Introduction

The focus of this presentation is on the development of an information skills program for first year engineering students on the Web. When planning and implementing courses by flexible delivery methods, often very little attention is paid to the information skills needs of the students. Information skills training is more than teaching students how to use the library. Students studying by flexible delivery methods need to learn how to do research, locate, find, use, analyse and evaluate information. Flexible delivery does not mean that all courses can be delivered via the Web, nor does it mean that all the information students need is available on the Web. One of the myths widespread use of the Internet has fostered in recent years, is that all the information students need is available on the Web. Even if this were true, students still need to learn how to use the Web efficiently, critically and productively as the Web contains raw data. They also need to learn what they are NOT going to find on the Web and both direct and indirect costs of locating and retrieving useful and relevant information efficiently. The program we developed for first year engineering students is an example of creating information skills programs for flexible delivery.

Background

The first year engineering course was reviewed in 1994. A new subject, Introduction to Professional Engineering was introduced in 1995. It was designed by staff of the five Engineering departments, the Physical Sciences and Engineering Library and the Tertiary Education Institute to help bridge the transition from school to university while presenting students with an experience of what it is to be a professional engineer. It was based on a group project, in which the students worked in groups of five or six under the guidance of a tutor, to conduct an investigation and report their findings. Each group worked on one of five topics. The topics in 1997 were:

• UQ-City transportation links
• Smart solution to the Gold Coast - Brisbane rush hour traffic
• Design of a portable solar cooker for camping and bushwalking
• System design aspects for total recycling of all materials in a car
• Whey to go? - Disposal of whey in dairy products

The major aims of the subject were to provide students with experience:

• in working effectively in teams,
• in managing a project and time,
• in using the tools of professional engineering, including written, oral and graphical communication and the use of technical information sources.

The role of the library was to provide information skills training to support this subject. Our specific goals for 1997 were to facilitate the teaching and learning of information competence by using the World Wide Web and to assess the impact of the information skills component by examining their final reports. To achieve this goal we developed a Web-based workbook, the Webbook, to replace the print workbooks used in previous years.

Why the Webbook format?

We wanted the students to be able to learn information skills in a more flexible way to suit their workload, by making use of the Web. This offers many more options to access a variety of information sources appropriate to their project topics, for example direct links to the Library's catalogue, networked databases, company websites and other information sources. By offering information skills training on the Web, we were introducing them to the Internet as well. We knew that students needed guidance and training in learning to use the Internet, as not all of them were exposed to the Internet at school before coming to the University. Those who had used the Internet previously did not necessarily know how to use it in an efficient and critical way. The Library has been offering basic and advanced Internet courses to students for several years now. We also knew both from our own experience and from the literature that many students found learning on the Web exciting and interesting, similar to playing games on the computer. One of the findings of the Candy Report "Developing lifelong learners through undergraduate education" was:

" In addition to providing opportunities for self-directed learning, computer-based education is capable of individualising the learning process..." (Candy, 1994 p.169)

Candy also found out that it 'fired up' students' enthusiasm for the subject matter. It was important that the students could access the information in the Webbook and the links it provided to the Internet, the Library catalogue and the networked databases from the library, the department or home. One assumption was that most students had the technology available to them to access the WWW. While this is increasingly the case, the students could use the library's computer facility to access the Webbook, so those without access from home were not disadvantaged.

A lecture was given to the whole class about the resources on the Internet for engineers and how engineers make use of it in their jobs. This lecture was presented jointly by a librarian and a member of staff from one of the Engineering departments.

It was important for the information skills component to be fully integrated into the subject. Experience has proven that information skills training taught out of context is ineffective. An effective way to teach information skills is to integrate it into existing or planned courses that are directly related to the skills and competencies required to fulfil the requirements of the course. A fully integrated information skills component must also be assessable. Both experience and literature have shown us that students do not take unassessed coursework seriously. This was taken into consideration in designing the Webbook, which was not a stand-alone tool. It also needed to be available when needed, eg when researching their topic and creating the bibliography for their project.

