Question formulation skills training using a novel rubric with first-year medical students

Objective:The authors used an assessment rubric to measure medical students'' improvement in question formulation skills following a brief evidence-based practice (EBP) training session conducted by a health sciences librarian.Method:In a quasi-experimental designed study, students were assessed using a rubric on their pre-instructional skills in formulating answerable EBP questions, based on a clinical scenario. Following their training, they were assessed using the same scenario and rubric. Student pre- and post-test scores were compared using a paired t-test.Results:Students demonstrated statistically significant improvement in their question formulation skills on their post-instructional assessments. The average score for students on the pre-test was 45.5 (SD 11.1) and the average score on the post-test was 65.6 (SD 5.4) with an average increase of 20.1 points on the 70-point scale, p<0.001.Conclusion:The brief instructional session aided by the rubric improved students'' performance in question formulation skills.     

Serving our Communities with Public Speaking Skills

Course: Public Speaking

Objectives: (1) To develop communication skills through practical experience that provides a service to the community; and (2) to inspire and equip students to use their public speaking skills for positive societal influence.     

Teaching intercultural communication through service-learning

Course: Intercultural Communication

Objectives: After completing this intercultural service-learning activity, students should be able to (1) apply effective intercultural communication skills in culturally different sites; (2) analyze cultures different from their own through service-learning; (3) compare and evaluate course readings with service-learning experiences through directed reflection; and (4) build critical empathy, relational, and reflexivity skills by communicating with people who are culturally different.     

Disaster Day! Integrating speech skills though impromptu group research and presentation

Courses: Disaster Day (DD) is a single-class activity designed for public speaking classrooms, but could also be applied to courses addressing small group communication.

Objectives: DD integrates fundamental skills of the basic speech course, fosters participation through group work, and introduces new concepts and skills. By the end of the activity, students should be able to (1) display fundamental speech skills by researching a topic quickly, organizing an informative speech, and delivering a presentation; (2) function effectively in a group by working cooperatively on a project with a tight deadline; and (3) understand basic elements of upcoming skills by creating an informative and visually appealing presentation for a mass audience before having visual aid instruction. DD has similar learning objectives to activities occurring later in the term (i.e., graded speeches) in order to introduce the students to expectations of future, more advanced assignments. As such, I do not treat DD as a graded activity, but rather a fun, low-risk, and useful practice opportunity.     

“Is this for real?”: Web literacy for the web-savvy

Objective: Students will enhance their information literacy skills (ability to determine the validity, currency, and appropriateness) relative to web resources.

Courses: Professional Writing, Academic Writing, Introduction to Communication     

Scrum: Enhancing Student Team Organization and Collaboration

Courses: Any communication course requiring a semester-long team project.

Objectives: After using the Scrum approach to plan and manage a group project, students will have increased awareness of collaborative needs, improved skills for sharing information in non-evaluative ways, improved time management skills, and enhanced ability to assess their group dynamic constructively.     

Bridging the Gap: Integrating Information Literacy into Communication Courses

Courses: Introductory Public Speaking, Introductory Small Group Communication

Objectives: Students will locate, analyze, evaluate, and utilize secondary sources through an in-depth research process. They will complete a comprehensive research portfolio. Students will practice effective group dynamics skills. They will demonstrate effective oral presentation skills in a panel presentation.     

Ghost Hunting as a Means to Illustrate Scientific Methodology and Enhance Critical Thinking

Course: Research Methods, Critical Thinking, Argumentation

Objectives: Students will (1) become more practiced in critical thinking and logical reasoning skills, (2) become more familiar with the steps of the scientific method, and 3) be introduced to the concept of validity in measurement, a-priori hypothesis formation and the role of theory     

Implementation of the cognitive apprenticeship model for enhancement of advanced searching skills in a pharmacy academia rotation

Background:Pharmacy students are primarily taught literature searching skills didactically during their Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum. To effect change in the area of advanced literature searching skills, a pharmacy librarian joined with two Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) preceptors to design and implement a crash course on applied systematic searching skills for a cohort of four students.Case Presentation:Through the cognitive apprenticeship model, a Systematic Searching Crash Course (SSCC) was implemented among a cohort of four academic APPE students. Students developed search strategies using controlled vocabulary and free text, translated their searches into multiple databases, and used citation management software to build libraries of evidence. Additionally, the cohort blindly peer reviewed each other''s search strategies, wrote literature reviews, and finally conducted a search together without input from the pharmacy librarian.Conclusions:Review of the pre-/post-course self-assessment taken by the cohort indicates the SSCC is a success in terms of improving student confidence in accessing and synthesizing primary literature. As the crash course is further refined and implemented, there may be more opportunity to embed the course into didactic curriculum and residency programs and to potentially reproduce it for other health science disciplines.     

Blogging in the Communication Technology Course

Courses: Communication Technology or New Media; could also be used in Broadcast Journalism, Print Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising, or other communication courses

Objectives: By creating and maintaining a blog, students will improve their research and writing skills, participate in collaborative learning, and acquire the digital literacy skills necessary for success in rapidly changing media and communication industries     

COMS Day as a communication senior capstone team project

Courses: Senior Seminar

Objectives: (1) To provide graduating students a semester-long capstone experience where they can apply communication theories/skills in a professional context. (2) To create a capstone project that contributes to programmatic assessment.     

