This document provides an overview and agenda for a one-day workshop on teaching information literacy to new professionals. The workshop covers frameworks and models of information literacy, lesson planning, sample learning activities, and approaches to reflection and evaluation. It includes an icebreaker activity, presentations on key concepts, opportunities for participant discussion and planning, and a final reflective exercise. The goal is to equip new teachers with best practices for designing and delivering effective information literacy instruction sessions.
2. Overview of the day
09:30-10:00 Registration / tea & coffee
10:00-10:15 Introduction to the day and an initial exercise / ice breaker
10:15-11:00 Frameworks, models and theories and their role
11:00-11:30 Introduction to teaching IL
11:30-12:30 Lesson Planning and writing learning objectives
12:30-13:00 Session evaluation
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:00 Sample learning activities
15:00-15:30 Reflection and some reflective exercises / approaches
15:30-15:45 Working with academic staff / teachers / embedding in the
curriculum
15:45-16:00 Summing up, evaluation and final exercise
6. Information Literacy lies at the core of lifelong learning.
It empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate,
use and create information effectively to achieve their
personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It
is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes
social inclusion of all nations.
UNESCO Alexandria Proclamation 2005
Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash
7. CILIP Definition of Information
Literacy 2015
"Information literacy
is knowing when and
why you need
information, where
to find it, and how to
evaluate, use and
communicate it in an
ethical manner."
8. CILIP Definition of Information
Literacy 2018
“Information literacy is
the ability to think
critically and make
balanced judgements
about any information
we find and use. It
empowers us as
citizens to develop
informed views and to
engage fully with
society.”
9. Critical information literacy
In these days of mass surveillance and the massive
transfer of public goods into private hands, citizens
need to know much more about how information
works. They need to understand the moral,
economic, and political context of knowledge. They
need to know how to create their own, so that they
make the world a better, more just place.
– Barbara Fister, “Practicing Freedom in the Digital
Library: Reinventing Libraries” (2013)
11. Why do we need
models, frameworks and
theories?
What role do they play for us as teachers?
What role do they play when we talk to other professionals?
Do they help our students?
12. Early history and models of IL
• Term first coined by Paul Zurkowski in 1974
• Tradition of ‘user education’ and ‘information skills’ teaching in higher
education – driven by technology
• Some prominent models and frameworks you may wish to explore:
• Big6: An Information Problem-solving Process. Mike Eisenberg’s and Bob
Berkowitz’s well known IL model.
• PLUS Information Skills Model developed by James Herring
• Seven Faces of Information Literacy developed by Christine Bruce.
• Six Frames for Information Literacy Education developed by Christine Bruce.
The International Association of University Libraries (IATUL) Special
Interest Group for Information Literacy‘s report on Information Literacy
Policies and Standards at IATUL Member Libraries summarises the results
of a survey conducted between July 2013 and February 2014 to examine
the national information literacy standards and frameworks in 13
countries and the institutional guidelines, frameworks, and policies of 100
academic libraries.
18. Nick Poole on IL
And I finally get to paraphrase
Douglas Adams "anyone still talking
about 'digital' rather than
'information and data' is simply
mistaking the plate for the food"
Nick Poole onTwitter, 10 April 2018, 9.34PM
https://twitter.com/NickPoole1/status/983805503246565377
20. What can you do with frameworks
and models?
• They *should* underpin your teaching and provide
a curriculum structure for IL as a discipline
• They set out the knowledge, skills and values that
you want to develop in your learners
• Looking back
• They can be used to benchmark your teaching
• They can be used to audit or review your teaching
• Looking forward
• They can be used to plan your teaching
Andrew Preater, (2018) Engagement with scholarly work as professional development.
Available at: https://www.preater.com/2018/04/14/engagement-with-scholarly-work-as-
professional-development/
23. • Write learning objectives
• Plan, including assessment
• Take an informed approach to
learning activities
• Evaluate your teaching
• Reflect and improve
Plan by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
24. 1) Take an Active Learning approach
2) Don’t tell them “all the things”
3) SQUIRREL! People have short attention spans
4) Don’t think big groups are the same as small
5) Differentiate!
