1. Student‐centred active learning
approach in an online information
literacy credit course for PhD
students
Vilve Seiler, Kärt Miil, Krista Lepik
University of Tartu Library, Estonia
Lilac 2012, Glasgow

2. Overview
• Information literacy as a transferable skill in
doctoral curricula
• Context of the study – online information
literacy course “Introduction to information
research ”
• Methodology ‐ Content analysis of students’
reflections and feedback
• Results of the study

3. University of Tartu
Founded in 1632
• 9 faculties and 4 colleges
• 70 bachelor’s, 80 master’s and 35 doctoral study
programmes
• 18,000 students (over 670 international students)
More than 1 400 doctoral students
• Over 34 000 research publications (including 2 500 in
the Web of Science)
http://www.ut.ee/en/university/general

4. University of Tartu Library
• Founded in 1802
• Collections of 3.5 million physical items
• Access to 22 000 e‐journals and 27 000 e‐
books
• 51 000 registered users
• 2.6 million virtual visits
http://www.utlib.ee/en/

5. Information literacy
online courses
• “Basics of Information Literacy” for
bachelor’s and master’s students
• “Information literacy or why Google is not
enough” for gymnasium students
• “Introduction to information research” for
PhD students
• Courses integrated info different subjects

6. Information literacy as a key
competence in PhD
programmes
• Information literacy as a transferable skill
• Information literacy as a university‐wide
elective subject

7. Defining the needs
• An e‐mail inquiry
• Experience of subject librarians
• Experience of other libraries
• Situation at the university

8. Online course
Introduction to Information Research
• Elective course for all doctoral curricula
• 3 ECTS credit points, 9 weeks
• Since 2008, 70‐80 graduates every year
• Target group: PhD students of all faculties
• Subject librarians as instructors
• Individual tutoring and feedback

10. Content analysis of
students’ reflections
• Data derived from course reflections
provided by graduates
• Qualitative content analysis as a method for
data analysis and interpretation
• Qualitative data analysis software Atlas.ti

11. Teaching method
• Student‐centred active learning
• Individual assignments – information search
exercises on the topic of doctoral theses
• Analysis of fellow students’ exercises
• Individual feedback from subject librarians
• Discussion forums as a contribution to the
learning community

12. Teaching method – students’
opinions
 I already had spent time in searching for literature in my field, but the
systematic approach of this course, and getting familiar with new
databases and reference management systems will surely make my
further searches more effective.
 Without this course I would never have started to search in so many
different databases and I would never have learned that there are
databases where I can find materials from the year 1774 and others that
contain articles published this year.
 Within this course I performed searches in various databases, using
different search words and different methods. Such approach is very
important in order to understand the logic of databases and the
possibilities they offer.

13. Course assignments
1. Searching in EBSCO and /or CSA Illumina databases.
2. Exporting search results into Refworks and EndNote Web, choosing a
reference manager for next assignments.
3. Searching in other subject databases and e‐book databases, exporting
the references.
4. Analysing of a fellow student’s 3rd exercise.
5. Searching in Thomson Reuters WOS and in Scopus, comparing the
databases, exporting references.
6. Searching in research repositories and scholarly search engines,
exporting references.
7. Analysing of a fellow student’s 6th exercise.
8. Reflecting on the learning process, presenting a bibliography in the
chosen reference style.

14. Assignments –
students’ opinions
Assignments  Due to the exercises, I had to get thoroughly
familiar with the advanced searches of different
databases and, together with this, also to specify
the actual content of my searches.
 I liked this course very much, especially the
structure of exercises. Solving these problems
gave me new knowledge, as well as skills and
confidence.
Analysis of the  An interesting nuance of the course was the
works of opportunity to evaluate and analyse the works of
fellow doctoral students. I believe that it was
fellow beneficial for both the analysers and those whose
students works were under examination.

15. Questions for reflection
• Did you find new sources for your research?
• Was it useful to search a number of different
databases?
• Which databases will you keep checking up in the
future?
• The latter was rephrased in 2011: which
databases were the most useful for you?

16. Themes that emerged from
the content analysis of the
reflections
• Teaching method and assignments
• Course organisation and learning process
• Usefulness of new knowledge
• Previous knowledge of the learners
• Changes in attitudes and approaches
• Suggestions for further improvement of the
course

18. Different learners
• First year doctoral students
• Fourth year doctoral students
• Proceeded from master’s programme to doctoral
programme
• Graduated more than 10 years ago
• Teaching experience
• Different computer skills
• International students

19. Assessment of the course
and learning process
The course
The course has been built professionally. It gives basic knowledge to
uninitiated and surely offers much to old hands as well.
Useful learning materials
Learning materials are compact and well explained.
Getting feedback
Patient tutoring, useful criticism, competent, motivating.

20. Problems
• Technical problems
• Search in many different databases
• Unclear instructions
• Loss of motivation
• Equal opportunities for foreign students

21. Difficult and
time‐consuming
Difficult
I think that passing of this course was important for me, because I
struggled with it a lot but I never felt like dropping out – it was too
interesting.
Time‐consuming
The nine weeks of this course were very taxing, but at the same time,
very informative.
It could be said that information search is quite a time‐consuming
activity. And you can decide only after having read the article whether
your result was relevant.

