Library Skills: synchronous (live and face to face) training guide

Practices should be employed by all trainers to review and develop the sessions we deliver, both as part of our scheduled bookable programme and for tailored sessions for departments, groups or academic programmes, to ensure we deliver high quality, effective teaching.

For sessions that are part of the scheduled programme, suggestions for developments to the session that arise from user feedback, self-reflection or peer observation should be passed on to the 'owners' of the session, shared on the Library Skills MS Team chat so the Scheduled Library Skills Working Group can act on it, or shared with Angela.

Trainers are encouraged to utilise LibWizard Surveys for getting feedback from training sessions or for online skills training materials. 

Feedback is critical to informing reviews and revisions of our training sessions to ensure they are effective and engaging, as well as helping the trainer to develop and enhance their teaching skills. Our feedback forms enable us to gather feedback from attendees in a consistent way:

• Quantitative feedback: Numerical data which helps us determine at a basic level whether our sessions are effective, and which inform our service standards:
  • Satisfaction star rating: Our Library Services Service Standard aims for 90% of our feedback from training and teaching sessions to have a satisfaction rating of 4 or 5 stars.
  • Net Promoter Score (NPS): This is a rating out of 10 as to how likely an attendee would be to recommend the session to someone else. UCL’s Researcher Development Programme (DSDP / RSDP), of which most sessions in our scheduled programme are part, aims for a session to have a minimum average NPS of 8 out of 10.
• Qualitative feedback: Comments about what was successful in a session and where improvements could have been made are crucial to us understanding quantitative measures and to informing review and revision of our sessions.

Feedback is most helpful if it is representative. Attendees are most likely to be motivated to complete a feedback form when they are extremely satisfied or are displeased with the way the session went. It is therefore important to motivate all attendees to complete a feedback form and get a representative sample.

Low response rates result in skewed or biased results. This can be particularly damaging where the attendee's experience has been adversely affected by something beyond our control, such as personal technical difficulties. In such circumstances an attendee is likely to give a negative satisfaction rating that does not necessarily reflect the quality of the teaching. 

UCL's Researcher Development Programme aims for a minimum 30% response rate for feedback to be meaningful.

1. Allow time to complete the feedback form in the session: Response rates are higher where attendees are asked to complete the form within the expected timeframe of the session. Sessions delivered as part of our scheduled programme should all allow a few minutes in the lesson plan for feedback form completion.
2. Inform attendees at the start that you will be asking them to complete a feedback form at the end and will allow time for that. Explain that it is important to inform future sessions so we can make them as effective and useful as possible. You could even include 'Feedback' as one of the items to be covered in the session.
3. Give the link to the feedback form before you make final points, summarise what you covered in the session or invite questions, so you do not miss any attendees who leave the session as soon as the main content of the session has been addressed.
4. Share a QR code to link to the form. This is especially helpful in face to face sessions where attendees cannot just click on a shared link to access the form. QR code monkey is a useful site for generating free QR codes.
5. Market the feedback form as a tool for helping attendees to formulate any questions they might want to ask at the end of the session by suggesting they reflect on what they have learned in the session whilst filling in the form, and allow that to help them determine if there is anything else they would like to ask.
6. Display the feedback form on the presenter's screen and allow some silent time for completing the form.
7. If your session is face to face, you might like to print out our paper version of our feedback form so attendees have the option to complete the form online. This will require you to input the data from the forms after the session by entering them into the online version of the form so we have all data for reporting in LibWizard.
8. Follow up after the session by emailing a reminder to complete the feedback form if attendees have not done so already. Feedback response rates after an event are usually poor, but it is still worth doing as every completed form helps.

If you are asking for feedback for a session that is being delivered for a particular academic programme, consider adding a link to the feedback form in the Moodle course for the academic programme ahead of the session, and asking the tutor for the programme to request that students complete the form.

For all sessions offered as part of our scheduled bookable programme of sessions trainers should ask for feedback from attendees following our guidance on feedback surveys for LibrarySkills@UCL scheduled programme events.

