A Methodology for Mapping Multiple Means of Representation in Library Tutorials Abstract Librarians designed a biology tutorial not only to address an assignment, but also to make tutorials more accessible to students with various learning preferences. The Instructional Design Librarian created multiple modules that engaged users through text, images, audio, and interactive tutorials. The researchers used Universal Design for Learning principles to address multiple learning preferences, specifically multiple means of representation, and created a mapping technique for those principles that can be applied to any online tutorial. To assess the effectiveness, students with learning disabilities completed a usability test on the tutorial. Background Information Biology tutorial redesigned to include UDL making use of a systematic design process (ADDIE) Partnership between the Science Librarian and Instructional Design Librarian All students can benefit from differentiated instruction, not just those with learning differences. Learning preferences considered: auditory, tactile, and visual. Text was handled separately to reduce issues for dyslexia Audio Reinforce important concepts with audio recordings Helps students with dyslexia, audio learners. Files can be made in a simple audio recorder Streaming by Soundcloud Visual Use video for visual concepts, website demos, etc. Helps students who are visual learners, ADHD Can reuse YouTube, basic library tutorials. Videos made using Camtasia and Vegas Cartoons! Kinesthetic Create interactive tutorials with motion Helps students who are kinesthetic learners Breaks up tutorial, fights boredom Made using Flash Catalyst, soon perhaps HTML 5.0? Text Necessary evil? Preferred learning style? Reduce Text to only necessary concepts. Include plain-text accessible scripts for video tutorials. UDL Tutorial Mapping: The Basics Mapping technique assists in looking for gaps in classifications of means of representation. Could be used for any online tutorial, not just in the library. Used similar technique to Ping Li, who mapped according to information literacy standards. 1 Mestre states that students need to have a variety of ways to interact with the materials because they often need multiple ways to view information before they can fully learn the material. 2 Each means of representation was assigned a number. See key below. Some sections were assigned more than one number during the mapping. “Home” Tutorial Page with Mapping “CSE Citation” Page with UDL Mapping Faculty Learning Community Members Katy Kavanagh Webb, Instructional Design Librarian Jeanne Hoover, Science Librarian Joyner Library, East Carolina University Evaluation: User Testing with STEPP Conducted user testing via the speak-aloud protocol with 4 students from Project STEPP. Usability tests took place in Joyner Library and were recorded. Some sample questions given to the students to test the usability of the tutorial included: You find a source in the database, and you’re sure it fits your topic and it is a secondary source. Now it is time to cite that source. The assignment says you need to learn something called Council of Science Editors’ style. Where can you find the format of a citation for an article in this style? Give one tip that you could use to avoid plagiarism. Some questions about navigating the tutorial included: Was it always clear to you how you should move forward or back in the module to get where you wanted to go? If not, please elaborate. Was there too much text in the module? Some issues that were discovered via the user test included: SlideShare caused students to navigate outside the tutorial. Share button on module was jarring for most students. Table1. Total Number of Times Each Learning Mode was Employed in the Tutorial Audio3 Visual9 Kinesthetic5 Text7 Implications of UDL Mapping Ensured that the tutorial design had multiple means of representation on each page of the tutorial. Helped address issues of too much text for people with text-based learning disabilities Allows students to learn according to their learning preferences Selected Bibliography 1 Ping Li, “Science Information Literacy Tutorials and Pedagogy,” Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 6, no.2 (2011): Lori Mestre, “Matching Up Learning Styles with Learning Objects: What’s effective,” Journal of Library Administration, 50, no. 7-8 (2010): Larry Kortering, Terry McClannon and Patricia Braziel, “Universal Design for Learning: A Look at What Algebra and Biology Students With and Without High Incidence Conditions Are Saying,” Remedial and Special Education 29, no.6 (2008): Ying Zhong, “Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in Library Instruction,” College and Undergraduate Libraries 19, no.1 (2012): Ted Chodock and Elizabeth Dolinger, “Applying Universal Design for Information Literacy: Teaching Students Who Learn Differently at Landmark College,” Reference & User Services Quarterly 49 no.1 (2009):