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

1
The Scottish Information Literacy
Projectworking with partners to create an
information literate Scotland
Dr John Crawford Christine Irving School
Library Association 2008
2
Drumchapel Project

• An exploratory project initially ICT skills
  orientated
• Community ICT facilities little used - Library
  and Cybercafés implications only now being
  addressed
• 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
• An asylum seeking issue
• An information literacy skills agenda emerged

3
Project objectives

• to develop an information literacy framework,
  linking primary, secondary and tertiary education
  to lifelong learning including workplace and
  adult literacies agendas
• Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for
  education and the 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
• Researching the health literacies agenda

4
Progress to date

• First draft of Framework produced and piloted
• Information literacy in the workplace study
• Promoting international contacts
• Contacts developed and strengthened with NGOs
• Extensive communications programme
• Website further developed
• Contact established with Glasgow Chamber of
  Commerce
• Initial health literacies contacts made
• Creation of an information literacy network
• Stimulated unprecedented level of activity in the
  schools sector in Scotland

5
Partnerships and contacts

• Schools mainly with librarians
• FE/HE
• Dept. Educational Foundations, University of
  Wisconsin-Whitewater
• Delegation from Finland
• US National Forum for Information Literacy
• University of Aalborg?
• Workplace Scottish Government Glasgow Chamber
  CBI Scotland
• LTS/SQA

6
Our friends in the North
7
Information literacy in the workplace

• Workplace studies are a Project objective
• Based on 20 interviews with employees mainly in
  the public sector in central Scotland
• Not a heavily studied area limited literature
• Founded on a review of the pedagogic literature
  of learning in the workplace
• Interviews arranged with the help of Project
  partners and contacts in Adult Literacies,
  Tribunals Service, Scottish Government Library
  Services and health libraries
• Lack of private sector contacts
• Funded by the British Academy

8
Conclusions (1)

• The traditional library view of information as
  deriving from electronic and printed sources only
  is invalid in the workplace and must include
  people as sources of information
• It is essential to recognize the key role of
  human relationships in the development of
  information literacy in the workplace
• The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills
  and qualifications is a fertile area for further
  investigation and developmental work
• Adult Literacies training is a powerful driver to
  encourage workplace information literacy

9
Conclusions (2)

• Advanced Internet training extends employees
  information horizons
• A skill and qualifications based agenda is an
  important pre-condition
• Most interviewees viewed public libraries as
  irrelevant for anything other than recreational
  purposes
• Information literacy training programmes must be
  highly focused on the target audience
• All organizations have information policies but
  may be unaware of the fact
• An understanding of what constitutes information
  literacy is widespread in the workplace but is
  often implicit rather than explicit and is based
  on qualifications, experience, and networking
  activities
• Organizations which access a wide range of
  information, of high quality, including sources
  outwith their organization, will make the best
  informed decisions

10
Recommendations

• Contacts should be established with chambers of
  commerce, skills agencies and other organizations
  involved in workplace training
• Organizations information polices which are
  largely implicit should be made explicit and
  should include accessing a wide range of
  information, of high quality, including sources
  outwith their organization
• Preliminary skills audits should be carried out
  within organizations to determine staff
  information literacy skills and the
  organizations information literacy policy
• The viability of developing information literacy
  training programmes should be further researched
• Information literacy training programmes should
  initially target sympathetic organizations
• Advanced Internet training programmes should be
  offered to all workplace employees
• The private sector should be researched further
• The provision of information literacy training
  programmes by public libraries should be
  investigated
• Developmental work should be undertaken with
  Adult Literacies agencies
• NHS contacts should be expanded to progress the
  health literacies agenda

11
The development of a National Information
Literacy Framework (Scotland)

• 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

12
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

13
Draft Framework - outline
14
Progress

• Exemplars
• Some good examples from partners primary,
  secondary, FE, HE, workplace, transition
• More to come some still being developed
• However
• Not as many as hoped - practitioners tend not to
  think of their activities as exemplars of good
  practice
• Need to link to Curriculum for Excellence
• single coherent curriculum for all young people
  aged 3-18 in Scotland
• provides a framework within which excellent
  learning and teaching can take place
• it is an integral part of the improvement agenda
  in Scottish education.
• Sharing Practice for schools
• Learning and Teaching Scotland
• Adding value to LTS Information Literacy Online
  Service 
• Exemplars of good practice http//www.caledonian.
  ac.uk/ils/LTS.html

15
Progress

• Curriculum for Excellence Literacy
• Literacy and English Outcomes Draft experiences
  and outcomes
• February 2008
• The three lines of development for literacy
  skills are
• Reading - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for
  reading, Finding and using information,
  Understanding, analysing and evaluating
• Writing - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for
  writing, organising and using information,
  creating texts
• Listening and talking - Enjoyment and Choice,
  Tools for listening and talking, Finding and
  using information, Understanding, analysing and
  evaluating, creating texts
• Within each of these there are organizers
  relevant to all curriculum areas.
• www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/Images/
  literacy_across_the_curriculum_tcm4-470951.pdf

