2nd Annual Conference for High Impact Instructional Practices

The Library Ambassador Program hires approximately 20 undergraduate students each fall and provides them with two semesters of information literacy and research skills instruction before deploying them across campus to help students with their research. As part of their training, instructors use various game-play strategies in the classroom including: a card game designed to teach players about databases and how they function, a card game intended to teach players how to evaluate sources of information, and a roleplaying activity meant to prepare ambassadors for experiences in helping students. Many emotions are involved in the action of gameplay such as competitiveness, satisfaction, and excitement. The card games and roleplaying activities we play in class harness these emotions to create a fun and engaging way to develop research skills. Games in this context also provide opportunities for collaborative learning as students work together to problem-solve and to learn new skills.