Instructional support for teaching and learning

Supporting teaching and learning at RRU

The Library and Writing Centre provide services to support and enhance the work of our Royal Roads instructors and program staff. In addition to online resources, email support, and one-on-one support provided to all students, we offer a variety of instructional services designed to work in concert with course offerings to meet the needs of students. We are happy to collaborate with faculty and program staff prior, during, and after instructional offerings to ensure session outcomes align with course outcomes.

Our instruction methods:

Align with the RRU learning, teaching and research model
Incorporate multiple learning preferences and active, experiential learning opportunities
Incorporate the ACRL Information Literacy Framework

The sections below describe the type of support the Library and Writing Centre provide and give examples of typical sessions. If you don't see what you need, please let us know so we can discuss a customized session.

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Librarians and library staff support students with finding the literature and other resources they need to support their learning and research. We provide synchronous in-person (on campus/online) support as well as support within Moodle. Our sessions aim to increase students' comfort with using Library resources as well as helping them grow their skills and confidence with secondary research.

Typical Library sessions

Introduction to Library services and resources:
Intended for students beginning their program at RRU, this session familiarizes students with who we are and what the Library does. Students learn about borrowing privileges, the Library building, and get an introduction to the basics of conducting a literature search.
Research skills session:
Scaffolded to the level and needs of the particular student group, this session walks students through the process of literature searching, from crafting a focused research question, to identifying concepts and keywords and building a search strategy, to using the variety of search tools to iteratively search for relevant literature. Common topics include different types of information sources, peer review, the selection of relevant tools to find different types of sources, and evaluation criteria for assessing the validity and relevance of information resources.
Ask the Librarian forum in Moodle:
Offered over 3 days as an embedded forum within the Moodle course shell, the forum is a space for students to ask questions and the librarian to share helpful tips in the context of a research project or literature search assignment. Topics vary depending on the needs of the students, but typically include information on search tools, breaking down a topic and building a search, tracking down known items, and recontextualizing scholarship as a conversation between researchers.
Scholarly communication session:
Intended for doctoral students in the second year of their program, this session encourages students to reflect on their online identity and consider how to curate and maintain a scholarly profile. Topics include scholarly networking tools, considerations around publishing academic work, and how different modes of knowledge mobilization can be used to share the story of their research.

The Writing Centre assists RRU students to become skillful writers by providing information, online resources, and one-on-one support for all types of academic writing. We provide synchronous in-person (e.g., on campus/online) support, and students can also reach us via email and WriteAnswers to send us questions. Our goal is to provide friendly, inclusive, and empowering support to help students reach their writing goals. The Writing Centre's services do not include proofreading, editing, or reviewing draft works to provide feedback; instead, we focus on helping students learn the skills necessary to assess their own writing.

Typical Writing Centre sessions

Introduction to Writing Centre services and resources:
Intended for students beginning their program at RRU, this online or on-campus synchronous session familiarizes students with who we are and what services the Writing Centre provides. Students learn about the one-on-one appointments we offer, our resources, how to navigate the Writing Centre’s website, and how to contact us to ask for help. This session is typically scheduled for 15-20 minutes, with more time recommended for larger groups. This session can be added to the Library’s introduction to serve as a combined session.
Literature reviews: Second residency Q&A with the Library and Writing Centre:
Intended for students who are starting their capstone/thesis, this synchronous session (online or on-campus classroom) gives students an opportunity to ask questions about literature reviews to help them move forward in their research and writing process. We provide links to resources about literature reviews in advance for sharing with students so that the class employs a flipped approach with students guiding the discussion to the topics of most interest to them. Topics vary on the interests of students, but typical discussions include the importance and purpose of a literature review; finding top authors and highly cited publications on their topic; search strategies for finding peer-reviewed and grey literature; and how to organize the scholarly conversations within a literature review.

This session is typically scheduled for 60 minutes, and it’s tremendously helpful to have a faculty member join the class so they can answer questions about the program-specific expectations of a literature review in a major project/thesis.
Second residency/year Q&A with the Library and Writing Centre:
Intended for students who are starting their second-year courses, this synchronous session (online or on-campus classroom) aims to give students an opportunity to ask questions about research and writing topics that challenged them in their first year of studies and/or that are relevant to their upcoming coursework, major project, thesis, or dissertation. The focus of these sessions is entirely set by students, so it’s helpful for programs to encourage students to come prepared to the session with questions. This session is typically scheduled for 30-60 minutes, depending on the size of the cohort.

Interested in scheduling instruction with the Library or Writing Centre? Please fill out the request form below and we'll follow up to confirm details.

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