Passport to Study: Flipped Library Orientation for International Students

Abstract

This paper presents a flipped learning approach to library orientation for international university students. The approach was trialled through the project Passport to Study with 98 new international students at a Queensland University in 2015 to support the university’s First Year Experience programme. Drawing upon contemporary flipped learning pedagogy, it aimed to raise international students’ awareness of the library as a supportive social learning space and develop foundational information and academic literacies. Although a relatively small-scale project, it provides an authentic model of cross-divisional student-focused collaboration between librarians, academic skills advisers and lecturers. After a brief literature review, the paper explains how the project team developed and implemented the flipped library orientation that involved international students in a self-guiding library quest and follow-up briefing. Evaluation findings of the flipped library orientation highlight its strengths and limitations and support a set of recommendations for further developing this innovative approach. The final discussion suggests opportunities for further pedagogical development and research. The insights gained through this project will be of potential interest to library managers, librarians and information literacy educators. They could inform innovative initiatives to support the successful transition to university of first-year students across culturally diverse university populations.