An Investigation into the use of an online tutorial in a third level college. A case study approach

Rapid changes in technology and the proliferation of online sources has made information literacy (IL) a necessary and valued skill in today’s society. Academic libraries are faced with the challenges of delivering IL instruction to their entire body of students even with decreased resources. There has been a growing trend in academic libraries to create online tutorials that teach IL in order to meet demand. This study primarily investigates the effectiveness of such an online tutorial in teaching within a third level college in Ireland. A case study approach was used to discover the effectiveness of an online tutorial in terms of learning outcomes. Questionnaires were used to compare learning outcomes after use of the online tutorial and taught classes. In depth interviews were conducted with students, focus groups of teaching staff and students were assembled and students were observed using the online tutorial. The study found that although the staff and students of IT Sligo placed a high value on IL skills, there is a lack of appropriate training in this area. The study established that there is support from the lecturing staff and students of IT Sligo in embedding the online tutorial in the curriculum. The study found that after a further collaborative process with stakeholders and further improvement of the online tutorial, integration into the curriculum should be easily achieved. This improvement would include universal design principles and improvement of multimedia principles. Other improvements include using a more socially constructivist framework. This study found that students and staff favour a blended learning environment therefore the online tutorial should be used in conjunction with taught classes. This study suggests that after improvements are made to the online tutorial it is an effective tool for the teaching of information literacy in IT Sligo.