The Scottish Information Literacy Project: working with partners to create an information literate S

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The Scottish Information Literacy
Projectworking with partners to create an
information literate Scotland
Skills for everyone SCURL 24 August 07
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Information literacy definition

• 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.
• The skills (or competencies) that are required to
  be information literate require
• an understanding of
• a need for information
• the resources available
• how to find information
• the need to evaluate results
• how to work with or exploit results
• ethics and responsibility of use
• how to communicate or share your findings
• how to manage your findings.
• www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/informationl
  iteracy/definition/

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The Drumchapel Project 2003

• An exploratory project initially ICT skills
  orientated
• Community ICT facilities little used - Library
  and Cybercafés
• School and School Library are main focus for IT
  use in deprived areas
• Little integration of information literacy into
  the curriculum
• Levels of ICT deprivation did not seem to be
  high
• Basic IT skills exist- WP, email, Internet
• Pupil evaluation of websites poor
• School disproportionately important in deprived
  areas

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LIRG/SCONUL Value and Impact Project 2

• Questionnaires to students (electronically) and
  alumni (administered by post, Spring 2004)
• Respondents included middle/senior management
• Considerable change in attitude/usage between
  university and work
• Strong link between IL and employability
• Scholarly methods spreading in the workplace
• Work greatly sharpens perceptions about value of
  IL
• Good match between databases introduced at
  University and used at work
• Information literacy linked with the exercise of
  initiative in the workplace and getting on
• Varied attitude to IL among employers
• Sparse replies from the unemployed

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Issues identified

• There should be a seamless progression from
  school to work (via HE or directly into work)
• The employability agenda is a key issue which we
  must focus on
• We need to know more about how the skills we
  impart extend to the workplace
• We need to know more about the workplace and
  attitudes of employers
• Making the case - Advocacy

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Project objectives 2007

• To develop an information literacy framework,
  linking secondary and tertiary education
• Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for
  education and wider community
• Working with information literacy champions both
  UK and worldwide 
• Researching and promoting information literacy in
  the workplace
• Identifying and working with partners, both in
  education and the wider community
• Researching the role of information literacy in
  continuing professional development

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Activities undertaken

• Comprehensive desk research exercise
• Partners recruited, initially from secondary and
  HE
• Advisory Group formed
• Contact with relevant organisations e.g. LTS,
  SCQF, SQA, learndirect Scotland.
• Focus groups with school pupils, students,
  subject librarians and employees
• Regular reporting of activities
• Website
• Conference presentations
• Petition to the Scottish Parliament
• Scottish Node' of International Alliance for
  Information Literacy
• National Information Literacy Framework
• Recruitment of workplace, adult literacies
  partners
• Project rebranded as the Scottish Information
  Literacy Project

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Research findings

• Schools - information literacy skills were
  generally taught in first and second year (aged
  12 / 13) but not subsequently reinforced within
  the curriculum resulting in fragmented levels of
  knowledge and usage for their remaining years at
  school.
• HE - students arriving at university have
  generally either poor or limited information
  literacy skills, for some these skills will be
  enhanced but many will leave as they arrived.
• The workplace - indication that although
  employers do not explicitly ask for information
  literacy it is implicitly expected, seen as
  important at work but not included in workplace
  training.

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Developing the framework

• Lots of thinking, agonising, reflecting
• Looked at other frameworks at home and abroad
• Discussions with relevant bodies and individuals
• Not reinventing the wheel
• incorporate what is being used
• look for common themes from existing models and
  definitions

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CommonThemes
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Contents

• Back ground information and provenance
• Acknowledgements
• Information literacy what it is
• Information literacy and lifelong learning
• Information literacy education
• Use of the Information Literacy framework
• The framework levels
• Information literacy and assessment
• Appendices

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Appendices

• Examples of information literacy material
• Existing skills definitions, frameworks and
  models used to inform the development of this
  national framework
• SQA National Unit Qualification - Information
  Handling Skills DF9J 11 (Intermediate level 2)
• Mind map of models, qualification and skills
  definition used in draft national framework
• University of Abertay Dundee Information
  Literacy Framework
• Loughborough University Library Information
  Literacy IL competencies

