Abstract
THIS RESEARCH OBSERVED, in their natural setting, the outcomes of two training modalities implemented by a mediumsize academic library for training student employees. The researchers compared the learning gained from the group instruction (instructor-led) approach that the library has adopted for a number of years with learning from the Web-based self-instruction method recently developed and implemented. Achievement and attitudinal data from 190 graduate and undergraduate student employees over a period of three years were collected. Since the research was conducted as the library shifted from group instruction to Web-based self-instruction, naturally-occurring factors that may have influenced the data were not controlled but were accounted for in this report. Trainees performed equally in both modes and generally responded favorably to training despite modality. Findings suggest that Web-based self-instruction is a plausible alternative to augment group-instruction. While the instructional content was identical for the two approaches, student perception of their learning appeared to differ. Group-instruction students perceived their learning to relate to services, library functions, and information searching and literacy. The Web-based group emphasized that their learning focused on the building’s physical layout, locations of collections and service units, and general services.
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William Gibbs is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Department of Media Services at Eastern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. in Instructional Systems from The Pennsylvania State University. He has worked with individuals from various academic disciplines as part of instructional design teams and has served as instructional design and technology advisor to faculty in the development of instruction and instructional materials. For the past several years, he has offered educational technology courses via the Internet. His research interests include knowledge acquisition, technology-based learning environments, and methods for effective instructional software evaluation.
Carrie Chen is a retired faculty member at Eastern Illinois University’s Booth Library. Ms. Chen served in the cataloguing department. She also coordinated all student employee training for Booth Library.
Ronan S. Bernas is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology of Eastern Illinois University. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology (Committee on Human Development) from the University of Chicago in 1995. His research is on argumentative and explanatory discourse. He examines the learning and conceptual changes that occur during argumentative and explanatory discourse.
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Gibbs, W.J., Chen, C. & Bernas, R.S. Group instruction and web-based instructional approaches for training student employees. J. Comput. High. Educ. 13, 71–90 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02940945
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02940945