Information Specialist and ICT Lecturer Co-Teach an Online Course : A New Way and What Students Think About It

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share a multidisciplinary approach to teaching information literacy (IL) in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The paper describes a practical case about the execution of a course ‘Information management and communication’. It focuses on how the information specialist and ICT lecturer collaborate from the planning stage of the course to the evaluation phase, and how the implementation is evaluated. The course combines asynchronous learning in an online learning environment and synchronous online real time co-teaching in a virtual classroom. The described course is the first one the distance learning students attend as they complete their Bachelor’s degree online. The overall objective of the implementation of the presented course was to ensure that students achieve basic computer and IL skills for further studies. Other important objectives were enhancing online socialization, creating a sense of belonging together as a group, building confidence in studying online and using the library’s web services. The objectives were reached with co-teaching and interactive tools during online lessons. Laurea Library has experience from co-teaching with lecturers, and this practical case shows how multidisciplinary collaboration, which benefits all involved, can also be carried out in online learning environments.