6) Mini Librarians
7) Learning styles aren’t real
8) Remembering stuff is hard. Help make it easier
9) The “P” rule
10) Set your expectations clearly
Top tips…
26. Some guiding principles
• Good teaching requires planning for learning to
happen and start by considering:
• The level of your learners
• The context of the session: links to any previous or
future teaching
• The size of the group and their discipline or context
• The amount of time you have
• The learning space you have
• The resources available to you
27. Learning Design and Constructive
Alignment
Learning
outcomes
Learning
Activities
Assessment
Biggs and Tang (2011)
28. Constructive Alignment
The ‘constructive’ aspect refers to what the
learner does, which is to construct meaning
through relevant learning activities.
The ‘alignment’ aspect refers to what the teacher
does, which is to set up a learning environment
that supports the learning activities appropriate
to achieving the desired learning outcomes.
Biggs, J (2002), Aligning the Curriculum to Promote Good Learning, Imaginative Curriculum
Symposium
30. Main features of lesson plans
• Students – number, level, module
• Aim of the lesson
• Learning Outcomes that students can do by the end
of the session
• Links to previous and future sessions so in context
• What will you do with students to achieve the
learning outcomes (learning activities)
• Indicate what resources you need
• Evaluation of the session
32. Example learning outcomes in
information literacy
Investigate and identify the qualifications of
the author, sponsor, or publisher of the
information
Understand the importance of the qualifications
of the author, sponsor, or publisher of the
information
Distinguish different search strategies
appropriate to the format of the information
Understand that different search strategies are
appropriate to the format of the information
Good learning outcomes describe what students will be able to do on completing a course / lesson.
They are written in a way that students can understand and they are specific and measurable – so
the teacher will be able to assess students according to whether they have been achieved.
33. Over to you
• Think of a session you want to teach / have been
asked to teach (if you need an example shout!)
• What aspect of information literacy does it cover?
• How much time have you got?
• Who are your students?
• Discipline?
• Learning level?
• What will they already know?
• What resources and learning space do you have?
• Try writing some SMART learning outcomes
34. Session Evaluation
• Why?
• Designing the evaluation
• Survey methods
• Analysing the results
• Adapting your sessions
35. Session Evaluation – Why?
• To get the opinion of your learners
• To find out what has gone well and what could go
better
• To track changes over time
• To evidence your impact
‘If you are not sure what you are trying to achieve,
how can you tell whether you are succeeding?’
(Marklees and Streatfield, 2017)
36. Session Evaluation - Design
• What do you want to find out?
• Examples
http://sheffield.libwizard.com/infoskillsworkshops
http://sheffield.libwizard.com/plagiarismfollowup
• When – immediately after session and/or further
into the future to gauge impact
37. Session Evaluation - Methods
• Paper – easy to collect, however need to input
data.
• Online - easy to collect if learners are confident and
have device. Data already inputted.
• Online apps – Google surveys, survey monkey,
Libapps (similar library-centric software).
• Which would you choose and why?
38. Session Evaluation - Analysis
• Important to input data to identify any trends
• Compare over time
• Think about why these trends maybe developing
• For example – which subject areas attend most?
Satisfaction with tutor and content? Confirming you
are on the right lines and meeting your objectives.
• What are you interested in?
39. Session Evaluation - Adaption
• Marketing and targeting particular groups that are
under-represented (through registration
information)
• Adapting in response to free text comments – e.g
changing structure of session or adding in new
content
• Changing your delivery style
• Your view?
• Combine with reflection…
41. The value of reflection
You have just run a information literacy workshop for
first year students, aspects of it went well, but you
ran out of time to do the last activity, you also had a
few difficult questions from students, some of who
seemed to be getting bored. You’re running it again
next month. What do you do?
a) That’s life, you move on and put it behind you. You’ll think about it in a
month’s time. It was just one of those days?
b) Agonise over the planning for next month, look up all the answers to the
difficult questions, completely re-think it and dread teaching it again?
c) Make some notes, discuss with a colleague and reflect on what’s practical
to change and amend in light of the conversation?
42. Defining Reflection
There are various definitions of reflection:
‘Reflection is an important human activity in which people
recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and
evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important
learning’ (Boud et al, 1985:19)
‘Reflection is a form of mental processing that we use to
purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome’ (Moon,
2005:1)
We frequently ask students to be reflective; e.g. through Personal Development Plans
and blogs etc. so we should also undertake this activity to be active, purposeful,
reflective practitioners.
