30 day research support challenge

Creation of an online training module for library staff to increase their awareness of researcher’s needs and facilitate improved library support for researchers.

During which period did you implement your innovation?

June-July 2016

What was the driver for your innovation?

Areas in which libraries provide support to researchers (both clinical and academic) has increased recently. A gap in library staff knowledge about research support was a driver for delivering staff training. UCL’s libraries serve a number of NHS Trusts, and are spread out geographically. Evening staff struggle to attend daytime training events. To reach as many staff as possible an online training module was developed. The innovation was the gamification of the training module to increase engagement. Inspired by trends in fitness challenges, participants were challenged to complete a little of the module every working day for 30 days.

What did you do?

The primary aim was to produce an online library staff training module to increase staff knowledge about the different areas in which the library provides support for researchers. An objective was to encourage staff engagement with the module through gamification, by providing a competitive challenge for the participants.

The challenge was based on a current trend for 30 day fitness challenges, which require the completion of a specified exercise every day for 30 days. The online module ran over 6 weeks, so 30 working days, with new content becoming available each day. The content consisted of a short movie and quiz to ensure the participant had engaged in the movie. Each day’s activities lasted around 10 minutes. The module was run in Moodle, which enabled the tracking of participants’ activity and the use of quizzes. It could also be set up so that one day’s activities could not be accessed until the previous day’s were completed.

Once the 30 day period was over, the whole module became available to library staff so that they could access any aspect at any time. The objective was to make it a resource that could continue to be used in staff training.

What methods were used to evaluate your innovation?

Engagement with the module was one method of evaluation. 29 members of staff started the module and 9 of those managed to complete it within the 30 days.

The quizzes that staff undertook gave a measure of their understanding of the topic covered having watched the relevant movie. Scores were consistently high.

Participants were asked to provide feedback on what they thought about the course, whether they found it useful. Comments included:

  • The 30 Day Research Support Challenge is very useful and I have learn a lot for the course.
  • I do intend to get through it all as there is some useful info on the course, so hopefully it will be there for awhile
  • I will return to the videos and exercises when time allows. It is an excellent resource, thank you.  I will encourage my term-time colleagues to view them.
  • Thanks for organising the challenge, it was interesting and informative.
  • Many thanks for spending time to set up the 30 days challenge. It was  a great way to engage us on the subjects that we support researchers in UCL.
  • I’ve really been enjoying the 30 day challenge on Moodle
  • Many thanks for organising this challenge, i'm finding it really useful
  • Many thanks for setting up this challenge. I am enjoying the challenge
  • I am very much interested in the 30 Day Research Support Challenge and I am learning a lot from it
  • Last week I started doing 3 of the 30 days things. I think it is really good
  • It is really interesting and enjoyable indeed!
  • Many thanks for setting 30 Day Research Support Challenge. It is a good way to refresh my knowledge and learn some important lessons. 
  • I am thrilled to say I have completed today's task and achieved the highest possible score in the quiz.

What were the outcomes and key learning points?

Outcomes were that library staff felt better placed to answer enquiries relating to research support and had a better understanding of these areas and found it a fun and informative way to learn. The module can also continue to be used to provide staff training.

In order to allow for different working patterns, participants did not necessarily have to complete each day’s activities on the day they became available, but needed to complete them all within the 30 day period in order to complete the challenge. The staff who participated in the challenge ranged from junior to very senior members of staff. Participants have also included a number of evening staff, which reflects the inclusivity of an online-only programme which can be tackled by participants at a time convenient to them and at their own pace.

One learning point was how time intensive the module was to create. Any similar future projects will have to take this into account.

Further information

The module was made available via a Moodle course which is set up to support a well established ‘summer school’ for library staff at biomedical libraries across UCL.

Submitted by Angela Young, Information Skills Trainer, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust