We Ask?

General Survey Responses

Small Classes Visited by Librarian

31%68%

General Survey Responses

Small Classes Visited by Librarian

50%95%

DISCUSSION

ALA Webinar

Questions๏ How do you plan to approach this project? What

information do you need to start?๏ What are the pros/cons of a wide-scale

integration of library resources for all CMS courses?

๏ How will faculty on your campus respond to this initiative?

๏ Is there a librarian at your institution who works with user experience issues, including the CMS? What expertise do you need to get this project on board?

ALA Webinar

Questions๏ How do you plan to deal with scalability?

๏ What are your library’s measures of success for this project?

๏ Is the role of the library in the CMS worth assessing? In what ways can it contribute to showing the effectiveness of the library?

๏ What innovations in CMS design do you wish to see in the future?

ALA Webinar

Resources

ALA Webinar

UAlberta Libraries Bibliograpy and Examples:๏ Bibliography

Credit: Carlene Slobodian

๏ One-pager proposalCredits: Debbie Feisst, Angie Mandeville, and Lindsay Johnston

๏ Tips sheet for faculty/instructorsCredits: Kim Frail and Debbie Feisst

๏ Eclass promotional slideCredit: Hanne Pearce

Join the CMS Google Group!

ALA Webinar

Q & A

ALA Webinar

THANK YOU

ALA Webinar

Lily Todorinova (lily.todorinova@rutgers.edu)Lindsay Johnson (lindsay.johnston@ualberta.ca)