Library and Learning Services
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For many years library staff at all DMU libraries have been involved in research and discussion on professional issues. A selection of material is included herewith.
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Item Open Access Acquisitions and the accelerated shift to digital in academic libraries in the UK: reflecting on the Covid experience at De Montfort University and Imperial College London(Taylor and Francis, 2021-09-07) Brine, Alan; Knight, AndrewSummer 2020 witnessed a large-scale temporary release of content from the publishing community to support UK universities as they moved to online-only delivery, followed by a scramble by those institutions to maintain access to resources. This paper reflects on the experiences of De Montfort University and Imperial College libraries during this period as they supported the move to remote teaching. It focuses on the complexities experienced during this transitional period, and considers how the speed of these changes increased staff workloads, stretched budgets, and compelled acquisitions teams to act without always fully gathering evidence or strategically planning how new practices might work in the longer term. The authors, who sit on various national contract management and acquisitions strategy groups, examine the repercussions of navigating from an unplanned, accelerated digital shift to a more managed, sustainable paradigm, and contemplate how the advent of multimode teaching may impact on the way libraries are resourced.Item Open Access Collaboratively creating a reusable and repurposable online tutorial: The challenge of meeting the disparate needs of Researchers.(ALISS, 2012-10) Coombs, Jenny; Bark, Chris; Martin, Elizabeth; Stanton, Wendy; Stubbings, Ruth; Thompson, Judy; Young, HelenItem Open Access A Community of Practice approach to delivering research support services in a post-92 Higher Education Institution: A reflective case study(Taylor and Francis, 2017-05-19) Coombs, Jenny; Thomas, Mandy; Rush, Nathan; Martin, ElizabethThe need for research support in UK universities is growing at a fast pace and a number of different professional and academic units within universities are involved in the process. This case study takes place in a post-92 higher education institution and discusses the benefit of utilising a cross-university Community of Practice (CoP) approach to delivering research support services. It takes a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews to ascertain the personal experiences of community members. The article’s key findings for successful implementation include a common sense of purpose; a shared concern or passion about the research agenda; a sense of community and belonging; trust; a safe environment; and senior management support. Added benefit is demonstrated by enhanced staff knowledge, increased job satisfaction and profile raising of the Library and Learning Service. The findings can help libraries in similar positions to use collaborative initiatives to develop research support services.Item Metadata only Context and learning: The value and limits of library-based information literacy teaching.(Health Libraries Group, 2012) Eyre, Jason; Spring, H.Item Open Access CORSALL: collaboration in research support by academic libraries in Leicestershire: final report(2006-01-25) Bloor, IanNo abstract providedItem Metadata only Decolonising DMU: Reflections on Changes, Challenges and Impact with an Eye toward the Future(Taylor and Francis, 2023-11-28) Towlson, KayeBased at De Montfort University, Decolonising DMU is a strategic initiative working to create an anti-racist institution where all can achieve. Growing from DMU’s Freedom to Achieve project Decolonising DMU extends anti-racist work across the structure and composition of the institution, moving away from a sole focus on the curriculum. The Library has played a core role within both of these projects working with staff and students to gain better representation in library collections, facilitating library work experience to enhance staff and professional diversity, working with academics to decolonise reading lists, enabling changes in pedagogical practice and to raise awareness of issues and the lived experience of people of colour. This ultimately leads to changes in practice to enable a better sense of belonging and visibility for students of colour which in turn leads to more successful engagement and student retention. The article provides examples of actions, challenges and ways forward, with specific reference to Library and Learning Services. Reflections on the complex and evolving nature of this work are made alongside the implications for the student and staff experience plus service and collection development. This work reinforces the critical importance and impact of the decolonising H E movement on academic libraries and student success.o abstract providedItem Open Access Decolonising the reading list, thoughts and pathways(Association of Librarians and information professionals in the social sciences (ALISS), 2021-10-14) Towlson, KayeDetails the structure and foundations of the decolonsing the reading list workshop offered across DMU. Highlights co-creative and exploratory tools geared to kickstart discussions around decolonising. Considers impact of colonial legacies on the academic reading list . Offers work flow model of the stages of decolonising the reading list. No abstract in published itemItem Open Access Defining a self-evaluation digital literacy framework for secondary educators: the DigiLit Leicester project(Association for Learning Technology, 2014-04) Hall, Richard; Atkins, Lucy; Fraser, JosieDespite the growing interest in digital literacy within educational policy, guidance for secondary educators in terms of how digital literacy translates into the classroom is lacking. As a result, many teachers feel ill-prepared to support their learners in using technology effectively. The DigiLit Leicester project created an infrastructure for holistic, integrated change, by supporting staff development in the area of digital literacy for secondary school teachers and teaching support staff. