June 2019 Site of the Month

ALA ACRL IS PRIMO logoPRIMO Site of the Month: June 2019

Arizona State University (ASU) Tutorials

Understanding Fair Use
URL: http://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/understanding-fair-use/
Creators:  Arizona State University Library, Anali Perry, Online Tutorials & Learning Team

Using Videos for Teaching
URL:
http://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/using-video-for-teaching/
Creators:  Arizona State University Library, Anali Perry, Online Tutorials & Learning Team

Writing a Research Data Management Plan
URL:
http://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/writing-rdmp/
Creators:  Arizona State University Library, Matthew Harp, Samuel Dyal, Online Teaching & Learning Team

Institution:  Arizona State University

Interviewee:  Deirdre Kirmis, Anali Perry, Matt Harp

Interviewer:  Rachel Cooke

Description of Project (provided by creators):

“Understanding Fair Use” is an interactive web-based tutorial designed to introduce students to recognizing and understanding Fair Use in everyday situations, as well as how to conduct a Fair Use evaluation.

“Using Videos for Teaching” is an interactive web-based tutorial designed to help instructors understand the provisions which allow them to use copyrighted videos in their courses.

“Writing a Research Data Management Plan” is an interactive web-based tutorial designed to teach students why it is important to prepare a research data management plan, and what the most important components are for the documentation. It teaches the importance of planning for metadata creation and for establishing policies on access, sharing, and reuse of your data.

Q: I enjoyed these tutorials and found them to be extremely informative introductions to very complex topics.  I would imagine many new faculty would find them essential during their first teaching year. How are these tutorials being used across campus?  Have you seen them integrated into any online or in-person training for faculty?

A: Deirdre: We have these tutorials available for embedding into our LMS and into our library guides, and for linking from our library website. The Research Data Management tutorial is included in the library Learning Badges, as well as integrated into curriculum provided to students in the ASU Research Academy. Many of our instructors have incorporated the Understanding Fair Use tutorial into their course curriculum. All of the tutorials are embedded into library guides specifically focused on the particular topics.

Q: Were you asked to create these tutorials from departments outside the Library or was it internally motivated?

A: Anali: The Fair Use and Using Videos for Teaching tutorials were internally motivated. In particular, we were updating our streaming video reserve policy, and wanted the tutorials to serve as a standard message we could give to instructors to help them understand our new policy.

Q: I noticed there are a variety of people listed in the production teams for the three tutorials.  Which departments were represented and how was the work coordinated among the creators?

A: Deirdre: For these three tutorials, the authors created the content and initial “storyboard” in PowerPoint, and also contributed to finding images and giving input into the layout and structure of the slides. The editor/designer took the content and storyboard from the author and developed the tutorial by adding images, animation, and activities. The ASU Online Training and Learning team reviewed the tutorial, gave suggestions for revisions, and approved the final published version.

Q: With copyright, fair use, and data management there is a lot of ground to cover, and these topics may require specialized knowledge.  How did you gather the information for the tutorials? Did you collaborate or consult with colleagues outside the Library?

A: Anali: As the Scholarly Communication Librarian, I manage our copyright and fair use library guides and regularly give workshops and webinars on these topics, as well as individual consultations. I already had the content and was interested in trying a tutorial format as a sort of FAQ. I collaborated with Deirdre to design the assessments, and of course, she made the tutorial magic happen.

Q: In the data management tutorial, you advertise research project support services provided by the ASU Library.  Have you enjoyed increased consultation requests because of this tutorial? Do you collaborate with other departments on campus to provide these services?

A: Matt: These tutorials have resulted in consultation but they also enable self management of personal projects and have led to instructors contacting us for further help for their students’ projects. We saw a particular increase in consultation requests from research assistance staff who coordinate project proposals and development. We primarily work with Research Advancement Services and the Research Technology Office in communicating and deploying our research project support services. They are a critical partner in outreach, feedback, and extending our instruction modules into the learning management systems used to train researchers on the research project cycle at Arizona State.

Q: The interface of all the tutorials is very user-friendly and two of the tutorials feature attractive creative commons images.   Which program did you use to create these tutorials? How did you select your images?

A: Anali: Deirdre and I worked together on the images. There are so many great sources for finding openly licensed images, such as Unsplash, Pixabay, and the Creative Commons Search. I love finding just the right image that hopefully will enhance whatever point I’m trying to make.

Q: The tutorials included questions to keep the participants engaged.  Do you collect data from these, and, if so, what have they shown you?

A: Deirdre: We collect analytics data on each tutorial and evaluate the data based on number of views and number of quizzes passed. We are in the process of working with our data analytics specialist in the library to further analyze the data to determine the level of success students are seeing as a result of completing our tutorials.

Q: Best practices regarding copyright, fair use, and handling research data may evolve over time.  Is there a plan in place to update your tutorial? Is there a point-person who maintains the tutorials?

A: Deirdre: We have a working group in place to periodically review the tutorials to make revisions based on changes in policy, standards, and best practices. This review typically occurs in the summer each year to ensure the tutorials are current for the fall semester, but small updates are also made throughout the year as necessary.

Q:  The ASU Library is an aspirational model for offering specialized services, such as data science, analytics, research, and publication services.    Can you talk a bit about how the data management tutorial fits into your overall vision of your services and what your plans are, if any, for future tutorials?

A: Matt: The data management tutorial is an exemplary instance of where we are changing the narrative of the library’s role in research. We see this as a fundamental leap beyond helping users find and use information to helping them manage their own research. Research data management is a key and ongoing element of the research lifecycle in which library professionals have a supporting role. Data management helps students and faculty keep their work consistent throughout the course of their project and prepares it for reuse by others and themselves. Good data management practices enable findable, accessible, and reusable work which is the heart of what we do. In essence we are sharing the knowledge of libraries and archives and enriching the scholarly work of our community. Future tutorials will continue to delve deeper into the research process, covering topics  such as working with research collaboration platforms, identifying disciplinary data repositories, managing your professional identity, and preparing projects for publication.