Developing information literate

Developing information literate

researchers at LSE: the jewels in

researchers at LSE: the jewels in

our crown

D J S k L d S h l f E i d

Dr Jane Secker, London School of Economics and Political Science

IVIG Seminar, Prague, 25th _{September 2014}

Today’s talk

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

What IS information literacy?

y

Information literacy is complex

Information literacy is complex

Why does IL matter for PhD students?

y

A New Curriculum for Information Literacy

(ANCIL) Jane Secker and Emma Coonan

(ANCIL) – Jane Secker and Emma Coonan

Research to develop a new, revolutionary 

curriculum for information literacyy in a digitalg  ageg

 _{Understand the needs of undergraduates entering HE over} 

the comingg 5 y 5 years

 _{Map the current landscape of information literacy}  _{D l     ti l  i l   d  ti g} 

 _{Develop a practical curriculum and supporting resources}

Careers 

Teaching & Learning Centre Language Centre LSE100 Departments

ANCIL in practice

Language Centre Departments_Library

Teaching & Learning

Departments LSE100

Teaching & Learning 

Centre Departments Language Centre Library

Language Centre

Teaching & Learning Centre 

Careers Departments Teaching & Learning Centre Departments Language Centre Departments LSE100 Library Library Library Centre for Learning  

Technology

Library Library

Project outputs

Project outputs

 _{Curriculum  Resource wiki}

 _Curriculum

 _{Expert consultation report}  _{Theoretical background} 

 _{Resource wiki}

 _{Institutional audit tools}

 _{Implementation strategies}   _{Theoretical background}  report  _{Concept diagrams}  _{Implementation strategies}  report

 _{Information literacy first aid}   _{Information literacy} 

definition

Ad   id

 _{Information literacy first aid} 

model

 _{Rethinking Information} 

 _{Advocacy video}

 _{Lesson planning tool}

 _{Rethinking Information} 

Literacy

What is the librarian’s role?

What is the librarian s role?

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

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

Challenging perceptions

Challenging perceptions ….

“… if the teachers, whether they’re school

or university teachers, don’t have the same

i

f

h

d

i ’

l

i

view of IL that we do, it’s always going to

be [about] the skills. And the skills are fine

b t b d

t

h

th

kill

it’

but anybody can teach the skills; it’s

teaching the

changing attitude

and the

diff

t h

th t I thi k h t

different approach

that I think has to

come from the teachers.”

Supporting research students at

Suppo t g esea c stude ts at

LSE

Supporting research students at LSE

Supporting research students at LSE

 _{Support available from a range} 

f i d d i

of services and academic 

departments at LSE

 _{Lib   d L i g}   _{Library and Learning} 

Technology and Innovation 

(LTI) run termly workshops (LTI) run termly workshops

 _{MY592:  Information Literacy} 

tools for research Image cc from http://www.flickr.com/photos/notkaiho/5716096442/

 _{PGCert (teaching course) for all} 

research students who teach

 _{Compulsory e‐submission of} 

Digital Literacy workshops

Digital Literacy workshops

 _{Use the term ‘digital literacy’ for} 

ff g y

staff and research students

 _{Optional workshops run each term} 

taught by librarians and LTI taught by librarians and LTI

 _{Cover using new technologies to} 

support teaching and research

 _{Literature searching}

 _{Literature searching}

 _{Using social media (social networking,} 

social bookmarking, twitter, blogging)

 _{Advanced internet searching}

 _{Advanced internet searching}

 _{Keeping up to date}

 _{Managing your web presence}

 _{Hands on practical sessions}

 _{Hands‐on practical sessions}  _{Online support in Moodle}

Researcher Development programme

Researcher Development programme



_Expanding

_programme

_of

workshops

run

each

term



_F

_d

_PhD

_{t d}

_t

_Focused

_on

_PhD

_students,

research

staff,

post

‐

docs

etc.



_Topics

_cover:

_Topics

_cover:

 _{Copyright for researchers}

 _{Data Protection and Freedom of} 

Information issues 

 _{Creating Poster Presentations}

 _{Bibliometrics and citation analysis}  _{Bibliometrics and citation analysis}

MY592: workshop on information literacy

MY592: workshop on information literacy

 _{Information and digital literacy non‐credit bearing}   _{Information and digital literacy non‐credit bearing} 

course comprising of six 2 hour workshops

 _{Aimed primarily at new PhD students}  _{Aimed primarily at new PhD students}  _{Builds up skills over course}

 _{Specialist advice and support from academic support}   _{Specialist advice and support from academic support} 

librarians

 _{Taughtg  byy LTI // Libraryy staff}

The

curriculum

The

curriculum

 _{Week 1: Introduction and undertaking a} 

li h

literature search

 _{Week 2: Using the internet for your} 

h research

 _{Week 3: Managing information:} 

Endnote  Zotero  Mendeley Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley

 _{Week 4: Finding theses, conference} 

papers & specialist research materials 

papers & specialist research materials 

 _{Week 5: Dealing with Data, news,} 

archives and official publications 

archives and official publications 

 _{Week 6: Next steps, sharing your} 

The approach

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‐disciplinaryp y ‐ but have also organisedg  shorter} 

Feedback and evaluation

Feedback and evaluation

 _{Regularly collect feedback via course evaluation forms for workshops}

 _{Feedback highly positive but only tells us about the people who attend}  _{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} 

 _{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}   _{Compulsory now in some departments and highly recommended by some} 

supervisors

 _{More qualitative students attend}

 _{Stude t coStudent confidencede ce c eases a te cou se but ca increases after course but can makesa es stude ts students moreo e} 

Information literacy and research students

Information literacy and research students

 _{Don’t make assumptions about IL levels}

 _{Gather evidence / survey incoming students}

 _{One size doesn’t fit all – customise supportpp  (1( ‐2‐1}  Research Consultations) 

 _{New researchers will alwaysy  need orientation to youry}  

institution, your systems and procedures  

 _{Generic sessions pprovide an opportunitypp y for PhD} 

students to network, discuss their research, compare 

their approaches with people outside their department

 _{Researchers may be moving into a different discipline –}

The benefits of the informed researcher

The benefits of the informed researcher

 _{No one wants un‐informed research} 

‘b d i ’

or ‘bad science’

 _{Many PhD students go on to become} 

d i     i g th    

academics so ensuring they are 

information literate is vital !

 _{Supporting PhD students leads to} 

teaching opportunities at other  

teaching opportunities at other  

levels – “this course was great ‐ can 

you teach my undergraduates?”g

 _{Promotes the positive association} 

with librarians ‐ PhD students can 

The Jewels in our Crown

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 ti  t  fi d th  hidd  ‘ ’   k    li k  

information, to find the hidden ‘gems’, make new links, 

Thank you for listening / d

ě

kuji !

Thank you for listening / d

ě

kuji !

[email protected] / @jsecker

http://newcurriculum wordpress com 

Further Reading

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, p , London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48058/

Secker, Jane (2012) Digital literacy support for researchers: the personalised approach. In: Priestner, Andy and Tilley, Elizabeth, (eds.) Personalising Library

S H h Ed h B A h A h F h UK

Services in Higher Education: the Boutique Approach. Ashgate, Farnham, UK, pp. 107-125. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45810/

Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2012) Rethinking Information Literacy: a

ti l f k f l i F t P bli hi L d

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: Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK. Available at:

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/37679/

Secker, Jane and Macrae-Gibson, Rowena (2011) Evaluating MI512: an

information literacy course for PhD students. Library Review, 60 (2). pp. 96-information literacy course for PhD students. Library Review, 60 (2). pp. 96 107. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/32975/