MaryEllen C. Sievert, Diane Tobin Johnson
and Teresa Hartman
School of Library and Informational Science
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
Fax: 573-884-4944
E-mail: msievert@showme.missouri.edu (Sievert)
E-mail: coeddtj@mizzou1.missouri.edu (Johnson)
E-mail: c406164@showme.missouri.edu (Hartman)
Phone: 573-882-9542 (Sievert)
Phone: 573-882-9543 (Johnson)
Phone: 573-883-3793 (Hartman)

New Educational Strategies for Training
Information Professionals: Building Awareness,
Concepts and Skills Through Learning Technologies

Poster Session, Thursday, February 13, 1997, 7:30pm - 9:00pm

Faculty at the University of Missouri, funded by the National Library of Medicine, experimented with several learning technologies as part of a planning grant for the Education and Training of Health Sciences Librarians. The instruction, entitled, "Libraries, Medical Informatics and Health Care" was designed to reach practicing health sciences librarians, public and academic librarians, other health professionals, and students interested in careers in health science librarianship. Various audiences were free to participate at various levels. The first step was to decide on the content of entire project and then to delineate which topics would be most effective through each delivery medium. The experiment presented instruction via three different instructional modalities. Each modality presented strengths and each modality presented technical or logistical problems and pedagogical issues which had to be resolved.

The first modality was a satellite broadcast on May 17, 1996. Issues here included whether to use C or KU band and how to avoid a broadcast which was merely talking heads. Evaluation had to be planned which would best indicate the effect of the broadcast and topics had to be such that a wide audience would be interested. The topics selected were two trends which influence provision of information services, consumer health information and telemedicine. Participants for this modality included the Veterans Administration Hospital Satellite Network, the Iowa State Library, the Idaho State Library and various smaller groups throughout the country. For those who could not view the broadcast when it was offered, a video was available.

The second modality was instruction offered via the Internet. Here technical problems included tracking and controlling the students' progress and privacy. A password and a database for tracking solved these problems. Another issue to be resolved was whether or not to offer materials which would take advantage of the graphical capabilities of the World Wide Web. If the instruction included lengthy amounts of graphics or videos, then people would need sophisticated equipment to effectively participate.

The decision was made to concentrate on textual materials and to avoid monotony by using hyperlinks and having multiple-choice practitioners to work on the materials at their convenience. Materials covered included introductions to MeSH and MEDLINE and a four-part introduction to the US health care system.

Since, however, this type of instruction is individual, it was supplemented by a listserv for all those who participated in any portion of the experiment. This listserv was also private and guest discussion leaders were recruited to provide topics of interest and to guide the discussion in a variety of areas. Those who participated in any part of the project were welcome to subscribe to the listserv.

The final mode was an intensive seminar, held in mid-September. Here the issues included finding a suitable site easily accessible to those not in Missouri, to recruit a suitable number of instructors and to design the instruction so that there was a sufficient variety of activities which kept students interested and active.

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