16
Exemplars of Good Practice

• Liz Lloyd, Information Literacy Librarian,
  Aberdeenshire Library Information Service
• Various activities including SKIL website
  Schools toolKit for Information Literacy
• SKIL is an Information Literacy model which
  provides a framework, toolkit and support
  materials to enhance the teaching of Information
  Literacy across the curriculum.
• It is not intended as an 'add-on' to the
  curriculum but used to provide lessons in various
  parts of the curriculum that will enhance the
  Information Literacy skills of pupils.
• Website includes
• SKIL by year group Nursery Primary 7 (12 year
  olds)
• Resource bank
• Pupil Zone

17
Exemplars of Good Practice

• Caldervale High School, Airdire
• Exploration by a group of staff (four teachers
  and the school librarian) around the question of
  how to improve the support they provide for the
  development of their pupils information skills in
  an academic context.
• Follow up activity to participation in
  researcher project looking at teachers
  conceptions of information literacy (Williams and
  Wavell, 2006).
• the use of co-operative learning vital to success
  of project
• teachers observed S1 Geography class (S1 first
  year _at_secondary school 12 -13 year olds)
• identified how they were going to define
  information skills and which ones they were
  aiming to support their pupils
• developed programme of work for S1 and S2 English
  with the intention of rolling out across the
  curriculum
• so far used / adapted for S1 and S2 Computing

18
Craigholme School, Glasgow - Donna Luc and Susan
Cheyne, School LibrariansThe transition from
primary to secondary
Exemplars of Good Practice

• Junior 6 World Religions Planning
• Working in groups
• Brainstorming a research area
• Devising research questions
• Thinking of keywords for searching
• Deciding on and collecting relevant information
• Presenting information
• Learning about a world religion as an individual
  and group, and sharing that information with the
  class.

Junior 7 Family History LocatingSelect
best potential resources that are valid,
understandable, relevant, authoritative
and current.
Power Point presentation on work given at Project
Open Meeting 28th May 2008 www.gcal.ac.uk/ils/Open
Meeting2008.html
19
Exemplars of Good Practice

• North Ayrshire School Librarians - Rosslyn Lee,
  Ardrossan Academy
• 2nd Year History
• Covering misinformation and disinformation giving
  examples of websites, photos
• strategies for searching
• searching the Internet effectively searching the
  Internet using Google, URLs and Domain names
• evaluating websites and books including quick
  quiz on evaluation
• note-taking from the internet, note-taking from
  books
• resource search for resources on John F Kennedy
  (they have to include specific details /
  questions relating to - biographies of JFK and
  Lee Harvey Oswald, describe what events happened
  before, during and after the assassination, find
  and look at different conspiracy theories
• Curriculum for Excellence Audit
• audit of IL activities and how they fit into the
  CfE
• Power Point presentation on work given at Project
  Open Meeting 28th May 2008
• www.gcal.ac.uk/ils/OpenMeeting2008.html

20
Exemplars of Good Practice

• University of Abertay, Dundee City Council
  Education Dept,
• School LRC Co-ordinators (Menizies Hill High
  School, Braeview
• Academy, Baldragon Academy)
• A collaborative approach to developing
  information literacy skills
• Working with S5/S6 pupils
• Creating closer relationships between
• University, secondary schools, local education
  department
• Power Point presentation on work given at
  Project Open Meeting
• 28th May 2008 www.gcal.ac.uk/ils/OpenMeeting200
  8.html

21
Exemplars of Good Practice

• University of Dundee and three Dundee High
  Schools (Harris Academy, Craigie Academy St
  Saviours RC High School)
• Development of Modern Studies for 6th year
  students
• Allow grounding in principles of virtual learning
  for 6th form students, Modern Studies teachers,
  School Library staff
• HE experience for 6th year pupils
• Develop IL strand within Modern Studies based on
  SCONUL 7 pillars
• Examine the secondary tertiary gap
• Develop techniques to help bridge the gap
• Schools to evaluate outcomes at end of current
  school year 2007 / 08

22
What stage are we at with the draft framework

• Piloting period finished
• Successful Open Meeting carried out with
  presentations of good practice from partners
  www.gcal.ac.uk/ils/OpenMeeting2008.html
• Online evaluation survey carried out
• Report for Eduserv produced
• Funding applications in restructuring of
  framework, incorporate feedback
• Article on pilot for publication

23
What we want to do next

• Restructure the National Information Literacy
  Framework Scotland in the light of feedback from
  piloting in the school and FE/HE sectors
• Expand the Framework to extend the lifelong
  learning/community engagement component using the
  data from the workplace/Adult Literacies study
  currently completing
• Investigate the development of information skills
  training modules which could be delivered via
  public libraries, workplace training and Adult
  Literacies programmes
• Review and develop our existing workplace
  information literacy skills expertise with
  chambers of commerce, Adult Literacies partners,
  etc
• Have more time to publicise and promote our work
  to the sectors which we are targeting and to
  disseminate and develop strategic collaborations
  and partnerships on a national and international
  basis.
• To develop further strands in media and health
  literacies
• Get information literacy incorporated into
  Scotland's lifelong learning policy

24
Constraints and issues

• Funding is the basic issue
• After that time
• Trying to cover a wide range of issues
• But all information literacies areas overlap
• Encouraged by wider support especially outside UK
• Washington visit enlarged our agenda
• Moving towards a networked environment?

25
Contact details

• Dr. John Crawford, Christine Irving
• Library Research Officer, Researcher / 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/

26
Questions?