Five different versions were created so each had its own Webbook, which led to information on that topic. We realised that by encouraging students to access and use appropriate electronic resources we could be adding to the myth that everything is on the Internet and it is all free. To overcome this, we emphasised during the hands-on seminars and the lecture that this was not true. Many of the reference books, textbooks and journal articles the students needed to use were available in print form only. A printed handout listing important print resources was distributed to the students to take with them when going to the shelves to examine the resources.

The Webbook exercises were designed so they could be computer marked. We decided to use this because it ensured consistent and standardised marking. It was also very efficient saving the manual marking of 500 assignments by librarians. Web-based exercises also provided immediate feedback to the students.

We received technical assistance from an information technology expert at the School of Information Technology and pedagogic advice from an instructional designer in TEDI during the planning stage. The information technology expert did the design and programming of the Webbooks which were mounted on the Library's Web server.

Library - Faculty Involvement

One of the strengths of the Webbook and the library component of this subject was the total integration of information skills into the course. Library staff worked closely with the Dean of Engineering, who was the subject coordinator, and the academic coordinators of the five projects. The Dean's commitment to the integration of information skills training in this subject was significant and encouraging. He provided the initial funding in 1994 for the creation of the original workbooks and subsequent funding to make them available on the Web for the 1997 academic year. In a paper the Dean delivered at a conference on 'First Year Experience', he remarked "One of the most exciting and pleasing aspects of the preparation for this subject has been the way in which it has been a collaborative effort by many academics, library staff, a senior engineering consultant, a higher education adviser and the tutors presenting the subject. This team approach mirrors the essential experience that we wish the students to have in the subject." Prior to beginning of the semester librarians visited each of the subject coordinators to discuss the objectives of the information skills component and to ask for their input even though the subject has been in existence for two years, most of the coordinators were different as they change from year to year. We sought agreement from each of the coordinators on the overall goal of the information skills program which was

"to produce graduates who have the capacity to locate, retrieve, analyse and use information from the available contemporary resources using the most efficient methodology".

We asked the coordinators to encourage students to use the skills they learnt from the information skills training when researching for their projects. We also asked them to hand the final project reports to library staff at the end of the semester to assess the impact of the information skills training on their research and the bibliography.

Library staff were also involved in tutor training because the tutors are the main contact persons for the students, and they needed to be aware of the information skills component and its goals. When the students attended the library workshop, the tutors came along with them. We stressed that tutors were not considered to replace the librarians, but we wanted them to be well informed about what the students were expected to do and why, so that tutors can guide them to seek assistance from the librarians and/or the Webbook if needed.

Delivery of the Webbooks

The students, in groups of twenty were introduced to the concept of Webbooks during a one hour seminar they attended in the Library's Computer Facility which is equipped with 16 Pentium PC's connected to the Library's network of databases and the Internet during the first few weeks of the first semester. There were just over 500 students in the class and approximately 100 were assigned to each project. The information skills sessions helped those who were not familiar with the Internet to start using it. They were encouraged to come to the Library's computer facility anytime to practise their Internet skills and to use the information sources presented to them in the Webbooks to do research for their projects. Librarians made themselves available both in person and by email to answer questions.

All sources listed in the Webbooks were chosen carefully by librarians to make sure they were relevant to each of the project topics. Hypertext capabilities allowed the students access point of use assistance, such as the glossary and links to other Web pages as well as the Library's Web catalogue and networked databases, such as Applied Science and Technology Index (ASTI). We identified one of the textbooks in full-text for one of the projects on the Web and provided a link from the Webbook to the textbook.

