Teachmeet Abstract

1. From e-learning to e-teaching: using real-time online support to
maximise our reach
Michelle Schneider, University of Leeds, m.r.schneider@leeds.ac.uk
Providing e-learning resources can be an efficient way to reach a large and diverse
audience as an alternative or supplement to face-to-face teaching. However, this is
often a passive experience, failing to offer users an opportunity to truly participate and
interact within the session. Using an online webinar tool to deliver real-time teaching
sessions could provide a solution. This presentation will discuss the experience of
providing EndNote webinars to support researchers at the University of Leeds.
The University of Leeds has a large research community with approximately 2250
PhD students (Student Records and Admissions 2011), as well as a significant number
of research staff. Many of these researchers use the reference management software
EndNote. Leeds University Library offers six introductory EndNote workshops per
year which any student or member of staff can book onto, as well as running EndNote
workshops in faculties. In addition, the Library provides comprehensive online
EndNote support including webpages and an online tutorial. Despite this, the
workshops are always oversubscribed, and off-campus researchers can’t always attend
the workshops or make an enquiry in person.
To overcome these issues, the Skills@Library team at the University of Leeds have
piloted delivering online EndNote webinars. This allows students who are unable to
attend face-to-face workshops an opportunity to participate in a personal teaching
experience, in addition the team have trialled offering a follow-up online EndNote
trouble-shooting drop-in.
This TeachMeet presentation will give an overview of how the EndNote webinars
were set up and facilitated. The presenter will share her experience of running this
type of session, particularly the advantages and potential pitfalls. The feedback
gathered from the participants will be shared. Information about how the Library
intends to use this software to deliver further teaching will also be discussed.
Furthermore, the presenter will briefly explore the potential of using this software to
collaborate with other institutions to provide teaching to a wider research community.
References
Student Records and Admissions (2011). Email to Michelle Schneider, 11 October
2011.