An Integrated Approach to Information Literacy

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An Integrated Approach to Information Literacy

• Pam Freeland, Julie Nolan,
• Maria Spies, Catherine Welch,
• Youngok Kim, Prem Ramburuth
• The Project Team would like to acknowledge the
  work of Carolyn Cousins, Colina Mason and Peter
  McGuinn of the Education Development Unit at the
  Faculty of Commerce and Economics, for their
  significant contribution to the success of this
  project

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What is information literacy?

• Understanding and set of abilities enabling
  individuals to
• Recognise an information need
• Locate, evaluate and use the needed information
  effectively
• (Adapted from CAUL Information Literacy Standards
  2001 for latest standards see http//www.caul.edu
  .au/caul-doc/publications.html)

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Why is information literacy important?

• Prerequisite for participating effectively in
  the information society (UN Prague Declaration
  2003)
• Essential component of education and lifelong
  learning for all students
• Enables learners to
• Engage critically with content and extend their
  investigations
• Become more self-directed
• Assume greater control over their learning
• (CAUL 2001 Nimon 2002)

And why important for IBUS1101? Without formal
training, students are not confident or able to
research effectively, develop a sustained
argument and reference properly
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Students and their research essays in their own
words

• You basically plagiarise what your teachers told
  you. A week before the HSC Id go to him and say,
  Sir, Im having a bit of trouble with this
  question. He goes, Right, get a pen, sit down.
  Hed just dictate and Id just copy

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Students and their research essays in their own
words

• I dont actually use the UNSW Library a lot
  because I find it very complex. There are so many
  new systems and there are so many different ways
  to get information that I couldnt simply go and
  look it up. I prefer simple ways like
  encyclopaedias.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Students and their research essays in their own
words

• I find using the internet a lot easier. I mean
  I dont think Ive ever borrowed a book from the
  UNSW Library.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Background to project

• New course, IBUS1101, launched S1 2002.
• Most students failed to research their
  assignments, with few accessing specified
  databases as per course requirements
• Pilot information literacy study S2 2002 with
  on-line tutorial, however
• S1 a larger cohort (about 400 students)
  technology a solution?
• Use of electronic databases improved, but essays
  did not a more holistic approach required

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How is our approach integrated?

• Contextualisation of information literacy skills
  into the discipline
• Embedding information literacy into assessment
  tasks (essay-writing as a process not just an
  outcome)
• Collaboration between library, academics and
  learning/teaching professionals
• Linkage of information literacy to other graduate
  attributes
• Making information literacy relevant to students
  university and subsequent careers

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Research and essay-writing framework
STAGE 2
STAGES 3-5
STAGE 1
Planning, writing and editing the final version
Selecting and analysing a topic
Doing the research
EDU GUEST LECTURE ON ESSAY WRITING WEEK 8
ESSAY OUTLINE
LIBRARY TUTORIAL, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Main tools and their objectives

• Essay outline (Week 4) enable students to
  analyse their topic early on, identify key words
  and issues, identify information needs
• On-line research tutorial (Week 5) instruct
  students in discipline-specific resources,
  effective search strategies, evaluation and
  referencing of information
• Annotated bibliography (Week 6) enable students
  to search and critically evaluate information
  relevant to their topic, and correctly construct
  a bibliographic list

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So what does the IBUS tutorial look like?

• LETS TAKE A LOOK

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Results.

• Not necessarily better essay outcomes, but
• More extensive use of information sources used
  (the first step!)
• Better understanding of different types of
  information (e.g. journals) and how/where to find
  information
• Forcing a structure to the process provided
  guidance on process and may result in better
  essay outcomes in future years

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Feedback from students (1)

• I think the essay outline is a really good idea
  for first years. I was pleasantly surprised
  because I start an essay probably five days
  before its due and this pushes you to write, it
  gives you a good idea of what you have to do.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Feedback from students (2)

• .The on-line tutorial introduced the library
  services, they help you how to do research and
  they use library terms like monographs or
  serials.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Feedback from students (3)

• .You know when youre searching, you put those
  and in capitals and the or. No one has ever
  explained that to me before and I had no idea how
  to do it. Now I do it all the time.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Feedback from students (4)

• I think an integral part of research is
  understanding what you are writing about. Ive
  done many essays where Ive finished them and
  still not understood the topic. So I dont think
  that was research. It was just me looking at
  articles that I thought were relevant,
  rearranging it and writing it up. I think
  research is basically understanding what you are
  doing and going from there.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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Feedback from students (5)

• I think we were aided in many ways. They sort of
  held our hand along the way because they gave us
  steps to take and there were resources. Usually
  youre given the essay question and they just
  say, answer it! But here theyve taught you how
  to do in-text citations, and an annotated
  bibliography. Theyve basically taken us through
  every step. Ill probably take the same steps in
  the future.

Source IBUS 1101 focus groups S1, 2003
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So what have we learnt?

• Formalised information literacy training does
  make a difference
• It is possible to break students of their
  internet dependence
• Not a silver bullet students still find it
  difficult to utilise and synthesise the
  information they find
• Students have very different conceptions of
  researching and essay-writing to ours
• The development of IL skills is an on-going
  process - 2nd year courses need to know about and
  build on work done in 1st year

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Where to from here?

• Continue to use/improve the framework and on-line
  tool in IBUS 1101
• Link work done in IBUS 1101 to 2nd year courses
• Modify on-line research tutorial for other
  programs(e.g. Master of Business and Technology
  Program (http//librarytutorial.mbt.unsw.edu.au)
• Disseminate information about the project to
  other schools in the Faculty, with a view to
  developing disciplinary specific tools
• Write paper on the project!