Developing information literate

Transcription

1 Developing information literate researchers at LSE: the jewels in our crown Dr Jane D J S Secker, k L London d S School h l off E Economics i and d Political Science IVIG Seminar, Prague, 25th September 2014 Image: Crown by Jason Train, CC BY-NC 2.0

2 Today s talk. What IS information literacy and how does it improve the experience of PhD students? What is the librarian s role? Supporting research students Supporting research students at LSE

3 What IS information literacy? y How does it improve the research students experience?

4 Information literacy is complex

5 Why does IL matter for PhD students? Photo by Flickingerbrad licensed under Creative Commons Photo by starmanseries licensed under Creative Commons

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7 A New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) Jane Secker and Emma Coonan Research to develop a new, revolutionary curriculum for information literacy in a digital age Understand the needs of undergraduates entering HE over the coming 5 years Map the current landscape of information literacy Develop a practical curriculum and supporting resources Find out more:

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9 ANCIL in practice Careers Language Centre Teaching & Learning Centre Language Centre LSE100 Departments Library Departments LSE100 Language Centre Teaching & Learning Centre Careers Departments LSE100 Teaching & Learning Centre Departments Language Centre Library Teaching & Learning Centre Departments Language Centre Library Centre for Learning Technology Library Library Library Secker & Coonan (2011)

10 Project outputs Curriculum Expert consultation report Theoretical background report Concept diagrams Information literacy definition Advocacy video Lesson planning tool Resource wiki Institutional audit tools Implementation strategies report Information literacy first aid model Rethinking Information Literacy newcurriculum.wordpress.com/using-ancil/

11 newcurriculum.wordpress.com/using-ancil/

12 What is the librarian s role? Teacher, guide and collaborator

13 Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library Image Gungahlin Public Library (reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT) (reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)

14 Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library Image Gungahlin Public Library (reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT) (reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)

15 Challenging perceptions. if the teachers, whether they re school or university teachers, don t have the same view of IL that we do, it s always going to be [about] the skills. And the skills are fine but anybody can teach the skills; it s teaching the changing attitude and the different approach that t I think has to come from the teachers. (ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011)

16 Joining up support

17 Supporting research students ts at LSE Examples of digital and information literacy in practice

18 Supporting research students at LSE Support available from a range of services and academic departments at LSE Library and Learning Technology and Innovation (LTI) run termly workshops MY592: Information Literacy tools for research PGCert (teaching course) for all research students who teach Compulsory e submission of PhD theses in LSE Thesis Online Image cc from

19 Digital Literacy workshops Use the term digital literacy for staff and research students Optional workshops run each term taught by librarians and LTI Cover using new technologies to support teaching and research Literature searching Using social media (social networking, social bookmarking, twitter, blogging) Advanced internet searching Keeping up to date Managing your web presence Hands on practical sessions Online support in Moodle

20 Researcher Development programme Expanding programme of workshops run each term Focused on PhD students, t research staff, post docs etc. Topics cover: Copyright for researchers Data Protection and Freedom of Information issues Creating Poster Presentations Bibliometrics and citation analysis Taught by Library and LTI staff

21 MY592: workshop on information literacy Information and digital literacy non credit bearing course comprising of six 2 hour workshops Aimed primarily at new PhD students Builds up skills over course Specialist advice and support from academic support librarians Taught by LTI / Library staff Supported online in Moodle

22 The curriculum Week 1: Introduction and undertaking a literature search Week 2: Using the internet for your research Week 3: Managing information: Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley Week 4: Finding theses, conference papers & specialist research materials Week 5: Dealing with Data, news, archives and official publications Week 6: Next steps, sharing your research and building a network

23 The approach Team teaching, with consistency from week to week to build up a rapport with students Active learning and opportunities for reflection throughout the course Tailored to allow students to find literature relevant to their research topic Pre and post course survey to evaluate effectiveness Personalised support from academic support librarians Cross disciplinary but have also organised shorter p y g programmes for specific departments

24 Feedback and evaluation Regularly collect feedback via course evaluation forms for workshops Feedback highly positive but only tells us about the people who attend Non attendance levels relatively high (up to 50% in some cases) Introduce new courses and review programmes each term LTI now collect data on the impact of training 3 months after workshops MY592 collect pre and post evaluation data on students confidence finding and evaluating sources Feedback is highly popular Compulsory now in some departments and highly recommended by some supervisors More qualitative students attend Student t confidence ce increases ceasesate after course but can makes aesstudents ts more oe aware of what they didn t know!

25 Information literacy and research students Don t make assumptions about IL levels Gather evidence / survey incoming students One size doesn t fit all customise support (1 2 1 Research Consultations) New researchers will always need orientation to your institution, your systems and procedures Generic sessions provide an opportunity for PhD students to network, discuss their research, compare their approaches with people outside their department Researchers may be moving into a different discipline so rules of the game have changed

26 The benefits of the informed researcher No one wants un informed research or bad science Many PhD students go on to become academics so ensuring they are information literate is vital! Supporting PhD students leads to teaching opportunities at other levels this course was great can you teach my undergraduates? Promotes the positive association with librarians PhD students can become our greatest advocates

27 The Jewels in our Crown Universities and society need high quality research, informed by evidence, therefore we need researchers who can cope with huge amounts of data and i f information, to find the hidden gems, make new links, ti t fi d th hidd k li k develop new theories and create new knowledge.

28 Thank you for listening / děkuji! j.secker@lse.ac.uk wordpress com

29 Further Reading Bell, Maria, Moon, Darren and Secker, Jane (2012) Undergraduate support at LSE: the ANCIL report. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Available at: Secker, Jane (2012) Digital literacy support for researchers: the personalised approach. In: Priestner, Andy and Tilley, Elizabeth, (eds.) Personalising Library Services in Higher Education: the Boutique Approach. Ah Ashgate, Farnham, UK, pp Available at: Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2012) Rethinking Information Literacy: a practical framework for learning. Facet Publishing: London. Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2011) A new curriculum for information literacy: curriculum and supporting documents. Arcadia Programme, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK. Available at: Secker, Jane and Macrae-Gibson, Rowena (2011) Evaluating MI512: an information literacy course for PhD students. Library Review, 60 (2). pp Available at: