(INTER) ACTIVE INFORMATION SKILLS USING PITCH2PEER IN THE MASTER’S PHASE
Information literacy, critical reflection and independence play an important role in the (master) course Strategic Change at the Nijmegen School of Management at Radboud University. Throughout the course, the students keep a kind of search log (search tracker) of their searches and, via the Pitch2Peer program, give each other feedback about the articles found and the search methods used. The working group meetings have varying themes and are led by a different group of students on the basis of two core articles on this theme that they have found. These articles found by the students themselves (together with the prescribed literature) ultimately form the exam material.
Course structure
In the first week of the course, the information specialists organize two meetings about the systematic search for literature. Here, the students refresh their basic skills (search techniques and search strategies) and are put to work doing systematic searches in search systems such as Business Source Complete and Web of Science, in which the more advanced search techniques and strategies are also discussed. Attention is also paid to the evaluation of the literature found on the basis of, among other things, the impact factor and the H-index. During the course of the course, optional EndNote workshops are offered. The regular working groups start in the second week. The groups of students who have to give a working group are asked to not only pay substantive attention to the articles found in their presentation, but also to explicitly show how they found them and on the basis of which criteria they selected these two articles. as teaching material.
Students learn from each other
Two days before the workgroup meeting, the presenting groups must upload their PowerPoint slide, on which they present the articles they have found and the search query used, in the feedback program Pitch2Peer. To gain a better insight into the search process, students keep track of their searches in the search tracker developed by the library team, which is also submitted via Pitch2Peer. Based on a set of predefined criteria, such as search systems used, search terms, search techniques and reproducibility, the rest of the students then provide feedback on the search process. The groups process this feedback in their final presentation during “their” working group. The information specialists are present during each working group to provide additional tips.
Information specialists Norma Fötsch and Maarten Gubbels:
‘The search trackers submitted quickly showed progress. At the beginning we encountered many errors, for example when formulating search terms and using search techniques. In the last search trackers submitted, the students clearly showed that they can search for literature in a systematic way, report on it in a transparent manner and also master the more advanced search techniques’.
If you would like to know more about this project, please contact the NSM Library Team via infofm@ubn.ru.nl