National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education presenataion

1. Prioritising 1st Year Engagement and Success
at the University of Limerick Library
Aoife Geraghty
Head of Information Services
Glucksman Library
30th April 2015

2. In the beginning …
Library Submission for Strategic Funding 2006-7
Employ student peer-advisors in the library to assist
new students in their first semester by providing
them with support and guidance on how to use the
library

3. UL strategic direction

4. UL Strategy Pioneering & Connected
2011-2015

5. We had in
place
Orientation
Classes … e.g. Find it Fast lunch-
time drop ins
Approval for peer advisor pilot

12. Student Peer Advisors are
undergraduate and
postgraduate students
with excellent customer
service and
communication skills,
trained
to answer general
enquiries about finding
information and using the
library.
• Formal interviews
• 2 days training incl Orientation Guide training
(they in turn act as library guides for
Orientation guides)
• Approx €12,000 p.a. incl pay, t-shirts, hoodies,
documentation, ipad ….

13. Peer advisors …
Assist new students in their first
semester by providing them with
support and guidance on how to
use the library
Are available on library floors
from Week 0 to 5 of semester 1

14. Assist new students
with basic library
usage: how to find and
borrow books, use the
library catalogue, use
the photocopying
facilities and use basic
online services
Assist new students with basic IT functions: how
to log in, register for modules, use email, print
documents, access the Learning Management
System etc.

15. Provide directional
assistance to new
students in the library
Advise new students
on library code of
conduct and use
behaviour relating to
noise, mobile phone
usage, eating in the
library, etc.
Assist in maintaining
an environment
conducive to study

16. Provide feedback to
library staff regarding
development of
student support
including signage,
documentation and
peer support
Refer students to
other support services
such as ITD, Writing
Centre, Maths Centre,
Careers, Students
Union, etc.

17. Module registration, email set-up and VLE access peak in Week 2 – students don’t
differentiate between library and ITD.

20. Improvements each year
• Provided roving support on upper floors at peak times, end of lectures
• Distributed faculty librarian appointment cards from their desk
• Created a UL passwords document for Peer Advisors to distribute
• Used an iPad for resolving student queries
• Had a large campus map printed and permanently available at their desk
• Tweeted on behalf of the library during the day in response to common
student queries
• Online timetable visible by supervisor where they were encouraged to
arrange timetable swaps between themselves
• Surveys e.g. use of mobile technologies
• Assisted with Meet your Librarian events
• Assisted with Open Days tours
• Train Orientation guides
• Make-up and focus of team tweaked each year based on stats and
feedback

21. Maybe it’s the vacant, scared look on my face, although I like
to think it’s the attentiveness of the support guides … but
whenever I as much as stall in my tracks a guy in a red T-shirt
comes up to me asking if he can help. It’s not that you can’t
go wrong, it’s that the system is set up not to let you go
wrong. (Celia Larkin, Irish Independent, 12.9. 10)
They were so nice, extremely helpful and they didn’t mind
answering my questions. They weren’t rude or anything even
though I was a first year. It was great that they were there or I
would never have figured the library out! They were
always very
helpful and
enthusiastic
about their
work. A great
service.
I am a second year (graduate-entry) medical student and this
is going to sound really melodramatic but I really think I would
have lost my life this time last year only for their help! … I was
completely overwhelmed … taking out a book, logging onto a
computer, opening files … I cannot express in words what it
meant to be able to go to someone who totally understood,
did not make me feel bad for not knowing whatever it was I
was trying to do and always, always solved my problem.

22. UL strategic direction

23. Engaged Learning: Teaching, Learning
and Assessment Strategy 2014-2018
Supporting transition and Encouraging retention
A coherent and integrated supportive framework around all
aspects of the first-year experience
Dedicated resources/interventions to support transitions
from second to third level
At the heart of
Engaged
Learning is the
aspiration that
each UL student
will succeed.

24. Trends in HE
Student voice including
National Student Survey
Democratisation of education –
more 1st generation students in
university
Technology enhanced learning
Joined up thinking –
institutional, professional and
national collaborations UK’s Higher Education Academy
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/retention-and-success

25. Peer Advisors
Open Days
Orientation
First Seven Weeks
First year module piloted
Special Collections classes
Classes with Faculty Librarians
Research Librarian
Our coverage
is good, but
patchy

26. AL Student engagement and success
New post Summer 2015
Assistant Librarian Student Engagement & Success
• Develop and implement programmes and
initiatives aimed at improving undergraduate
student transition, retention and success.
• Focus on early-stage undergraduates, on
undergraduate student groups new to the
university, and on modules with high attrition
rates.

27. Working across the university

28. Working across the university
Committees:
• T&L
• First Seven Weeks
• Orientation
• Open Days
• Technology Enhanced
Learning Unit
• Education Technology
Forum
• Communities of
Practice
New posts:
• Centre for Teaching &
Learning – Retention
Officer
• Student Affairs - New
Entrant Experience and
Retention Coordinator
Graduate Attributes – developing the Articulate Student
[draft – working with the Centre for T&L and the Writing Centre]

29. Working nationally
e.g. National Forum projects
All Aboard!
Digital Skills in HE Project
Communication within, between and
beyond Project Partners

30. Thank you for Listening
Questions?
Aoife Geraghty
Head of Information Services, University of Limerick
Email: aoife.geraghty@ul.ie