ResearchReady is a research instruction and assessment tool from the makers of EasyBib. Mary Broussard, an instructional services librarian at Lycoming College, shared her experiences working with an English professor to enhance in-person research instruction. In this slide deck, you will learn: - why Mary loves about ResearchReady and the customization features - in what ways she uses the product in the classroom - about her experience of using ResearchReady in an English composition class - how she used ResearchReady's assessment data for student progress and grading

1. Critical Thinking
Teach Your Students
SKILLS
without wasting
CLASSROOM TIME
HOW TO

2. My name is Mary Broussard.
I’m the Instructional Services
Librarian at Lycoming College
and I love ResearchReady.

3. I’ve been an EasyBib user since 2012,
using it for my own research with my
students.
Right away I liked the people behind
the product and communicated my
thoughts on the platform.
I joined the EasyBib Advisory Board
in 2013 and was extremely excited
when they showed me
ResearchReady.

4. What a Critical Thinking Digital Tool Needs
Can be used
out of the box
Is very
customizable
Uses text and
video learning
Assessment
data is
collected
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Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College

5. Can be used out of the box
Different schools/libraries have
different goals.
Schools that need an online service to meet
instructional demands can use ResearchReady
to focus on fundamental, “big picture” skills.
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Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College

6. Is very customizable
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
Pre-made content can be tweaked, or
you can create and design new lessons.
You can add tutorials for tools and resources
that your school uses, or create questions that
focus on a particular assignment.
ResearchReady will easily fit with your local
environment and culture.
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7. Uses text and video learning
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
ResearchReady follows best
practices for online instruction.
● Videos and text on any given page is kept short, making information
retainable and digestible
● Visuals and audio work together seamlessly in videos
● Assessments are embedded throughout the content, and provide
meaningful practice and ensure students think critically
● Uses pedagogical agents to guide student learning
● Sparing use of links to live web sources augments the lessons and
assessments
● Clean design allows users to pay attention to one thing at a time
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8. Assessment data is collected
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
ResearchReady captures student data that can be
copied to reports or exported to better understand
student progress and learning.
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9. ResearchReady can be used for:
Formative assessment
More exposure to research and
critical thinking skills in class
Flipped instruction As an online class
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
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10. Want to see the webinar version?
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
CLICK HERE TO WATCH

11. In the summer of 2014 I approached
an English professor about using
ResearchReady in her class.
We worked together to customize it for
our needs and set up our goals:
● Get more research and critical thinking skills into
class time
● Get more assessment data related to their research
and critical thinking skills/knowledge

12. Pre-Made vs. Customized
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
● Used ResearchReady’s Level 2
curriculum
● Worked with professor to select
appropriate lessons:
○ Web Evaluation
○ Conquering the Research
Process
○ Popular & Scholarly Sources
● Added pre- & post-tests tailored
to the specific assignment
● Shortened Web Evaluation
course by eliminating some
practice lessons
● Created my own plagiarism
tutorial video using Adobe
Captivate
● Created another video tailored to
the particular assignment

13. Integrating ResearchReady into the classroom
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
The pre- and post-tests took about 5 minutes for students to
complete. They were given four “courses” ranging from 7-20
minutes each, spread out over a few weeks.

14. My experience with English composition
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
It took the students an hour of instruction to
complete the lessons. For organizational purposes,
due dates were added to lesson title.

15. My experience with English composition
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
3 sections of Freshman Composition
in Fall 2014 (~55 students)
2 sections of Freshman Composition
in Spring 2015 (~35 students)
Students were given one more lesson on plagiarism, which the
professor covered in class. Next they were given a post-test.
Before
first in-person visit
I reviewed the pre-test results with the class. I still showed them
some of the same things I used to, but less. This allowed them
to have a little more time to work on collecting sources.
Students were given pre-tests and several of the pre-made
lessons.
During
first in-person
visit
The professor used a clicker review and introduced the
students to a few new resources.
After
first in-person
visit
Second
in-person visit

16. Our key assessment results from 2014-2015
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
Early on in the semester, we asked students which resources they
used for research. The majority said they use Internet sources.

17. Our key assessment results from 2014-2015
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
When we followed up in the spring, after completing part of the
ResearchReady curricula, the majority of students said they
primarily used databases for their research!

18. Our key assessment results from 2014-2015
Which of the following helps you locate items on the shelves at most libraries?
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
Fall 2014
During both the fall and spring semesters, we saw a significant
increase in students who understood how to locate information in
the library after completing ResearchReady lessons.
Spring 2015

19. Our key assessment results from 2014-2015
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
Students understood that accuracy is important in web evaluation but had
a limited knowledge of the other factors.
Students knew that making up a date in a citation or forgetting
parenthetical citations were ways to commit plagiarism. There weren’t
aware of the many other ways to commit plagiarism.
Within the lessons, the questions were overwhelmingly correct which
shows that ResearchReady truly aligns itself well to the questions that
they ask the students.
There was also dramatic improvement on the sections where results
were incredibly low before.

20. Final thoughts about using ResearchReady
Case study by Mary Broussard, Instructional Services Librarian at Lycoming College
The post-test included a few questions about how they liked
the ResearchReady experience.

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