43. Reflection and learning:
Kolb’s cycle of experiential learning (1984)
Concrete
experience
Reflective
observation
Abstract
conceptualisation
Active
experimentation
44. Feedback and reflection
Reflecting in and on your practice (Schon,
1987)
Reflecting in: happens in the classroom
Reflecting on: As you leave the room you will know
how you felt the session went. Jot down some notes for
yourself about what was good and what you might
change
Schon, Donald A. (1987) Educating the reflective practitioner: toward a new
design for teaching and learning in the professions. Jossey-Bass: San
Francisco.
45. Mindfulness and moments of
discomfort
• Reflexivity is not to be confused
with reflection. We often reflect
on our teaching, and we ask
students to reflect on their
learning. Reflection is a wonderful
tool. It is, though, a tool for “after
the fact.” We reflect at the end of
an assignment or at the end of a
course. We identify what we
learned and how we can possibly
do differently next time.
• Reflexivity, on the other hand, is to
engage in the moment, to
understand the thoughts and
feelings of an experience while
experiencing that experience.
Hara, Billie (2010) Reflexive Pedagogy. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/reflexive-
pedagogy/22939
46. Using Gibbs’ model for reflection
Describe what
happened
Feelings: what were you
thinking and feeling?
Evaluation: What was
good and bad about the
experience?
Analysis: what sense can
you make of the
situation?
Conclusion: what else
could have been done?
Action Plan: How can
you use your learning
from your experience to
develop your practice?
47. Brookfield (1995, 1998) - Four
Lenses of Reflection
The lens of self –
autobiographies of us
as learners and
lecturers, if we don’t
reflect there is a
danger we will teach
as we wish to be
taught
The lens of your
students – empathise
with them imagine
what it would be like
to be a student in
your class
The lens of your
colleagues – peer
review important
The lens of theoretical
literature – the basis
for our actions and
understanding.
48. Peer review / evaluation
• One of the most valuable ways of getting feedback on
your teaching
• It is for teachers however much experience they have
• Don’t ask your boss to do it!
• Subject knowledge is not necessary
• Choose different types of sessions to get feedback
• Good peer review forms also encourage the reviewer to
reflection on their own practice
• If you want HEA Fellowship you will need peer reviews
50. Challenging perceptions of IL
“… 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 I think has to come from the teachers.”
(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011)
52. In summary
• Information literacy is not
just formal teaching, but
usually supports some form
of learning or development
• It’s one of the most exciting
and challenging parts of
being a librarian
• If you want to work in the
field you will need to be a
lifelong learner yourself
• Teaching and learning are
transformational: for both
teachers and learners!
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
53. "Education does
not change the
world. Education
changes people.
People change the
world.”
Paulo Freire, Philosopher
and Educator
Paulo Freire. Image from Wikipedia
licensed under Creative Commons.
54. Further Reading (models & more)
A New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) report
and outputs:
https://newcurriculum.wordpress.com/project-reports-
and-outputs/
The Information Literacy website: https://infolit.org.uk/
Updated CILIP IL Definition:
https://infolit.org.uk/ILdefinitionCILIP2018.pdf
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy:
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
SCONUL 7 Pillars (2001) Available at:
https://www.sconul.ac.uk/tags/7-pillars
Secker, J and Coonan, E. (2013) Rethinking Information
Literacy: a practical framework for supporting learning.
Facet Publishing: London.
55. Further Reading (Teaching)
Accardi, M. T. (2013) Feminist pedagogy for library instruction.
Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press.
Burkhardt, J. (2016) 6 Tips for Teaching Information Literacy.
https://archive.cilip.org.uk/blog/6-suggestions-teaching-
information-literacy
Eastwood, L., Coates, J., Dixon, L., Harvey, J., Ormondroyd, C., &
Williamson, S. (2009). A toolkit for creative teaching in post-
compulsory education. Open University Press.
Grop̲pel-Wegener, A. (2016) Writing essays by pictures: a workbook.
Innovative Libraries: Huddersfield.
Pagowsky, N., & McElroy, K. (2016). Critical library pedagogy:
Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries. (2 vols)
Walsh, Andrew and Inala, Padma (2010) Active Learning Techniques
for Librarians: Practical Examples. Chandos, Cambridge.
Walsh, A. (2017) The mini book of teaching tips for librarians.
Innovative Libraries: Huddersfield.
Notes de l'éditeur
And Information Literacy and Learning Librarian for Aberdeenshire Libraries
The CILIP Information Literacy Group created this definition for information literacy to update the definition devised by CILIP in 2004. It was recognised that the theory and practice of information literacy has evolved considerably since then, and we wanted a definition which reflected those changes. We had been told that the IL definition was one of the most viewed pages and we wanted to make sure the definition was fit for the purpose and felt that as we are the IL Group that we were best placed undertake this piece of work.
