Change and Emerging Technologies: The Library's Role is Supporting Teaching and Learning in a 2.0 Environment

Abstract

Liaison librarians at McMaster University Library are actively collaborating with faculty members to incorporate emerging technologies into their classes. This session will describe three recent projects to incorporate wiki technology. The librarians played key roles to incorporate this Web 2.0 application into the curriculum of existing courses and into the requirements of a new course. The wiki initiatives strengthened partnerships with those faculty who were early adopters. Student reactions were varied and sometimes surprising. Faculty assessed student engagement and the quality of deliverables as much higher in quality than expected, suggesting that wiki use had a positive effect on learning. This session will share lessons learned and next steps for McMaster University Libraries in the harnessing of emerging technologies to the institution’s teaching mission.