Student motivation in a non-credit online information literacy course

How to motivate students in a non-credit online course by using modular structure with integrated multimedia content and practice-based learning strategies.

This talk will be about an intensive online non-credit course in information literacy for first-year students. From our experience the key issue for the success of such a course is student motivation. So, over several years we have amassed an arsenal of ways to improve student engagement with the course. Video content, clear modular course structure, LMS integration all play a part. Our online course has evolved from a credited first-year experience lecture-based program. To adapt it to our new circumstances, we had to restructure the course in modules, rather than by content types. Modules are geared towards developing a sense of achievement in students: on the same page they go through interactive video content, which presents them with a frequently encountered problem and a click-through solution; a task to try solving a problem on their own; and additional reading for in-depth understanding. We hope to share our experience on designing such a course with faculty and information literacy librarians, including student evaluation of our course before and after restructuring, multimedia content creation (easy-to-use freeware), and using the LMS modules to our advantage.