We wanted the new definition to feel relevant to more than just HE and be for anyone who uses and handles information, and not just to information professionals.
I wanted to be involved because IL had been viewed as a HE thing and as the Public Libraries Representative on the ILG, I wanted to have the voice of those not in HE heard in the definition.
This is our original graphic of how we perceived the field of IL and its relationships with other areas.
Our representation situates information literacy as the central concept, overlapping with areas of specific information application (new learning literacies), practices involving a specific type of information (digital literacies), and information in use in a particular context or community (academic and media literacies). The graphic was designed to show that we perceive information literacy as interwoven with all these areas – but it also suggests visually that information literacy is a grand narrative: the overarching, ‘master’ concept that relates and makes meaningful all the others.
However, we soon began to see an equal degree of complexity in other areas, in particular recognising the strength of the claim that learning development constitutes a legitimate, epistemologically autonomous, and empirically grounded field of inquiry. In other words, learning development could equally validly claim to occupy the central, relational role in our diagram, as a lens through which to see and connect the other areas – including digital and information literacies. And equally, what Jane and I refer to as ‘information literacy’ is now often seen as being subsumed within the larger concept of ‘digital literacy’, which then becomes the grand narrative.
In all these professional areas in the last decade or so we have been moving away from a functional, remedial, simplistic enforced or normalised label-hanging approach. Because of the way our thinking in all these areas has developed, maybe we’ve reached a point where although we’re coming from different specialties and start points, we’re all converging on the same goal: to provide opportunities for our students to construct and sensemake the academic landscape for themselves.
The way in which UCC is approaching this landscape, with a convergence between academic writing, research skills and digital literacies, echoes how our own thinking around ANCIL has developed as well as how we are implementing this thinking in our institutions. We’re excited by your approach!
In the same way as our thinking about learning development has moved on from study skills – Wingate - so information literacy was once distressingly functional, process-based and the province – and the ‘gift’ - of librarians (we decided who got to be qualified as “information literate”). Now, however, it’s starting to be seen as a crucial ingredient in learning and in the development of an individual’s identity as a learner, a graduate, an employee and an informed citizen. Zurkowski ECIL keynote 2013 (Istanbul) – IL is about empowering the general population, making it harder for those in authority to fool people. A revolutionary tool. Information can be dangerous, so if IL is not challenging, we are doing it wrong!
So are we clear what we mean when we talk about digital literacy? Or capability or scholarship – we have many different models.
Digital skills is very in vogue with the government at the moment
In 1999, The SCONUL Working Group on Information Literacy published “Information skills in higher education: a SCONUL position paper” (SCONUL, 1999), introducing the Seven Pillars of Information Skills model. Since then, the model has been adopted by librarians and teachers around the world as a means of helping them to deliver information skills to their learners.
However, in 2011 we live in a very different information world and while the basic principles underpinning the original Seven Pillars model remain valid, it was felt that the model needed to be updated and expanded to reflect more clearly the range of different terminologies and concepts which we now understand as “Information Literacy”. In order for the model to be relevant to different user communities and ages, the new model is presented as a generic “core” model for Higher Education, to which a series of “lenses”, representing the different groups of learners, can be applied.
If you go into the full document you see things that a learner can do for each of the different pillars.
The learner will understand….
They designed it to have different lenses.
Criticisms are that it’s a competency framework, and quite generic.
Learner centred.
Strands – that overlap
Broader than other IL models
Specifically we call it a curriculum not a framework or a model. It’s designed to be embedded and contexutalised – so you don’t teach 10 classes. You can teach different strands in different classes as well.
It was developed based in research (from the literature) and from experts in the field.
It’s got sample learning outcomes for each of the strands, sample activities and assessments.
ANCIL was actually as much about HOW you teach as WHAT to teach. So we didn’t want to be prescriptive, we want to teach a mindset based around the critical use of information, in the context of the learner.
So are we clear what we mean when we talk about digital literacy? Or capability or scholarship – we have many different models.
Digital skills is very in vogue with the government at the moment
PART OF WHAT HAS GIVEN ANCIL ITS LONGEVITY?
We looked hard at whether we needed to include ‘digitalness’ or technology as a discrete strand in our curriculum, but ultimately we figured we were looking at it the wrong way up and that ‘digitalness’ is a bit of a red herring.
