Group instruction and web-based instructional approaches for training student employees

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THIS RESEARCH OBSERVED, in their natural setting, the outcomes of two training modalities implemented by a mediumsize academic library for training student employees. The researchers compared the learning gained from the group instruction (instructor-led) approach that the library has adopted for a number of years with learning from the Web-based self-instruction method recently developed and implemented. Achievement and attitudinal data from 190 graduate and undergraduate student employees over a period of three years were collected. Since the research was conducted as the library shifted from group instruction to Web-based self-instruction, naturally-occurring factors that may have influenced the data were not controlled but were accounted for in this report. Trainees performed equally in both modes and generally responded favorably to training despite modality. Findings suggest that Web-based self-instruction is a plausible alternative to augment group-instruction. While the instructional content was identical for the two approaches, student perception of their learning appeared to differ. Group-instruction students perceived their learning to relate to services, library functions, and information searching and literacy. The Web-based group emphasized that their learning focused on the building’s physical layout, locations of collections and service units, and general services.