Caroline Rowan & Stephanie Ronan: Advancing our skillset: building the Rudai23 e-learning course for information professionals
Caroline is the health librarian in St. Michael’s Hospital. She has several undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications including a Master of Arts and a Master of Library & Information Studies. An enthusiastic advocate for libraries, she is a Communications Officer for the Health Sciences Library Group, a co-editor of HINT: Health Information News & Thinking and a collaborator on HEAR: Health Evidence Awareness Report and on the Rudai 23 professional development course. Twitter – @librarianintown, LinkedIn – ie.linkedin.com/in/rowancaroline
Stephanie is an information professional, providing the library services to the Marine Institute in Galway. As a solo librarian, she manages all aspects of the library including the institutional repository and is quickly becoming a marine information expert. She is secretary for the WRSLAI, collaborator on Rudai23 and a founding member of the Repository Network Ireland. Twitter @StephanieRonan, LinkedIn https://ie.linkedin.com/in/sronan
Abstract
Rudaí 23 is a free online course based on the original 23 Things format by Helene Blowers. It was developed by a collaboration comprising several members of the Western Regional Section of the Library Association of Ireland and additional contributors from the library and education sectors. The primary aims comprised the provision of instruction in relation to web tools, advocacy and on legal, technical and professional topics. The course is the first online course to be certified by the Library Association of Ireland.
This presentation examines the skills needed to establish, develop, moderate and manage an online course with a team of eleven voluntary instructors. To initiate the course, team members became competent in design tools, policy writing, recruitment and social media marketing. The course was managed and run on-line thus the team worked without verbal and visual cues, honing communication and team-working skills. Rudaí 23 consisted of 23 modules; in producing these modules the team advanced their researching, writing, editing and design skills, as well as adhering to copyright laws. Finally the presentation examines the skills advanced through acquiring project feedback and the organisation of a certificate presentation ceremony.
