1. iKnow OSFC’s 1-stop Search tool
Corinne Walker
Learning Resources Manager

2. Background
In 2013 we started to investigate the possibility of using a Discovery tool in order to increase the visibility and therefore usage of our Online Resources.
Throughout the academic year we had noticed throughout College that:
We had concerns over the declining use of our online resources
Tutors had concerns over declining standard of research/reading around
Students were increasingly over-reliant on Google
Students showed little or no regard for validity or authenticity of “Google” results
As we were opening our newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre in September 2014 we decided to go the whole way and launch our Discovery tool at the same time.

3. Timeline
Summer 2013
First contact with EBSCO (Richard Debenham) for pricing and overview of system
September 2013 – March 2014
Delay with planning of new LRC
March 2014
OSFC custom catalogue dialogue started – takes from 21st March to 9th May for catalogue conversion to be fully integrated with EDS after many webinars & conference calls with EBSCO support in Boston, MA
May 2014
iKnow goes “live”
Trialling begins and glitches ironed out.
Ebrary ebook for FE titles link from iKnow
June 2014
2 iKnow INSET sessions to tutors
2 iKnow inductions with EPQ students

4. Timeline
Summer 2014
personalisation of iKnow started – logos, branding, linking
New VLE “MyDay” implemented based on SharePoint
October 2014 INSET Day
Full staff presentation of iKnow, followed by drop in workshops attended by representatives of every curriculum area
October – December 2014
iKnow induction lessons delivered to BTEC Science, English Language, Dance, Performing Arts, Law, Health & Social Care and Travel & Tourism
January 2015
Students who attended iKnow lesson surveyed – v. positive response – 91% would continue to use iKnow for their research

5. Timeline February – November 2015
extensive work on personalisation and VLE integration. Online Resources page has direct iKnow search box. Every VLE Curriculum page has its own iKnow search link.

6. Timeline February – November 2015
extensive work on personalisation and VLE integration. Permalinks activated so links to specific resources/searches can now be added to VLE pages

7. Timeline February – November 2015
Permalinks to e-books via the iKnow platform added to curriculum pages. E-books on the ebrary & DawsonEra platform can now be accessed directly from within iKnow.

8. So where are we now…
We continued to liaise with departments and began making links with science and humanities curriculum areas.
Biology and Geography classes were visited for the first time.
Dance, Health & Social Care and English Language requested lessons for the 2nd year running
After feedback from a Health & Social Care tutor who also teaches Psychology, all Psychology classes were visited during the Autumn Term.
In Spring Term tutors were asked to submit feedback about iKnow for the Teaching & Learning newsletter. The following responses were published:

9. So where are we now…
“The iKnow system has been extremely beneficial in helping students to gain a higher score on the AO3 component (research & analysis).“
iKnow allows students to access a much wider range of sources such as magazines, e-books and online articles which in turn further boosts their marks as they have taken information from a variety sources.”
"Students are extremely lucky to have iKnow resources in College and also available off-site”
“I can't recommend iKnow enough and I have seen students engage with the resources not just for psychology but other subjects they are studying.”

10. Statistics iKnow Sessions Searches Sept 2014 – August 2015 4358 199958
Sept 2015 – April 2016
8893
229194
% Increase
104%
14%
ebrary
Sessions
Page Views
Sept 2014 – August 2015
2764
43653
Sept 2015 – April 2016
4441
70458
% Increase
60%
61%
DawsonEra
Sessions
Page Views
Sept 2014 – August 2015
785
15832
Sept 2015 – April 2016
1097
30180
% Increase
39%
90%

11. So where next… We won’t be standing still…
There are still some curriculum areas to crack who still aren’t convinced of the value of the resources discovered through iKnow.
More INSET sessions planned for June INSET week targeting these subject areas.
All Schemes of Work will have to include some form of iKnow/independent research based element from September 2016.
1st induction lessons for Dance students already pencilled in for September 2016!!!