Document Type

Technology and Innovation

Publication Date

7-2009

Abstract

Xavier University librarians take advantage of two new Blackboard features, Expo Directory and Team Site, to assist faculty in designing a graduate nursing course and an undergraduate classics course. The graduate nursing course, Healthcare Informatics, used Expo Directory, the e-portfolio feature in Blackboard, to display documents demonstrating a student’s technology and information fluency skills. Individual and group consultation sessions, online instructions and two library instruction sessions were provided. An evidence-based practice tutorial featuring a PICO analysis was created and imbedded in the Blackboard course as an advanced library assignment that utilized critical thinking. An online survey of faculty who used the tutorial evaluated its effectiveness as a library assignment and provided suggestions for improvement and enhancement. The undergraduate classics course, Classical Civilization: from Romulus to Octavian, needed a way to respond to the University’s initiative to incorporate team based, problem solving assignments that used new and existing technologies and simulated a global work environment. In place of a traditional research paper students used Team Site, the wiki feature in Blackboard, to create multimedia, web-based projects. A rubric was developed for students to evaluate the wikis created by each group. A specific time table was established that incorporated the increasing skill sets and knowledge needed to complete the project. Short, topic-specific bibliographic instruction sessions covering research strategies, citation style, wiki creation, graphic choice and integration were presented each week during class time. In addition, Blackboard was used as a platform for online help guides on research skills and citation styles.

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