Online information searching skills course in master’s studies will be extended to degree programmes of City centre campus in the academic year 2023-24
Information searching skills - centering students' knowledge
Tampere University Library is responsible for teaching information searching skills in the degree programmes. Information searching skills, which can be defined as the ability to search for, evaluate, use and share information, are strongly embedded in the common learning outcomes of the Tampere higher education community. Good information searching skills are also linked to the following of the responsible conduct of research, and hence to research skills.
In the first phase of the online course pilot in the academic year 2022-23 the target groups were the Master's degree programmes of the Hervanta campus and the Master's degree programmes of the Faculty of Management and Business (MAB) and the Tools for Thesis course of the two campuses. The course was delivered in Moodle, and students enrolled and received credit in Sisu the student information management system. The recommended completion time for the course was the beginning of the thesis process, in order to get a good start on the information search for the thesis.
Extensive feedback was collected from students during last academic year, in which they reflected on their learning. Based on the feedback collected and the students' experiences, the library decided to extend the online course to other degree programmes on the city centre campus in addition to the MAB.
The feedback from participants in the pilot online courses was largely positive.
– The online course has been perceived as flexible and useful. This made it easy for the library to make the decision to extend the online course to a large part of the other degree programmes at the city centre campus," says Mervi Miettinen, Head of Services, in charge of the information searching skills teaching in the library.
The online course Moodle areas will open in early September. Links to the online courses can be found on the library's Educational Resources website and in the implementation information in Sisu.
Why an online course?
Tampere University Library aims to develop its teaching of information searching skills to meet the needs and wishes of the changing information society, students and teachers. Online and digital pedagogical tools open up new possibilities for the development of teaching and the library wants to be actively involved in the development of the Digivisio 2030 programme. We want to bring together pedagogical expertise and use digital tools appropriately to support student learning. The advantage of an independet study online course is that students can return to the content of the course and revise important aspects of information retrieval easily and flexibly as needed during the learning process.
– The library offers information searching studies to students in three phases of their studies. In the Master's Thesis phase, the aim is to refresh previously learned skills and deepen previously acquired knowledge. There is also a need to update previous knowledge for students coming directly to Master's programmes outside Tampere University. Our online course has been praised in particular because it is not tied to a specific time or place, allowing students to complete it at a time that suits them during the academic year, both in relation to their thesis process and their own life situation, Miettinen continues.
– We at the library will continue to actively collect feedback on the online courses, Miettinen adds.
The library warmly welcomes students to the online courses in information searching! Let's learn together about scientific information retrieval!
For questions about the library's information searching skills training: opetus.kirjasto [at] tuni.fi (opetus[dot]kirjasto[at]tuni[dot]fi)
In library's guides, you can find links to the online courses, more information on learning information searching at different stages of your studies , as well as good tips and advice.
