Strategies for implementing successful IL action plans

Barbie E. KeiserUNESCO IL TTT WorkshopWuhan UniversityOctober 2008

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What we’ll cover during this session

Strategic planning for IL Environmental scanning SWOT/TOWS analysis Critical Success Factors (CSFs) The team

Needs assessment Methods for conducting

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And what we won’t Organizational structure and programmes within

UNESCO Education Communication & information (IFAP) Bangkok (http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=662)

Differentiating among education, training, and guidance

ACRL Information Literacy IQ (Institutional Quotient) Test (http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/professactivity/iil/immersion/infolitiqtest.cfm)

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What do we know about strategic planning?

Concerns the relationship of an organization to its environment

Involves wide-range scanning of external and environmental factors

Flexible, dynamic and continually reworked plans maximize results

Participative Shorter and longer-range

plans are interwoven into a continuous strategy

Forward-looking; future-oriented

Iterative, ongoing effort Proactive; seek

opportunities Bottom-up decision

process Environment considered

ever-changing and dynamic

Integrated focus Requires creativity to deal

with new opportunities and choices

Incentives given for overall performance of the organization

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Key planning issues

Review past performance Understand reasons for past failures

Identify opportunities Determine client/customer and learner

preferences Understand the impact of IL training on

existing operations and staff function Marketing

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Potential planning pitfalls Inability to get management and/or

staff involved Lack of clear objectives Not relating IL goals and objectives

directly to those of our organization/ institution

Other?

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What strategies can we use to assure that we do not fall into these traps?

Establish strong partnerships (Jamaica) Early, strong, consistent, and

growing Be careful in selecting your

champion (Quebec) Listen

Be responsive Learn how to say “no”

Appreciate the art of persuasion Tell stories (Quebec)

Storytelling trumps statistics Demonstrate value to all stakeholder

groups (WIIFM and ROI) Share the information expertise of

your staff with other knowledge workers Added benefits?

Employ the vocabularies of target stakeholder groups (i.e., no library jargon) Changing the message and the focus

Demonstrate the need Place IL skills in context Identify where IL skills are

already being taught/in use

An added bonus: A focus for our advocacy efforts “New” product(s) to “market” Reinvented service A case for proactivity in a

way we haven’t seen before Opportunity to market

Sources: Caroline Stern

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Where are we in the strategic planning process for IL?

Perform an environmental scan Conduct a SWOT/TOWS analysis Initial assumptions (and their bases in fact)

Never assume! Extant data (collected and reviewed)

Identify Critical Success Factors (CSFs) Indicators Measures

Develop vision, mission, and values statements Envisioning your IL programme

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Environmental scanning Detects trends and events important to the project

(IL training programmes) Provides early warning of changing external

conditions Defines potential threats, opportunities, changes

implied by trends and events Promotes a future orientation in the thinking of

stakeholders Enables decision-makers to understand current (and

potential) changes to determine organizational strategies

What are the triggers in your institutions/ organizations/communities (i.e., indicators that IL training is needed that will resonate with your community)?

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Performing a comprehensive environmental scan

IL models and standards (learning theories) Methods? (MyBookmarks)

Your institution/organization/community Methods?

Previous IL (and other training) efforts Understanding reasons for success/failure What kind of extant data do you collect (and

review)?

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IL models and standards guidelines

Country models National Information Literacy

Framework (Scotland) Information Literacy

Framework for Schools (Hong Kong)

Australian and New Zealand IL Framework: Principles, Standards, and Practice (ANZIL)

US School Library Media Center Questionnaire (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/pdf/0304/sass_ls1a.pdf)

Big6 Information Problem-Solving Process (http://www.big6.com/what-is-the-big6) Task definition Information seeking strategies Location and access Use of information Synthesis Evaluation

AASL (http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/informationpower/InformationLiteracyStandards_final.pdf) and CASL (http://www.cla.ca/casl/literacyneeds.html)

ACRL (higher education) guidelines (competencies) - http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/standardsguidelines.cfm, toolkit http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlissues/acrlinfolit/infolitstandards/standardstoolkit.cfm and http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm Five standards Performance indicators (and outcomes for each)

Seven Pillars (http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/sp/sp/model.html)

Information Inquiry, Problem-Solving and Research Process

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Conducting a SWOT analysis Useful when you need to understand your own

competitive advantages Provides information helpful in matching your

organization’s resources and capabilities to the environment in which it operates

Scan of the internal and external environment, beginning externally

Environmental factors internal to the institution/organization/library/community = Strengths or Weaknesses

Environmental factors external to the institution/organization/library/community = Opportunities or Threats

Sometimes can be too inward

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SWOT AnalysisStrengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

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TOWS

An extension of the SWOT analysis Analyze the external environment (threats and

opportunities) and your internal environment (weaknesses and strengths) to help you think about the strategy of your organization Useful for marketing campaigns

Threats and opportunities External environmental factors over which you do not

have control (changing demographics) Weaknesses and strengths

Internal factors (poor location; bad reputation)

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TOWS Strategic Alternatives Matrix

External Opportunities (O)

1.

