Juliene McLaughlin | User Experience Librarian | University of Guelph Digital Learning Objects, First Year Students, UX Study: Findings Revealed Juliene McLaughlin | User Experience Librarian | University of Guelph Intro

What do we want to find out? What is the best way to find that out? Initial contact with stakeholder. Why are we doing this? What do you want to learn? What is the demographic? Where can we find them? Do we have incentives? Results analysis. What did we find out? Share broadly. Who else might be interested? Stakeholder Meeting Design Study Recruit Conduct Analyze & Share What do we want to find out? What is the best way to find that out? Small group interviews + usability testing. Focus on the primary study questions.

The Study Primary Questions 1st year students 2nd semester “Killer Chem” 18 participants 9 small group interviews $10 hospitality cards March & April 2017 The Study Primary Questions What are students’ perceptions of supplemental learning objects? How do they integrate them (or not) into their study practices?

Video LibGuide Print and Online (not pictured) Handouts

Where do students turn for help? Drop-in sessions with TAs Supported Learning Groups Creating peer study groups Upper year mentors Hiring a tutor Google Discussion forums Mastering Chem Khan Academy YouTube educational videos Facebook groups PRACTICE PROBLEMS FRIENDS! The Results What we didn’t hear was “The Library”

“ Well we have dinners together, with our other roommate too. So we will just bring up school stuff. We even have study sessions together where we work at the same table and work on stuff and then say ‘oh what is this?’ and talk about it. The first thing that I do if I wasn’t sure would be to go to my peers and see what their take on it was. For me, I just consult with my friends. PEER LEARNING Peers are very important - on the opposite spectrum from profs who were said to be the “last resort”

SELF-AWARE, INSIGHTFUL, ACCOUNTABLE “ I just feel like for me, no matter how hard I work for it I wouldn’t get perfect and there is always some concept that I guess I’m not fully understanding but if I don’t do well that means I didn’t do enough practices. I never went into office hours even though I didn’t know what I was doing, mainly because I don’t want to ask for help. I’m afraid I’m kind of wasting their time. It’s a barrier for me to get better. And also I think I have too much pride in myself and I don’t think I need anybody else's help. I can figure this out by myself. That is just who I am. SELF-AWARE, INSIGHTFUL, ACCOUNTABLE

CONNECTED TO COURSE CONTENT “ I don’t think I would ever think to be like ‘OK, I failed my midterm. Now I’m going to look for how to better do exams’. I’d be more likely to be like ‘Wow. I need to learn how to better understand the material’. I would say though that understanding the concepts is more important than knowing these tips on multiple choice exams. Honestly, all of this stuff is just dragging on all around the central topic of: Study! What more can you do then read the entire textbook and do questions? CONNECTED TO COURSE CONTENT

Object Specifics A lot of these comments are a bit generic. It would be helpful, but if it were way shorter. A page. A list. It is a lot of text. I think that’s another thing that got me with the handout, it wasn’t bold enough to catch your eye. I don’t like these [videos] they are too ‘cringey.’ They are cheesy. It is just like they bring you down and they are talking to you like a child and I just don’t like it. I’d probably never pick them up because I already have my own way of studying. The first time I saw these I thought they were useful but then I forgot about them. It’s not unuseful, but a lot of people forget. I would probably use this [video] just because it’s more visual and I like to listen. The handout is more boring, and this is visually pleasing. It makes me want to engage. And it’s only 2 minutes so I can sit and listen to it.

Summary of Findings Peer learning is important Align marketing with academic calendar Integrate into CMS Video preferred, BUT print and online versions still used Content: Short Scannable Tone is important Clearly linked to course material Summary of Findings

Juliene McLaughlin | mclaug01@uoguelph.ca Thanks! Got Questions? Juliene McLaughlin | mclaug01@uoguelph.ca