Distance Capstone Consultations: A student-centered approach for graduate students.
Session Format
In-person Presentation
Conference Tracks
Library Instruction and Instruction Design; Outreach, Services, and Programs
Short Description
Research consultations can leave a lasting impression on students, offering the ability to instruct in various capacities, evaluate and collect literature, and to provide a foundation for large research projects. This presentation will illustrate the development of a student-centered Capstone Consultation Program for graduate students earning a Masters in Homeland Security from the World Campus program at Penn State University. Presentation will cover the origins of the program, the collaborative development of course content, the logistics of scheduling and meeting. student expectations, and the evolution, growth, and sustainability of the program moving forward.
Long Description
Online educational opportunities offer an ever-expansive group of students in various stages of life the opportunity to further their education. These new opportunities offer libraries exciting ways to interact with these students in virtual ways, while still covering traditional types of strategies and with a personalized approach.
This presentation will highlight the student-centered approach that is the focus of the Capstone Consultation Program for graduate students earning a Masters in Homeland Security from the World Campus program at Penn State University.
Originally conceived by the faculty director of the program and driven by my own evidence from a focus group study with graduate students, this program was a collaborative effort during the content creation phase among our Instructional Designer, the Online Learning Librarian, and myself. Students work through course content that was developed to prepare them for their project and provide a background for social science research. Consultations are specialized based on the qualitative or quantitative nature of the project and designed to engage students in the process of narrowing a topic, searching for and reviewing literature, and research design. Various platforms for consultations are used depending on student comfort level and availability. Student expectations are laid out in the content and consultation sessions introduce subject guides, are designed to be hands-on and produce a preliminary bibliography. The ACRL Frame Searching as Strategic Exploration is introduced and the "landscape of the literature" is surveyed as the session progresses.
Various types of consultations will be addressed and strategies for adapting to the unique nature of the content as well as the unique life and work challenges that distance graduate students often face will be included. Additionally, scheduling and work-life balance issues of librarians as well as the sustainability and growth of the program will be discussed.
Learning Objectives
Knowledge of the program as well as its strengths and weaknesses
Comprehension of the unique challenges faced in this program.
Establish parameters for setting student expectations
Distance Capstone Consultations: A student-centered approach for graduate students.
Online educational opportunities offer an ever-expansive group of students in various stages of life the opportunity to further their education. These new opportunities offer libraries exciting ways to interact with these students in virtual ways, while still covering traditional types of strategies and with a personalized approach.
This presentation will highlight the student-centered approach that is the focus of the Capstone Consultation Program for graduate students earning a Masters in Homeland Security from the World Campus program at Penn State University.
Originally conceived by the faculty director of the program and driven by my own evidence from a focus group study with graduate students, this program was a collaborative effort during the content creation phase among our Instructional Designer, the Online Learning Librarian, and myself. Students work through course content that was developed to prepare them for their project and provide a background for social science research. Consultations are specialized based on the qualitative or quantitative nature of the project and designed to engage students in the process of narrowing a topic, searching for and reviewing literature, and research design. Various platforms for consultations are used depending on student comfort level and availability. Student expectations are laid out in the content and consultation sessions introduce subject guides, are designed to be hands-on and produce a preliminary bibliography. The ACRL Frame Searching as Strategic Exploration is introduced and the "landscape of the literature" is surveyed as the session progresses.
Various types of consultations will be addressed and strategies for adapting to the unique nature of the content as well as the unique life and work challenges that distance graduate students often face will be included. Additionally, scheduling and work-life balance issues of librarians as well as the sustainability and growth of the program will be discussed.
Comments
I plan to interact with the audience through Q&A and an interactive session discussing the expectations of students during an online consultation.
The intended audience would be teaching faculty, librarians, and instructional designers.