Reflections on the FSEM, Part 2

In the previous post, I mentioned that the seminar was given a two day introduction to library research skills, including on-line bibliographic databases and effective search techniques.

The students had two reactions to this introduction. First, they found the information presented to be very useful and appreciated the effort of Charlotte Jones to make this available to them. Second, there was a strong consensus that the presentation could have been accomplished effectively with less class time. 13 of the 14 students stated that they could have grasped the material in less time than the two class sessions we spent on it. A key part of the presentation was an excellent powerpoint presentation. Several students suggested, and most of the others concurred, that the powerpoint could have been distributed in advance, a much shorter formal presentation could have been given and then time would have been available for questions.

Perhaps we could use the time saved to discuss aspects of the students’ research projects, that we didn’t have a chance to this go round.

Live and learn.