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Sectors

• Schools
• Schools / Further Education
• Further / Higher Education
• Higher Education
• lifelong learning including all information-using
  communities e.g. community learning and in the
  workplace

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Draft Framework
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Piloting

• Partners from different sectors working at
  different levels within different subjects to
  provide
• Examples of information tasks within different
  sectors at different levels and with different
  subjects and courses
• existing learning that is taking place
• new activities that have been specifically
  created
• Exemplars of how the skills, knowledge and
  understanding at different levels can be mapped
  into specific subjects or course design.

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Comments / discussion points from meeting with
partners and advisory group

• Needs to be enriched with exemplars of good
  practice
• Quite large so may need to be repurposed
• Link to new 3 -18 curriculum (Curriculum for
  Excellence)
• Link to higher level complex skills problem
  solving, innovation
• Missing links
• primary -gt secondary and secondary -gt tertiary
• Involvement of others pupil support, involving
  teachers, lecturers in the integration of
  learning
• the development of skills throughout a University
  career , indicating in some way a progression
  from skills developed in first year to a deeper
  level of understanding by the time of
  postgraduate study

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Comments / discussion points from meeting with
partners and advisory group (cont.)

• Advocacy issues
• QAA enhancement, SQA, embedding IL in teaching
  certificates, involve Learning and Teaching
  Scotland, target Learning and Teaching champions
• Advocacy needs to be bottom up as well as top
  down all levels need to be involved
• Advocacy toolkit CILIPS Information Literacy
  Task and Finish Group
• Need to create a vision as to how IL will look
  over the next couple of years
• Educational development strategies may be viewed
  as analogues to the framework
• Link to employability and transitions to work

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Progress so far

• First draft of Framework achieved
• Work with learndirect Scotland
• Workplace pilot study - LTS funding (2006)
• Advocacy focus Petition to the Scottish
  Parliament and digital inclusion consultation
  evidence
• Promoting international contacts
• Contacts developed with NGOs
• Extensive communications programme
• Website established
• Workplace/Adult literacies partners recruited

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And to the future

• A bigger issue than we thought
• Lack of understanding of the concept of
  information literacy still an issue
• Funding a cross sectoral issue
• Piloting the Framework
• Further workplace studies
• Target decision makers in LT
• Expand national and international contacts
• Review role of information literacy in CPD

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A quotable quote

• Disciplines which provide the sort of cognitive
  weaponry by which individuals can self reflect on
  their situation, challenge validity claims and,
  potentially, change their lives are often treated
  as suspect and denied institutional validity,
  funding, status and so on Information literacy
  falls into this category.
• Whitworth (2006)

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Some references

• McLelland, D. and Crawford, J. (2004) The
  Drumchapel Project a study of ICT usage by
  school pupils and teachers in a secondary school
  in a deprived area of Glasgow, Journal of
  librarianship and information science, Vol. 36,
  no.2, pp. 55-67
• Crawford, John (2006) The use of electronic
  information services and information literacy a
  Glasgow Caledonian University study, Journal of
  librarianship and information science, Vol.38, no
  1. pp. 33-44
• Crawford, John and Christine Irving (2007)
  Information literacy, the link between secondary
  and tertiary education project and its wider
  implications, Journal of librarianship and
  information science, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 21-30.
• Crawford, J. (2007). New partners for IL project
  , Information Scotland, 5(3) p6
• Irving, C. Crawford, J., (2007) Information
  literacy a framework for life, Library
  information update, 6 (7-8) pp.52-53

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Contact details

• Dr. John Crawford, Christine Irving
• Library Research Officer, Research Assistant /
  Project Officer
• Room 302, (3rd floor) Room 302, (3rd floor)
• 6 Rose Street, 6 Rose Street,
• Glasgow, G3 6RB Glasgow, G3 6RB
• Tel [phone] Tel [phone]
• Email jcr_at_gcal.ac.uk Email christine.irving_at_gcal.
  ac.uk
• Project website
• www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/

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Questions?