Feedback from Student Focus Groups

In May, 27 students participated in 3 focus group sessions to give feedback on the library web site and the proposed research model. It was an extremely positive experience. Of course the students were highly motivated (grant $$), but they were thoughtful and sincere and expressed appreciation for the opportunity to share and learn about the library. So what did they have to say about the research model?

Learning / Marketing tool - The students were immediately receptive to having such a teaching/learning tool, and excitedly suggested places and methods of using it throughout the college. They crave assistance with the research process and developing information literacy skills, and many wondered why teachers don’t connect more with the librarians. Many felt it was the ideal answer to the lack of a good tutorial - a concern expressed earlier when discussing the web site. While the promotional ideas were both practical and silly, it was obvious that students enrolled in classes with an information literacy/research component would find the model extremely useful as they encountered each piece of the puzzle.

Room for improvement - Everyone felt that the model needs some introductory, descriptive text to guide both independent learners and teachers who want to incorporate it in their curriculum. Language was a big issue, as was identifying the starting point. We need to work on clarifying the content of the model to ensure that students, faculty, and the college as a whole can embrace it as a positive learning tool.

What's in a name? When we asked students to suggest possible names to make the model recognizable and memorable, they offered several variations on the themes of “how to …”; “... thing” (fill in the blanks with research or information literacy). One student suggested the verbs from the ALA’s IL definition, another the verbs stated in the model itself. And a few felt that “IL for Lifelong Learning” was just fine.