The inaugural 2021 Award for Excellence in Innovation is awarded to Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary library staff for the creation of an online version of their library instruction sessions previously only available for in-person doctoral students. In a six-month time span, they developed an online course through Canvas LMS for all students (undergraduate, masters, doctoral) and faculty that is self-paced, with small lessons while simultaneously completing a total library renovation. The course also reaches Korean and Spanish-speaking students through translation and subtitles. Collaboration with the Online Studies department was helpful in converting their session into an easy-to-follow course. As a result, no additional time is required for their librarians to offer more in-person sessions and it has exponentially increased the number of students and faculty that can access the library instruction course. Advantageously, the first course was launched a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic caused the shut down of in-person classes.
- There are 4,005 enrolled in the course with over 20,252 lessons viewed since July 2020. (Previously, only two in-person sessions were conducted with a total of 60 students in attendance.)
- The project directly fulfills the library’s mission of supporting the seminary’s curriculum and research projects.
- The course will continue to be offered on Canvas LMS with a review of course contents each semester, updating lessons and videos as necessary.
Link to award announcement: http://www.acl.org/index.cfm/about-acl/recognitions/acl-award-for-excellence-in-innovation/