Copyright (c) 2008 Grand Valley State University All rights reserved. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu Recent documents in Scholar Works @ GVSU en-us Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:56:31 PDT 3600 http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_sp/2 http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_sp/2 Tue, 20 May 2008 12:25:02 PDT Objective: Drawing upon earlier research that surveyed students' grasp of subject knowledge after taking either an online or face-to-face EBM course, this paper explores the effectiveness of a Web-based professional continuing education course, compared with an equivalent face-to- face version. The course was designed to teach practicing medical librarians how to participate in and advocate for Evidence Based Medicine at their individual institutions. Methods: Seventy-two practicing librarians, self-selected to participate in either the distance education eight week course or the eight hour face-to-face class. Using a modified version of the Fresno Test of Competence in Evidence-Based Medicine, the authors compared student pre- class, post-class, and six-month post-class assessment scores to assess subject knowledge retention, evaluate student learning, and determine the efficacy of the course delivery methods. Results: When comparing the scores of only those who completed all assessments, the DE students averaged over 10 points higher than the CE group in each test. Based on the raw numbers, it appeared that students in the DE group came into the classroom with a greater knowledge of the subject and retained more knowledge six months after the course had ended. However, after analyzing the data from all participants, the study showed that the differences between the distance education group and face-to-face group were not statistically significant. Conclusions: In this study, the distance education group and face-to-face groups had no difference in level of knowledge retention. Julie A. Garrison http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_sp/1 http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/library_sp/1 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:02:57 PDT As academic libraries strive to meet the challenges of the 21st century, we need to examine new ways to fulfill our educational mission. Simply continuing to do things the same way we always have is no longer an option. On the one hand, technology is rapidly changing how we go about our work. On the other hand, competition among institutions of higher learning is such that only those who provide the best educational experience for their students will thrive. Faced with these challenges, college and university libraries have implemented a variety of reorganizational strategies. A review of the literature provides copious examples of this. More recent examples of this include the excellent article by Mori Lou Higa and others describing changes at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and the collection of articles edited by Bradford Lee Eden which deals specifically with the reorganization of library technical services. For its part, Grand Valley State University has taken the unusual step of doing away with its Periodicals Department. This article will explain how and why this happened. Robert Schoofs