Creator name(s):
Kate McGrath
Description:
This is a mostly online activity that introduces students to library resources, while also stepping them through the process of evaluating sources.
What inspired the creation of this learning object, or what was the need?
I love the idea of ‘gamification’ in library instruction and really wanted to incorporate some kind of game into my instruction sessions. I’m often invited to do an “Intro to library resources/beginner research” instruction session in many of the First Year Experience classes at Hilbert College. This course does not have a research component to it, and I find it’s difficult to engage students in the research process when they don’t have a corresponding assignment. After a couple rough classes during Fall 2025, I knew I wanted to make a change and ‘Oh no! There are ZOMBIES on Campus’ was the result!
Who’s the audience for the learning object?
First-year college students
What tools/software did you use to create the learning object, and why did you choose them?
I used the tutorial feature in Libwizard for the activity and found all of the images (of zombies, of course) on Canva. The side-by-side tutorial worked really well for this activity.
From planning to launch, how long did it take to complete the project? Was it more or less time than you originally planned?
I can’t say for sure how long it took. This is something that I’ve been thinking about for quite awhile but I think it took me a couple weeks, working on and off, to build it out.
Did you encounter any difficulties or unexpected challenges along the way? What have you learned from the development process that you will carry over into the learning object?
The only “challenge” (and it’s not really a challenge at all) is that a couple months after I created this game, we added a discovery layer. This was a great addition for our library and for our users, I just had to tweak the game to account for our new way of searching resources.
How have you promoted this learning object at your institution or elsewhere?
I have used this only in the FYE classes so far.
Have you assessed the effectiveness of the learning object in meeting your established objectives/goals? How has your audience responded to this learning object?
While I haven’t assessed the learning object directly, I ask students to fill out a survey at the end of each instruction class. I use a standardized survey from Project Outcome and one of the questions is “What did you like most about this session?”. Many students respond by saying that they liked the zombie activity!
What’s next? Do you have any plans to update, expand or modify this learning object, or create other instructional materials like this?
I have lots of ideas! I’m hoping to adapt this activity so that it can be used for the online FYE class; while most of it is already online, part of the activity requires that students find a book in the stacks, which I’ll exclude for online students. I would like to create a “Choose Your Own Adventure: Research Edition” activity for students to use, modeled after the books that were popular when I was a kid. I haven’t had time to sit and figure out how it would work but I’m hoping to do something with it this summer. Stay tuned!
What advice would you give others who are looking to use this learning object or create their own resource like this?
Go for it! I think it’s easy to tell ourselves “this is a silly idea” or “it will never work” but…you don’t know until you try.
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International 
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