22. Tutors’ opinions about
the course
Positive
E‐learning is suitable for teaching
The course widened my own horizons
Being useful to others makes you feel good
The course has a positive effect on the quality of subject librarians’ work
Negative
Time‐consuming
I am worrying whether I can manage to teach searches on complex
subjects.
With time the work becomes a routine
Working with badly motivated students
Unclear evaluation criteria

23. What is important for students
in tutors’ opinion?
Positive
•Individual feedback
•Good learning materials
•All exercises are obligatory
•Analysing of the others’ work
•E‐learning is suitable for teaching this course
Negative
•The first chapters are too theoretical

24. Suggestions for changes from
tutors and learners
Tutors
• Evaluation criteria should be clarified
• Contact seminars
• A separate theoretical exercise should be created
Learners
• Learning materials
• Proactive communication
‘If you will translate those explanations from Estonian to
English, the course can be one of the most useful which I have
attended.’

25. New knowledge and its advantages:
practical search tips
Search tips
More general search tips are probably more important than
introductions to individual databases
More confidence
Thanks to the course I can more confidently and purposefully search
for articles and research publications and I do not limit myself to surfing
among thousands of Google results any more.
Encouragement
This course created the so‐called Wow!‐effect – things can be done this
way and I want to try it out. I mean, I learned about limiting my searches
and combining search words, exporting different records, etc.

26. New knowledge and its advantages:
databases +
Databases + Google Scholar
Google Scholar
I prefer to combine the searches in EBSCO, ScienceDirect and Google
Scholar
Search options on Google Scholar
The most surprising results can be retrieved with Google Scholar
searches, but due to its smaller number of search parameters, only
experienced researchers can expect success here.
Everything in one and the same place
Ideally, only one database, containing all articles, would be the best, but
I’m afraid that it is not realistic.
I was delighted because with Google Scholar, I can find e‐books, articles
and other materials all in one and the same place.

27. New knowledge and its advantages:
reference managers
For me, the best surprises were RefWorks and EndNote Web – I
had never heard about such possibilities.
I took much trouble with this assignment, downloading Write‐N‐
Cite III and mastering it. I needed help in adjusting my computer, but
working with it later was truly enjoyable
I was finally able to make sense of article and reference
management. So far, I had felt that it was very difficult to get a good
idea about ongoing processes in the world of science.

28. New knowledge and its
advantages: added value
Overcoming of a ‘writer’s
block’
I had just hit a wall when writing my article – I did not know where to look for
source materials – and quite unexpectedly, this course gave me everything that
I needed.
during information search I was able to recapture my already disappearing
motivation.
Joy in the search process
I enjoy working with databases and I am pleased to see that I can
find the articles that I need with little trouble and little amount of time.
Earlier, I was more frustrated than motivated by article search. :D

29. Attitude towards information
literacy as a subject
Spreading of knowledge
RefWorks ja My EndNote Web proved to be the most useful tools. I had
never before used these excellent new tools but now, I am even going to
teach my colleagues to work with them.
I have already played a ‘missionary’ among my colleagues and
acquaintances; very few of them knew about these tools and they
generally used only some most common journal databases. Practically
none of them had ever heard about the reference management system.

30. The course should be made
obligatory!
 I introduced this course to my supervisor and suggested that
such a subject should be made obligatory.
 Put this course in obligatory curriculum. It is very important
for all students to know how and where to find relevant
information for their thesis, articles, homework, etc.
 This course should/ought to be made obligatory for all
doctoral students and researchers (it would be good if all
lecturers passed such a subject‐based course too).

31. I would have needed this
course much earlier!
 The more I got used to working with databases, the more I was troubled
by the question WHY IS THIS COURSE NOT OFFERED EARLIER
THAN DURING DOCTORAL STUDIES?
 I feel that I would have benefitted more from this course if I had passed
it, for example, in my first year of master’s studies. This is the time when
students start to work with scientific articles more seriously. I would have
found many needed articles in a much easier way.
 This subject should be taught much earlier, because doctoral students
have, as a rule, already done research and found suitable information
sources..

32. Previous knowledge
They used Google Scholar
So far, I had search mostly with Google Scholar, but the results were quite
stretched.
They did not use logical operators
I had never before used logical operators and had, when searching
databases, quite often received a huge number of articles of varying
relevance.
They gained information from their supervisors
My supervisor has a large collection of important articles, but they are
mostly printed on paper and already slightly outdated; thus, the selection
of materials is somewhat limited.
I received the articles that I needed from members of my research group.

33. Wow!
Get rid of old searching habits
 When performing searches, people are very often stuck with
their old habits.
Comparison with others
 … the feeling that Estonia is a backwater country where only
old and mouldy materials can be found is gradually lessening.
Discoveries
 I discovered that there is another, much larger globe inside
our globe. And the things that can be found there are not only
useful, but interesting as well.

34. Thank you!