Developing a student-centred approach to academic referencing support for postgraduate distance learners

In Hibernia College, students are expected to take primary responsibility for maintaining academic integrity in their studies. However, lecturers and support staff have an important role to play in educating students about academic integrity and helping them develop the skills needed to practise it. This poster describes a project initiated by the Digital Learning Department (DLD) to improve the College’s online referencing supports, in response to the high volume of referencing queries being received daily by the Digital Librarian. Recent changes to the focus of capstone research projects on Hibernia’s Professional Master of Education programmes, combined with the move to fully online instruction during the Covid-19 pandemic, further highlighted the urgency of ensuring that these resources met students’ needs. The project consisted of a comprehensive update of the College’s core Referencing Guide and the delivery of a series of live drop-in webinar workshops to address specific referencing queries. The project was informed by research literature on online social presence and academic literacies. A preliminary data analysis provides indications of student engagement with and responses to the new supports.