Proverb Activity: Understanding How Perception and Gender Stereotypes are Formed

Objectives: Students will understand perception and apply step-by-step skills in a personally relevant way by rethinking taken-for-granted proverbs related to gender stereotypes

Courses: Gender and Communication, Intercultural Communication, Interpersonal Communication     

Teaching persuasion through personal advocacy

Courses: Public Speaking, Argumentation, Persuasion, Debate.

Objectives: Students will further develop their public speaking skills, learn about and use comparative argumentation and value frameworks, develop rebuttal skills, and inspire one another to engage in community projects.     

Impact of embedded librarianship on undergraduate nursing students’ information skills

Background:One-shot library sessions have numerous drawbacks; most notably, they rarely have a long-term impact on students’ research behavior or skill sets. Library literature notes that when students interact with an embedded librarian, their skills improve. While close partnerships with subject faculty are important, librarians must also assess students’ skill sets to determine the impact of these teaching efforts.Case presentation:During the course, the embedded librarian used various activities and assignments to teach information-seeking skills, with the expected outcome of increased skill sets. This IRB-approved research project focused on measuring and assessing students’ information-seeking abilities before and after interacting with the embedded nursing librarian. Changes in students’ information fluency skills were measured using pre- and post-tests.Conclusions:The study results provide evidence of the benefits of the embedded librarianship model. Continued measurement of students’ skills acquisition is important to enable librarians and library administrators to show the positive impacts the library has on student learning and success.     

Advancing nursing students' transition to scholarship: embedding a librarian into the Advanced Nursing Research course

Background:Nursing students often prioritize learning clinical skills rather than research skills, possibly inhibiting their growth as scholars. Supporting nursing students'' learning of information literacy skills has been shown to impact nurses'' involvement with research after graduation. This suggests a need for developing innovative information literacy teaching strategies that can enable nursing students to better understand the process of research and how to apply research to practice.Case Presentation:This article describes the implementation of the embedded librarian project at the course level at the University of Memphis. A librarian was integrated into the Advanced Nursing Research course, a semester-long course for graduate nursing students, for the fall 2020 semester. This case shares the embedded librarian project''s implementation and evaluation strategies.Conclusions:The embedded librarian project aided students'' acquisition of information literacy skills at the University of Memphis. Students reported that the embedded librarian project helped them complete assignments for their research course. Using an embedded librarian service within the graduate nursing curricula model may enhance scholarship among future nurses.     

Unpacking the metaphors of leadership using the Leadership Communication Grid: Knowledge,skills, and abilities

Courses: Leadership, Organizational Communication, Small Group Communication

Objectives: After completing this activity, students will have greater awareness of a variety of metaphors of leadership and how these metaphors highlight different sets of instrumental communication knowledge, skills, and abilities.     

Exploring Cultural Identities: Renewing the Family Interview Assignment

Objectives: Through an examination of their cultural and familial histories, students will develop an awareness of how they are situated within the socio-cultural landscape of the US and the global village. Students will identify how family histories assist in their construction of cultural identities.

Courses: Intercultural Communication and Family Communication     

A Semester-Long Joint Simulation of the Development of a Health Communication Campaign

Course: Health Communication or Health Communication Campaigns, in cooperation with Ad/PR Campaigns

Objectives: After completing this assignment students will develop basic skills to change some health-related aspect of their immediate environment via public health communication     

Food as social justice: Critical ethnography as a lens for communication activism

Courses: Public Speaking.

Objectives: This semester-long service-learning activity examines access to affordable healthy food as a social justice issue, using critical ethnography as a framework to help students understand the link between activism and public speaking skills. After completing the project, students will be able to: (1) develop a narrative speech that links their respective identities to food justice; (2) adapt a persuasive message that connects a community partner's food justice goals to a target audience; and (3) communicate ethically with a public while participating in a food justice campaign.     

Library involvement in health informatics education for health professions students and practitioners: a scoping review

Objective:The purpose of this scoping review is to evaluate the extent of library or librarian involvement in informatics education in the health domain.Methods:We searched eight databases from their inception to 2019 for reports of informatics educational activities for health professionals or health professions students that involved library staff or resources. Two reviewers independently screened all titles/abstracts (n=2,196) and resolved inclusion decisions by consensus. From the full text of the 36 papers that met the inclusion criteria, we extracted data on 41 educational activities.Results:The most frequent coded purposes of activities were “teaching clinical tools” (n=19, 46.3%) and “technology” (n=17; 41.5%). Medical students were the most frequent primary audience (34.1%), though 41.5% of activities had multiple audiences. Evaluation was reported for 24 activities (58.5%), only a few of which assessed short or post-activity impact on attitudes, knowledge, or skills. The most common long-term outcome was applying skills in other courses or clinical experiences. Thematic analysis yielded three areas of outcomes and issues for the library and organizational partners: expanded opportunities, technology and resource issues, and value demonstration.Conclusions:Limited published examples of health informatics educational activities provide models for library roles in informatics education. More librarians should report on their informatics educational activities and provide sufficient details on the interventions and their evaluation. This would strengthen the evidence base about the potential impact of libraries within informatics education.