Evaluation and assessment

Several different tools were used to evaluate both the effectiveness of the program and the students' learning. These were:

• Consultation with teaching staff while the Webbook was in preparation,
• Feedback from the tutors during the implementation of the program,
• Feedback from students while they were using it via email and verbally,
• The Webbook exercises - 6% of the assessment,
• The final project report and the bibliography - 4% of the assessment,
• Survey of students to get feedback on the program as a whole,
• Feedback from teaching staff at the end of the program,
• Critical evaluation by the librarians involved at the end of the program,

Although the Webbook was computer marked, some librarian intervention was required to adjust the marks due to ambiguity in the wording of some of the exercises. Most of the students did well on the Webbook exercises.

Most of the project reports included a bibliography. A set of criteria was developed to mark the bibliographies.

Students did not do as well with the bibliography of the project reports as they did with the Webbook exercises. Only a small number of students received the full 10 marks available for the information skills component. Some students did not submit Webbook exercises.

Students were asked to fill a short survey form after they received their marks to get feedback on the usefulness of the program and for future improvements.

On the 'most useful aspects of the Webbook' (numbers in brackets indicate the number of students commenting):

learning to use the Internet (32); learning how to find information (23); learning how to find library resources (20); using the library catalogue (19); using the Silver Platter databases (12); ease of use (11); ease of access (7); linked to references for the topic (4); ease of access from home; being able to submit an assignment via the Internet; good to find out how to find books; bibliography was useful; learning how to use computers and so on....

On 'How could the Webbook be improved?' difficulty of recording answers (3); harder questions (3); more in depth questions (2); more exercises (2); change question 1 (3); improve the wording of the questions (3); Silverplatter databases rarely functioned (4); more terminals needed (3); put time limit on use of terminals; better graphics (3); more pictures; sound; more Internet work; more interaction with using the databases; more emphasis on searching the Web; more weblinks and so on....

The feedback we received from the teaching staff who are subject coordinators indicated that the quality of student projects was of higher quality in both research work and presentation and sources consulted in 1997 than in previous years. At the time the students were doing their research, the Library's ERL (Electronic Reference Library) network of Silver Platter databases was not functioning well. Students had difficulty accessing ASTI and Compendex. Some of the negative comments from students are related to this problem.

Future Developments

The Library staff will be taking notice of the input and suggestions received to enhance the Webbook for 1998. A different type of assessment will be considered to alleviate some of the problems encountered in relation to the ambiguity of exercises.

In 1997 there was a bulletin board facility but this was not used. In 1998 it will be used to communicate new resources, news about the subject or any other item relevant to the subject. A discussion list facility was proposed but not implemented. It could be a valuable means of communication between academic staff, tutors, library staff and students. Library staff will continue liaising with the subject coordinators to contribute to the functioning of this method of communication.

The impact of this program on the engineering students' ongoing information skills competence during their career as students and when they graduate is taken into account when planning further information skills programs in later semesters. Information skills training is part of some of the other subjects students undertake in second semester and later years. Such programs will take into account what students have already learnt in their first semester at the University. Library staff are already involved in curriculum review activities of some of the engineering departments in order to integrate information skills into the curriculum in a more effective way to contribute to the students' lifelong learning.

Acknowledgments

Wayne Brookes from the School of Information Technology who designed the Webbooks and did the programming, Patrick Palmer from TEDI, Professor John Simmons, Head of School of Engineering and the subject coordinator, the Project coordinators from each of the engineering departments, Drs Chris Letchford, Andris Atrens, Tim Holt, Brian Stanmore, Marek Bialkowski, the Librarians from the Dorothy Hill Physical Sciences and Engineering Library, Anne Draper, Belinda Weaver, Marilyn Hughes, Jennifer Croud, Jan Sullivan, Andrew Heath and Roslyn Orr. The Webbooks can be found at

References

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Candy, P. C., Crebert, G., O'Leary,J. (1994) Developing lifelong learners through undergraduate education . NBEET Commissioned Report No.28, Canberra, AGPS.
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ILP - Information Literacy Program (1996) California State University San Marcos 15/1/97
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Sonntag, Gabriela and Ohr, M. The development of a lower-division, general education, course-integrated information literacy program, College and Research Libraries July 1996 :331-338 8