Document Type
Presentation
Abstract
This session discusses the implementation and management of an innovative collaboration between libraries' staff at a four-year institution of higher education and faculty and students in the university's Film and Media Studies (FMS) Department. Capitalizing on the university's experiential learning goals and strategic priorities, the libraries served as a community partner in a service-learning course on digital storytelling. The course was designed to expand students' creative practice by blending elements of theory with the "real life"practice of producing work for a client. Students in the course were grouped into teams and paired with one of four community partners; the student teams were required to develop a creative brief, incorporate client feedback, create a digital product that responded to the client's needs and mission, and offer a short critical analysis of the work produced. Acting as client, library representatives requested the development of an engaging and sustainable digital learning object that could be integrated into first-year seminars as a way to introduce the libraries as a resource and reduce the common experience of library anxiety. The libraries' student team designed a game using Twine, an open-source platform for creating nonlinear stories. The game, informed by Sharon Bostick's five dimensions of library anxiety, adopts a choose-your-own-adventure style of play and casts players as new college students assigned their first research paper. Players forge their own paths through the game and confront multiple barriers along the way, ranging from interactions with library staff to mechanical barriers. Illustrated banners throughout the game connect to player selections and offer information about the libraries, information-seeking behaviors of undergraduates, and strategies for academic success. Over 100 original GIFs and illustrations were created for use in the visually stimulating game. Game play ends as players are presented with information about their "researcher type." Despite the enthusiasm, creativity, and diligence of the students involved, the scope was too large for the three-person team to complete the project in a single semester. Additionally, the skillset required for completing the remaining work was beyond that of most academic librarians at the university, and the game languished until funding was secured to hire a freelance contractor. The libraries hired a member of the original student team, by then an alumna, and supplemented her work with contributions from library staff and student employees. The published version was released in fall 2016 and presented as a bonus opportunity to students in 45 sections of the university's first-year-experience classes. Challenges continue with browser compatibility, screen size, and accessibility issues. In addition to providing strategies for library integration into service-learning courses, I will present original student artifacts, discuss the status of the project at the end of the course, and describe the additional time commitment and funding necessary to complete and publish the learning object as an open educational resource. Participants will be encouraged to interact with the game and evaluate the openly licensed project materials for adapting the game at their home institutions. (Poster presentation at ACRL 2017 in Baltimore, MD.)
Publication Date
3-24-2017
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Reed, Michelle, "Students Take the Wheel: Exploring the Products and Processes of a Service-Learning Partnership with Undergraduates" (2017). Librarian & UTA Libraries Staff Publications. 127.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/utalibraries_publications/127