JISC

Jill Armstrong and Bill Norton, June 2006

Report summary

A small scale survey to investigate how academics alert undergraduates to the use of research content in their teaching based on an online survey and several interviews carried out at seven universities and in seven different subjects (Engineering, Life Sciences, Art and Design, Media and Humanities, History, Education, Information and Communcation)

The authors’ literature review discovered that very little research has been carried out in this area and they proceeded accordingly. (Although they do point to interesting surveys saying students tend to use generic guides instead of the specialised journals academics recommend to them and that a high percentage of researchers and students use the material libraries put on the web as an information resource… but that there is plenty of scepticism of the authority of articles on the web.)

The questionnaire asked how academics directed students to reference material, how effective students were at seeking and using this material, and about attitudes to e-reference and new forms of reference material.

Key findings

• Printed books, electronic articles print articles, databases and electronic books were the most frequently used resources (in that order). Although plenty of other types were used
• Numerous methods were used to direct students to material (face-to-face, course handbooks, printed and electronic reading lists, lecture handouts, etc.)
• Far more academics relied on generic support mechanisms (such as librarian led introductory sessions) than themselves telling students how to find things
• Few academics thought their students good at finding material. Over half thought they were satisfactory. About a quarter inadequate
• Staff thought students preferred to use electronic research material to print
• Most staff thought they were at least mainstream users of electronic media, and a sizable proportion saw themselves as early adopters

A series of interviews built on these findings, looking in more detail at how staff led students to appropriate research materials and attitudes to various media. They highlight among other things, how difficult students find it to “drill down” and find data relevant to them, even after they have been directed to the right portal.

The conclusions  note that academics have good awareness of the need to alert students to resources and generally do so in a strategic and varied way throughout their courses.

Key points

Institutions

Staff thought that the majority of students preferred to use electronic-based research material to print.

“A high proportion of staff agreed that there were good e-journals and good website research resources available in their discipline/subject areas …Very few agreed with, and many were uncertain about, accessing e-theses and the existence of an institutional repository. There were no statistically significant differences between discipline/subject areas.”

Researchers

“Three of the interviewees said that they did direct students to repositories.  The remainder were largely unaware of the availability and possibilities offered by repositories – one of these had just been on an introductory course and he now saw these as an increasingly important resource.” 

Read the full report (Word)