17 th january 2010denise adams and sarah cousins supporting first year undergraduate students to...

17th January 2010 Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

Supporting first year undergraduate students to make smooth transitions to

university and apply their reading to practical and current contexts

Read to Succeed


For librarians, being active in campus activities and committees, building individual relationships as

part of academic departmental liaison duties, and heavy

involvement in freshman experience or other core courses are all ways to

connect with faculty.

Inspiration for project

Buchanan, L. E., Luck, D. L. & Jones, T. C., 2002, p.162



Only when librarians and faculty work in tandem to achieve the

common goal (information-literate students) can IL

instruction seamlessly merge with, not merely flow beside,

course content.

Buchanan, L. E., Luck, D. L. & Jones, T. C., 2002, p.164



The role of the librarian is changing in the virtual environment. The

ability to adapt to changing roles lies in librarians’ willingness to

experiment with new ways to accomplish their libraries’ missions.

Buchanan, L. E., Luck, D. L. & Jones, T. C. (2002), p.162


Aims of the projectTo support students to Experience smooth transitions to higher

education Become independent learnersMaster information literacy competencies

within a core moduleApply their information literacy skills to

their academic and practical developmentSucceed in the module assessments


Other aims of the project

For colleagues across disciplines toHave an opportunity to collaborate on a

moduleParticipate in peer observationsConsciously engage in reflective practice

to scaffold students’ information literacy development

Feel supported

Methodology

Action Research

Narrative InquiryStudents’ quick responses each weekLonger accounts from self-selecting studentsALL’s and MT’s accounts



Context


Our Stories


Project Values

People not Policies…ordering people to do better without engaging their hearts and minds cannot succeed.

Levin, B., 2010, p.742


Starting point

Is there a problem and, if so, where does it lie?

First year undergraduatesSchools and FE collegesUniversity tutors’ perceptions/expectations

Goen-Salter, 2008


Project activity

Informal assessment - CATsWeekly group discusion on how what was

learnt or introduced in class and readings would be useful in their practice

Project Features: Online learning

BlogFacebookWebLearn

ILTasks


Active Learning

We supported students to ‘become actively engaged in their learning and the learning and teaching process rather than be passive recipients of knowledge and information.’

Groves & O’Donoghue, 2009, p.147


Project features: Active learning

I’ve always learned from

being practical.

Ideas come to me when I do things.


Project results

High success rate in moduleHigher retention rate on courseFeedback from students about how more

focused reading has enabled them toDevelop their thinkingBe moved Experience a joy for learning


Current University Contexts

Review of Undergraduate Education

Seven Pillars of Pedagogy

Enhanced Student engagement, success and

employabilityQuality of teaching and curriculum

development


Issues and questions for future research and projects

GenderRaceSupport from another university

professional, not the module assessor

Ongoing improvement

Continuing with input into Sarah’s moduleThis process is now embedded into the

Academic Literacies (Education Studies Hons degree)

Scaffolding - this process be continued through to year 2 within a core module culminating in the final Year project.


What worked

Some challenges: Over running classes – short presentation time

– better planningAssessment

Positive:sat in on classes from the start – students used

to seeing me as part of the teaching teamavailable for classroom based tutorials/help


Further strengths of the project

Offers students ‘scaffolded’ support over length of programme

Is embedded within meaningful and practical contexts

Enables multi-disciplinary teams to work together to Develop their pedagogyEngage in peer teaching

Eases transitions to UniversityThe workplace


The future

2010-11 and beyond…

References Armstrong, et al quoted by Corrall, S. (2007) ‘Benchmarking Strategic

Engagement with Information Literacy in Higher Education: Towards a Working Model’ Information Research, 12(4) paper 328 [Online] http://informationr.net/ir/12-4/paper328.html Last accessed: 24 February 2010

Buchanan, L.E., Luck, D.L. & Jones, T.C., Integrating Information Literacy into the Virtual University: A Course Model. Library Trends, 51(2), 144-166.

Goen-Salter, S., (2008), Critiquing the Need to Eliminate Remediation: Lessons from San Francisco State. Journal of Basic Writing, 27(2), 81-105

Groves, M. & O’Donoguhue, J., (2009), Reflections of Students in Their Use of Asynchronous Online Seminars. Educational Technology & Society. 12(3), 143-149.

Paton, Graeme (2010) 'Spoon-fed' teenagers failing to read books. Daily Telegraph, 7 March 2010 [Online] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/7391670/Spoon-fed-teenagers-failing-to-read-books.html Last accessed : 16 January 2011


Contacts

Thank you for the interest you have shown in this project.

[email protected]

[email protected]

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17 th january 2010denise adams and sarah cousins supporting first year undergraduate students to...

Documents

denise adams

sarah cousins context

sarah cousins inspiration

practice slide

supported slide

module assessments slide

project buchanan

project features