2.

3.

4.

External Threats (T)

1.

2.

3.

4.

Internal Strengths (S)

1.

2.

3.

4.

SO “Maxi-Maxi” StrategyStrategies that use strengths to maximize opportunities

ST “Maxi-Mini” StrategyStrategies that use strengths to minimize threats

Internal Weaknesses (W)

1.

2.

3.

4.

WO “Mini-Maxi” StrategyStrategies that minimize weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities

WT “Mini-Mini” StrategyStrategies that minimize weaknesses and avoid threats

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What are the CSFs for your IL training programme?

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Key questions

Is your community ready? What to do if it is not

Is your institution/ organization’s culture a barrier? How to deal with that

Where did the idea for IL training originate? You or others

ACRL What do you want learners

to be able to do? What do learners need to

know in order to do this well?

What type of instruction will best enable the learning?

How will the student demonstrate the learning?

How will you know that the learner has learned?

Source: Ruth Pagell, SMU

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Scope of your IL training

Comprehensive or narrow(er)? Pilot project approach

One subject, that can then be extended to others One tool, that can then be extended to similar tools

Our responsibility is to help learners make those connections!

Focus on what the learner needs to know, teaching them how to ask the right question (if they want to get the right answer)

Begin by asking what the learner already knows about the subject, and then….

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Questions for the learner (Framework for IL – Scotland) What’s the most likely place you will find the

answer?: Was this choice “the best”? What words can you use to search effectively to

improve on your existing knowledge?: Was the strategy “the best”?

How do you know when you’re finished?: Did learner assess correctly?

Have you learned something new? Who else should know this (and how should this be

shared - ethically)? How will you apply this now? What have you learned from this experience that

you can apply elsewhere?

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Overview of the process

Goals and objectives Strategies and tactics

Target population Type of training

Alternatives Project planning

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Team approach Who should be included on the team? Who is responsible? When is it due? Consider what’s needed to gain

institutional commitment and stakeholder “buy-in”

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Needs assessment: Knowing your “market”

Definition: a planned, systematic approach to determining the information needs of each distinct customer group

Purpose: Help you develop training targeted specifically to each group and need

Diverse set of learners, each with distinct set of needs (and learning styles)

Understand your targets Why they need to

improve their IL skills (direct impact)

What would persuade them that IL is important to their success

Identify groups with related needs

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Methods

At-the-elbow Usability-lite testing

Easter egg hunt Interviews Surveys Focus Groups

Questions Analysis

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Questions to pose concerning facts

Why should I believe it? Does the claim need evidence to

support it? If there is evidence provided, how

good is the evidence? Other plausible interpretations? What reasonable alternative

conclusions are possible?

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What we’ll cover during this session

Moving from goals and objectives to who will do what (and when)

Plus a bit on…. How the training should be delivered

Options available

Monitoring performance and measuring success Student assessments Overall programme, including cost/benefit (ROI)

and value analysis

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The overall goal is information fluency and developing the lifelong learner

1 Establish specific

objectives for your IL training program

2Develop IL training

strategies

3Implement IL training

programme(s)

4Evaluate IL training accomplishments

Grade level; undergrad/grad/ researcher/worker

Classroom/Online

BI, ICT, and more

General/Basic,stand-alone Integrated,

subject-specific

Required or optional?

One-time or semester?

Credit/other reward/incentive?

IMPROVE!

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1a. Establish objectives

What (specific) competencies must your “audience” possess? Focus on the ends, not the

means From four perspectives

Audience(s)/learners Competence Condition under which

performance will be observed

Criteria for success

What gaps must be addressed? Identify required and desired

proficiencies Identify deficiencies (and their

causes) Identify non-training (e.g.,

availability equipment) and training (e.g., skills of trainers) issues What innovative approaches

can be used? Benefits of blended learning

Social networks for viral spreading knowledge gained

Web 2.0 to reinforce over time

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Worksheet 1

Competencies sought

Deficiencies identified

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The Plan

Positioning statement: How do you want the project to be perceived?

Key message(s): What is the most important message that you wish to deliver?

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Creating priorities within competencies sought (ISD)

Based on the importance of knowing what your target learners need to DO How frequently is the task performed? How critical is the task to performance? How difficult or complex is the task?

If a subset of collective tasks, what is the relationship among tasks?

To what extent will training for this task be encountered elsewhere? Ability to apply knowledge

What prerequisite skills, knowledge, and abilities are required to perform the task?

What is the current/desired criteria for acceptable performance?

What behaviors distinguish good performers from poor? What behaviors are critical to the performance of the task?

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Non-training and training issues

Types of causes Questions to ask

Environmental factors acknowledge that training alone is unlikely to resolve performance gaps

Will learners have adequate access to tools/technology, resources, or information to achieve these goals? What are the standards or expectations beyond the academic? Do “rules” facilitate or impede goal attainment?