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the critique of existing digital literacy frameworks enabled a self-evaluation framework for practitioners to be developed. Crucially, this framework enables a co-operative, partnership approach to be taken to pedagogic innovation. Moreover, it enables social and ethical issues to underpin a focus on teacher-agency and radical collegiality inside the domain of digital literacy. Thus, the authors argue that the shared development framework constitutes a new model for implementing digital literacy aimed at transforming the provision of secondary education across a city.Item Metadata only Developing Digital Literacies by Bridging Skills and Pedagogy(Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE), 2015-03) Conboy, H.; Pettit, I.; Weale, Robert; Kaur, Sukhtinder; Lowe, JulieIn 2011 the Centre for Enhancing Learning through Technology (CELT) was established at De Montfort University (DMU). The aim of the Centre is to work with staff and students to transform their learning and teaching experiences through the situated use of technologies (CELT, 2013). This case study offers an overview of the ways in which the CELT seeks to realise its vision in relation to the use of digital technologies for enhancing teaching and learning. In particular it seeks to ‘bridge the gap’ between digital ‘know how’ and the effective pedagogic implementation of digital technology as part of a curriculum. Key elements of the CELT strategy, and its ‘on the ground’ approaches to catalysing engagement and driving innovation in the use of digital technologies for teaching and learning will be detailed. This will include a series of examples of staff developmental projects that have sought to enhance student learning through the use of digital technologies. It is hoped that the case study will be of value in terms of highlighting effective practices and broader strategic approaches that may inform other practitioners who are interested in the use digital technologies for enhancing teaching and learning.Item Open Access Item Open Access Item Metadata only Efficiency vs Enhancement in Assessment and Feedback(2015-12) Weale, RobertExploring some of the challenges that reside in the implementation of technology to deliver, support, and enhance assessment and feedback.Item Metadata only Emerging technologies as change agent within and across organisational cultures.(Inderscience, 2010) Conboy, H.; Brine, Alan; Clarke, J.E-learning policy and project implementation can be said to act as a driver of change in educational institutions, but institutions can change in markedly different ways. This paper reports on recent qualitative research focused on the implementation of Web2.0 approaches within a UK university. It argues that the embedded use of Web2.0 relies on the changing of working practices and people's mindsets. We suggest that implementation may be problematic, resulting in change being more readily accepted by some groups and/or cultures than others. The way in which the Web2.0 concept is socially constructed in everyday discourses, events and learning communities is explored. The informal and participatory nature of these approaches, which may initiate the seeping of informal practices into otherwise more formal educational environments, can frame emerging technologies as 'disruptive'.Item Open Access Engaging students online: an analysis of students’ motivations for seeking individual learning development support(Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE), 2022-01) Cirstea, ArinaIn the context of increased concerns with student engagement across the Higher Education sector, which have intensified subsequent to the rapid transition to online delivery in March 2020, this small-scale research project aimed to explore the motivations for student engagement in self-selecting learning development (LD) online tutorials. The study used a mixed methods approach, including an online survey (No.=43) and online interview (No.=5). The sample comprised of both Undergraduate and Postgraduate volunteers recruited from a pool of LD tutorial users (No.=390) within the project timeframe (October 2020-April 2021). The generalisability of findings is limited by the low response rate as well as age bias. The main driver for engagement reported was participants’ limited confidence in their own academic writing abilities, which was consistently linked to attainment. Engagement was further motivated through a range of perceived impacts, including improved confidence, awareness of academic conventions and higher grades. In this context, the main challenge was limited availability of support. Participants reported a generally positive attitude towards online delivery. Qualitative data from both survey and interviews were further investigated using a Discourse analysis framework. One key finding was that the path to LD engagement is often mediated by academic authority figures, who may exert a significant impact on learner self-views. Key recommendations for learning developers include maximising the potential of lessons learned from the enforced pivoting to online delivery to underpin the developmental dimensions of LD, with the ultimate goal of promoting learner confidence and growth.Item Open Access EXPLORER project final report(2012-01) Lunt, ElizabethFinal report submitted to JISC in January 2012 for the EXPLORER project to enhance and embed DORA within DMU systems.Item Open Access EXPLORER Project Plan(2011-02) Lunt, ElizabethProject Plan for the JISC funded EXPLORER project to enhance and embed DORA within DMU systems and processesItem Open Access EXPLORER project.(ALISS, 2011-10) Lunt, ElizabethItem Open Access EXPLORER Source Code Archive(De Montfort University, 2012-01-10) Williams, Owen; Warrington, PeterItem Metadata only The Impact of the Read/Write Web on Learner Agency(2008) Hall, RichardThis article scopes some of the key political elements in the higher educational use of the read/write web, or Web2.0 as it is commonly known. It investigates ways in which these tools can be used to enhance deliberative democracy, the associations between individuals and their capability for decision-making. The structuring of spaces in which individual users can come together to make decisions and act is a critical theme, and one which impacts upon the agency, access and participation, and associations that are afforded by those contexts. Where differences exist between students and/or their tutor(s), the read/write web affords tools for representing such variation. Herewith the voices of both learners and tutors are evaluated, in order to argue that the read/write web can be used positively to acknowledge difference and promote agency.Item Open Access Implementing the virtual library: the ELINOR project at De Montfort University(2005-05-24) Arnold, KathrynThe ELINOR (Electronic Library and INformation Online Retrieval) project to develop a digitized collection of undergraduate texts and other learning materials has been operating at De Montfort University since March 1992. This paper provides an overview of the project in both its pilot stage and during the scaling-up phase which will end in May 1996. The paper describes the background to the project, the main features of the technology in use, the user interface, and user reactions. Also outlined are some of the issues arising from negotiations with publishers. We detail the results of the pilot and the way in which these have influenced the strategy for scaling up, and conclude by considering the challenges remaining if the research project is to be translated into the operational activity of the library service.
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