Using evidence-informed approaches to know and respond to students’ diverse needs,
Background
Since disruption to schedules caused by Covid-19 lockdowns during 2020 and 2021, and followed by significant cohort size growth in 2022, BA Fine Art courses at Camberwell have not offered whole-cohort research or information skills sessions in year 2 or 3. In my now second year as Academic Support Librarian to Fine Art I have observed consistent and significant disparity between the number of 1:1 librarian tutorials requested by Fine Art Y3 students for Unit 9 Element 2 (the dissertation level project) compared to Design, who do schedule these sessions for all students.
Current provision
The higher numbers of students needing 1:1 help indicated to me that a skills and information-based need is not being met for all Fine Art students as they progress through courses, and raised an alarm that provision is not equitable if only those that are aware of 1:1 provision, and who feel confident to request it, get the information needed to research effectively at UAL. Reliance on extensive provision of 1:1s also causes me a workload issue and reduces my availability to students who may need the most help.
Fine art has a higher-than-average participation of students managing around neurodiversity and learning differences, with the clear link established between learning differences and creativity (Damiani, 2017) demonstrating the need for accommodation and equity. Additionally, there are high numbers of students studying in second languages who may need provision that accommodates developing language skills and confidence (Liu, 2023). Many of the students requesting direct support are those looking to maximise already well-developed research and referencing skills and who are native English speakers, students who could have learned the skills needed in group settings but were not offered that opportunity.
Having spoken with dissertation tutors there is an attainment gap now apparent in Fine Art text-based units for several cohorts. Research suggests a correlation between library use and attainment (Stone and Ramsden, 2013). It seems clear that the gap in research skills provision between Welcome Week library inductions and the skills required to attain in these later units is too large in terms of both time passed and content delivered. This gap only works for very independent learners and confident library catalogue users. Using the library catalogue effectively is very different from platforms that may look and feel similar; such as Google and online retail, so users can quickly become frustrated by poor results forming another barrier to return. Students having been overwhelmed in Welcome Week, or learning in a new language environment, may never have got familiar with the library or may not remember the access pages or tips shared at that point. We are also contending with the common inclination, perhaps solidified during Covid-19 lockdowns but long established, for students to rely on Google for their research – despite knowledge that it is an inadequate resource (Becker, 2003).
Moving forwards
I have been offering a more sustainable and consistent programme of research skills sessions to my courses but had not had traction until this term. Now a combination of available attainment data, dissertation tutors’ feedback, and the trust built up in my course team relationships has helped to progress the plan. I have addressed the remaining barriers of allocating session time and finding a physical space to fit large cohorts by proposing bite-sized 20–30-minute sessions aligned to units 7 and 8 for year 2s, delivered at weekly year-group meetings which have whole cohort attendance. Four of my five courses have now scheduled these sessions in for Y2 unit 7 in the Spring term. To keep to the 20 minutes slots I have recorded video tutorials covering more basic and less urgent elements for this unit which will be provided on the unit Moodle pages, in addition to recordings of the content to be delivered in-person which will be added after the sessions.
This means all students will get an in-person explanation of the foundational research skills they need for the unit 7 essay, with a view to building on this with more detailed sessions delivered for unit 8 and 9, again with asynchronous video recordings of these sessions and additional short tutorials on further skills available on each Unit Moodle page. This ensures students who miss the sessions or those would like to revisit details while in progress on their work have access to the content for reference. The further videos and drop-in group sessions will be available to students who need more basic help or who wish to develop a more expert level of referencing, or engage in deeper research (for example external to UAL). Full slide decks will also be provided for those who prefer text base resources, in addition to captioning all video resources to ensure accessibility.
Designing the content
In the sessions for unit 7 research skills I will ensure that the searches used as examples to demonstrate the library catalogue are engaging – including mentioning and demonstrating image searches, streaming content, and practice based resources to emphasise the usefulness of library research across aspects of the courses and units. Preference for online sources will also be acknowledged with a focus on the increasing number of art theory ebooks available. All videos will have clear sectioning for dipping in and out, and will be maximum 25 minutes long.
References
Becker, N. J. (2003) ‘Google in perspective: understanding and enhancing student search skills’, New Review of Academic Librarianship, Vol. 9(1), pp. 84–99. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13614530410001692059.
Damiani, L. M. (2017) Art, Design and Neurodiversity. Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/EVA2017.40.
Liu, W. (2023) The theory of second language development for international students. Journal for Multicultural Education, Vol. 17(3), pp. 367-378. doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JME-08-2022-0106.
Stone, G., & Ramsden, B. (2013) Library Impact Data Project: Looking for the Link between Library Usage and Student Attainment. College & Research Libraries, Vol. 74(6), pp. 546-559. doi:https://doi.org/10.5860/crl12-406.