Sense of Direction: Embedding a Virtual Tour in Course-Integrated Instruction Sessions at an Academic Library

Abstract

Because academic library tours typically require an entire class period to conduct, some professors are reluctant to provide students with opportunities for physical library orientation. Thus, when classes meet for course-integrated instruction without a tour, some students enter the library for the first time with little sense of their surroundings. For many students, an academic library can be overwhelming, posing potential barriers to learning. As an attempt to solve these problems, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Library created a 4-minute virtual tour. In fall 2015, the tour was embedded as a quiz in the course management system D2L. That semester, two professors assigned the D2L quiz to five freshman English classes, and 88 undergraduate students attempted the assignment. This case study describes how a virtual tour was embedded in a course management system to enhance library instruction. This paper also examines original data to determine if video viewership increased after the virtual tour was assigned in courses and if students satisfactory completed a 10-question quiz based on the tour.