FACRL 2015 Poster Handout - Tia Esposito

mUX Ado About MoLO's: OERs, Mobile Devices, and the Mobile User Experience
Developing OERs in the face of rising textbook costs today has become more imperative than ever for practitioners in the field, but developing OERs that are mobile responsive is an essential part of the equation that is sometimes overlooked. New digital learning tools offer creative pedagogical approaches for librarians to help to cultivate OERs in conjunction with faculty that not only serve to replace costly textbooks but which are also device neutral. "The proliferation of mobile phones and access devices suggest the potential of mobile learning. Students are already using mobile devices to communicate, access, and share information, conduct research, and analyze data. These devices are the gateway to digital learning." (Alliance 2011) The prolific use of mobile devices by students grants librarians the unprecedented opportunity to meet students on common ground and offer quality OERs integrating the technology that students are already using. The use of mobile devices by students in a classroom setting has been shown to improve their academic experience as well as providing them with a more personalized learning experience with the ability to control their learning environment (Schaffhauser 2011). OERs if designed with the mobile user in mind open a whole new world of mobile learning. "Mobile learning is not about the technology, it is about the learner. The learner is mobile and is at the centre of the learning, and the technology allows the learner to learn in any context." (Ally 2014) OER's need to be mobile responsive and device neutral to remain relevant. For this reason OER repositories and OER developers need to provide mobile friendly content. Research suggests that by 2020 mobile devices will be the main discovery tool for learning. The aim of this poster session is to foster an understanding of how Open Educational Resources (OERs) can be adapted so that their features are optimized for mobile devices and follow the current device neutral trend to ensure positive mobile user experiences (mUX). This poster session will provide information and serve as a resource on to how to better develop and improve OERs employing mobile technology practices.

Presenter:

Tia Esposito is a Librarian at Florida State College at Jacksonville. She was recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Information Technology Policy and the Library & Information Technology Association (LITA) with the Cutting-Edge Technology in Library Services Award for 2013 for the mobile initiative she designed using her libraries electronic resources. Based upon the success of the mobile initiative designed by Esposito, her library program was written about in Pew Internet & American Life Project as a model for innovative library services. She was invited to present on Mobile Digital Learning Tools at the American Library Association in Chicago 2013. She has presented internationally on using mobile technology to cultivate active learning of information literacy skills including the Librarian's Information Literacy Association Conference (LILAC) at Caledonia University in Glasgow, Scotland and many other conferences all dealing with electronic resources. Her mobile initiative was written up in a scholarly book on web scale discovery systems published in the fall of 2014. Additionally, Ms. Esposito was a contributor to The Machiavellian Librarian recently published by Chandos Publishing, a featured review in the Library Journal and also an ALA ACRL-CHOICE professional development webinar in November 2014. She has a chapter "Emerging Trends in Mobile Library Services: Active Learning Strategies for Dynamic Information Literacy Instruction," in an upcoming book. She has experience in both the creation and cataloging of OERs. Her area of expertise is electronic resources.