Where there is opportunity, trainers are encouraged to ask attendees to complete a feedback form at the end of any other skills sessions, such as tailored group sessions for academic programmes or departments. Where the session forms part of an academic programme, it is best to liaise with the relevant academic or programme administrator to ensure they are happy for you to ask for feedback, as they may already have feedback mechanisms in place and it will help avoid students being faced with feedback overload.

We also have a feedback survey template in LibWizard specifically designed for getting feedback from one-to-one appointments. When you create a new survey, select TEMPLATE 1-2-1 session feedback from the 'Start with' drop-down menu.

Individual trainers should always review feedback for sessions they deliver, including for sessions delivered as part of the scheduled programme, and consider any possible developments for the session or personal development needs accordingly. 

Sessions designed and delivered as part of the scheduled programme of library skills sessions are usually developed by small groups of colleagues to harness expertise and ensure quality review of the lesson design and materials. Where individuals develop bespoke training, such as for academic programmes, they are encouraged to seek review from colleagues.

After delivering a training session, all trainers are encouraged to reflect on how the session went, whether there are amendments that should be made to the structure or content of the session, or whether they have identified any personal development needs. The Library Skills Teaching Self Reflection form provides a useful framework for self-reflection.

A self-reflection should include actions to revise or develop sessions as relevant.

Peer observation is a useful way to review a teaching session and learn about your own teaching skills. Peer observation is best carried out as a reciprocal arrangement by two peers who agree to observe each other's teaching on separate occasions. It is helpful to have a discussion prior to the observation to identify any particular aspects on which the observer should focus and to have a debrief discussion after the session. The Library Skills Training Peer Observation form provides a useful framework and checklist for peer observation.

UCL Arena provides guidance on peer dialogue, which provides a choice of frameworks for a two-way conversation with a colleague, rather than a one-way observation, although an observation may take place. Every member of UCL staff with significant teaching responsibilities needs to engage with UCL’s Peer Dialogue scheme at least once a year. 

UCL Arena Fellowship provides a route to HEA  Fellowship, a recognition awarded by Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) to individuals who demonstrate effective teaching and support for learning in higher education. It is nationally recognised, grants you post-nominals, and can be great evidence for your CV or when applying for jobs. What’s more, the process of applying for fellowship means you reflect on your work in the areas of supporting learning and teaching, and helps you identify areas for development of your skills. In so doing, it enhances your support of students and so contributes to the user experience.

There are different categories of fellowship depending on your role and experience. Associate Fellow is suitable for anyone in a role that supports learning, whereas colleagues with significant teaching responsibilities and at least 3 years of experience might prefer to apply for Fellowship.

UCL Arena Fellowship provides an accredited route to all categories of HEA Fellowship and is free for UCL staff. To apply you need to write a reflective report which outlines your areas of activity and includes case studies which illustrate how your work meets relevant criteria outlined in the Professional Standards Framework (PSF). You can submit throughout the year.

In addition to events and support through UCL Arena, there are monthly peer-support hybrid meets for LCCOS colleagues interested in or working towards all categories of fellowship, and an associated MS Teams channel. 

The UCL Arena Fellowship website and Moodle course are great places to get started with finding out more, or attend a UCL Arena Fellowship initial guidance session. To join an LCCOS HEA Fellowship support meet, or be added to the Teams site, please contact Angela Young.

For synchronous sessions, you are likely to get a far higher response rate by providing a link to the survey at the end of the live session and allowing time for the students to complete it at that moment.

See our Checklist for encouraging feedback form completion.

When sharing a link in a session, use a URL shortener such as tinyurl or bit.ly to create a short URL and share a QR code to the custom URL to make it easy for attendees to scan and complete the form on their phone. QR code monkey is a useful site for generating free QR codes.

Tip: If you set up a free account in tinyurl, you can specify the ending of the URL to make it easier to recall. E.g. you might want to use a word from the title of the session and the date, such as endnote-16Jan23.

When providing a link to the survey on a web page or document, embed the URL behind meaningful text as per best practice for accessibility.