Our view is that information literacy refers to all forms of information, including analogue, digital, visual and and anything else as a part of a broad landscape of information. What matters is not the platform or the format, but the context, and the uses to which students are expected to put various types of information at each stage of the scholarly career. Our research doesn't split off digital or other literacies into a separate conceptual container - the focus is rather on developing students' abilities, attitudes and values across all aspects of information use and handling so that they are equipped to deal with information judiciously, no matter what format they encounter it in – and no matter when.
Personally:
I am not in the ‘right answer business’!
If information is an adventure game learners have to find their own pathways and follow the signposts of their own choosing. Yes, information –particularly the landscape of library resources ... may be a dark, foreboding forest; but I’m not Gandalf. I’m not the one who knows where the path lies for your quest. I don’t have that knowledge. You do. That’s what I’m here for, to let learners know that.
Lots of learning theories… lots of pedagogical approaches using these… might mention 1 or 2 briefly, but focus on the practical for most of today, not theoretical
We’ve given you some outline of IL models / frameworks. These *should* inform what you do. From a practical point of view though, good practice is to do as on the slide which we’ll try and cover in rest of the day. I’ll mention briefly a tiny bit of learning theory / pedagogy, but mainly I have 10 top tips for you on the next slide.
In particular, here are a few “top tips” for teaching IL that we might touch on elsewhere, but not cover in detail…
Recommend Active Learning approach – learning by doing (mention constructivist approach to learning / teaching). Avoid didactic “telling ‘em stuff”
Don’t try to cover too much content. Focus on the things its most important that you enable them to learn… not long lists of “stuff”. This also means, don’t show them what to click on in databases (Have you heard of YouTube?
Try to split your session into lots of short “chunks” with changes in pace. Various advice here on attention span, some contradictory, got good general advice is to plan on 10ish minute chunks. People *can* concentrate for longer, but this will help.
Large group teaching is different to small groups – don’t try and replicate exactly the same things in each. In a nutshell, people are afraid of being eaten by lions – so you don’t stand out in a large group. Either do stuff to enable anonymity, or to enable smaller groups to form, or just teach differently in larger groups than small!
Don’t try to make mini-librarians out of your learners. They won’t do the ideal librarian approach to stuff. They just need to make their learning more effective. Let them please… (Boolean searching smells of wee)
Learning styles aren’t real… but could sometimes be useful to think of when trying to get variety into a lesson. Which leads onto…
Help people remember! As many senses as you can engage helps memory formation. Narrative / storytelling also helps.
Preparation and planning prevent piss-poor performance. Good planning helps you adapt to suit your learners. So don’t plan every detail of a search! Instead plan flexible, well thought out exercises…
At the start of every class try to make sure you set expectations effectively. That’s room layout, turn up early enough to make sure everything is ok, etc. Share the aim of the day… I don’t believe in sharing learning objectives though which might conflict with what Jane says later! (explain)
Hopefully that allows 10 minutes to ask… “what are your top tips?”, discuss and share with room
Differentiation – as in levels (can mean 2 things). Make sure everyone is stretched – so when setting learning objectives (next up!), make sure some are “stretch”, some are for all…
Make the point that formal assessment is hard for librarians.
Being in the moment – noticing when you are uncomfortable – mindfulness and IL and reflexive practice – reflection in action as Schon calls it
There are lots more, but it’s helpful to be reflective
There are some perceptions around IL – in the library world and outside that we need to challenge.
Librarians may be guilty of thinking IL is Going to save us
NOR Is it necessarily understood by other support staff or by teachers
But also: IL doesn’t belong to us (it’s not appropriate to see it as ‘the saviour of the library’ in a digital era).
As Katy Wrathall has said “Ownership if a flawed concept”.
Clare McCluskey’s research in LIR explored how to build partnerships to explore librarians as full partners in higher education, not just providers of services. This builds on earlier work by Claire McGuiness who had found most interactions between faculty and librarians were of the functional service provider nature.
Faculty perceptions of IL McGuinness article back in 2006 : faculty perceptions – its related to student motivation, they will pick it up over time, they (the faculty) are already doing it, they pick it up from fellow students]
We need to establish common ground and have a collective vision of the kind that could be achieved through a strategic framework like ANCIL (it’s happening at LSE, Derby, Worcs, YSJ … all in line with each institution’s particular needs.) Building partnerships is all about having a better understanding of what we each do.