Experiences of NUS Librarians as Lecturers of a PhD Engineering Module

Abstract

“No, I came in thinking it was a waste of time, but I learnt useful skills that I would use over the course of my PhD. Thank you!” … with these encouraging words from a senior student who attended the module a few semesters ago, we press on! In 2014, librarians of National University of Singapore (NUS) started teaching information literacy skills to Faculty of Engineering’s PhD students in the module EG5911 “Research Methodology and Ethics”. Back then, the information literacy component was allocated 25% of the module’s Continuous Assessment (CA). Today, the information literacy component is 40% of CA. Apart from the increase in CA, librarians are also given the liberty to revamp the information literacy syllabus and assessment of the module. This article details the journey the librarians took from teaching information literacy skills in a traditional lecture-cum-tutorial setting to a 4-hour activity-based lesson in a smart classroom.