Motivational factors align incentives/remove disincentives

Are there mechanisms in place to measure performance and provide feedback to performers? Trainers? How do achievers receive recognition? What are the consequences of not attaining IL goals? What resistance exists?

Knowledge/skills Have all library staff (faculty) been trained to facilitate IL learning?

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People learn differently!

Doers Thinkers Feelers

Seeing is believing vs. auditory (Wharton study)

Importance of reinforcement

Storyboarding, scenario building, case studies/examples

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1b. Establish objectives

How does each contribute to the overall strategic goal for information fluency?

What approach(es) will you take? What has been successful for you in the past (and

why)? What specific results (outcomes) must be

accomplished so that you can get closer to your goal of information fluency? How those results will be achieved is explained in

Step 2 How will you “market” this effort?

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Worksheet 2

Objective Rationale Result/

Outcome

Assess-ment

For each objective, there is an activity or task

For each activity or task there is a result

Expressed as a Verb

Expressed as a Noun

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2a. Develop IL training strategies

What training (content) could address IL competence gaps?

What format should that training take? Learning environment How do you make those decisions?

Staff competencies and time available Generate alternative training strategies for addressing

(specific) IL gaps List all trainings considered/selected (and rationale)

What innovative approaches can be used?

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Is “classroom” training appropriate?

Tool: MS Visio

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Training worksheet

Types of training considered

Why use/discarded

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2b. Develop IL training strategies

What are the projected (life-cycle) costs for (developing and implementing) each type of training to be offered? Specific benefits anticipated, both tangible

and non-tangible? What are the consequences to the

organization and library strategic goals of not offering IL training?

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3. Implement IL training programme(s) Write your IL training goals and make them

known Collaboration, teamwork, marketing/pr

Identify performance measures and indicators (outcomes and impact) How will you benchmark performance prior to

taking the training (e.g., pre-testing)? Mechanisms for assessing IL post-training

Immediate and longer-term Continuous improvement process Measuring self-sufficiency achievements Understanding Top Box scores

Develop an action plan

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Action plans

Strategy Tactics Evaluation and control Results

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Develop an action plan

What will be done? Key tactics to support the strategies Identify specific tasks to be completed

By whom? For whom?

By when? Timelines for each objective

What resources are required (including financial)? Who should know/be involved?

Collaborators and stakeholders How will you “market” the effort?

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Worksheet 3

Action step (initiative/task)

Requirements (Resources/$)

Training Opportunity

Personnel (Lead) Timetable

What Who When

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Sample Gantt chart presentationTask Description Months 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

1 Development of Methodology              

1.1 Workshop on user needs  

1.2 Draft of methodology          

1.3 Evaluation of methodology    

2 Specification of Integrated System                            

2.1 Inventory of resources in selected regions    

2.2 Review of existing facilities      

2.3 Specify technical developments required      

2.4 Impact analysis of different scenarios        

2.5 Prepare detailed business plans            

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4. Evaluate IL training goal accomplishments (ISD)

Did you achieve the training goal? How much did it cost? Did accomplishing your IL training goal

help the organization/institution achieve larger goals?

What modifications should be made to the plan, based on the evaluation findings?

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Training costs

Development costs (personnel and equipment) Direct implementation costs (e.g., training materials,

instructor travel/per diem, facilities) Indirect implementation costs (overhead, G&A) Compensation for participants Lost productivity or costs of “backfilling” positions

during training Developer Instructor Faculty

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Training benefits

Time/resource savings Improved quality Error reduction Allow the learner to do something not

possible before

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Your business case

Are the projected benefits (to the individual, library, faculty, school, organization, community) consistent with strategic performance goals?

What are the consequences if IL training did not occur (or did not occur here)?

Do the potential benefits outweigh the costs?

What is the value added from closing IL competency gaps?

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Best practices for implementing training programmes

Demonstrate results: Performance measures should tell each target group how well it’s achieved its goals (individual, faculty, library, school)

Limited to the vital few: Measures should cover key performance dimensions – Too much data may obscure rather than clarify (expensive)

Link to departments: Performance measures should be linked directly to offices responsible for making training work (library and faculty)

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How can we assess learning and training goal achievement?

Pre- and post-testing Delayed post-tests Anonymity

Interviews (in-person, phone) Survey Work samples/co-grading reports Existing monitoring and reporting

mechanisms (extant data) Each data collecting method has

advantages and disadvantages

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Moving from teacher-centered to learning and learner-centered training

Learning

Goal

Learning Objective(s)

Learning Outcome(s)

Source: Cox and Lindsay

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Measuring targeted learning behaviors

Targeted behaviors

Not proficient

Low proficiency

Proficient

Source: Cox and Lindsay

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Worksheet 4

Objective Rationale Result/

Outcome

Assessment (method and

impact)

Verb Noun

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Types and quality of assessments (ACRL)/Examples

Types Formal Informal Traditional (test) Authentic (real life task) Integrated Knowledge/Content-based Formative Summative Self-Assessment (pre-and

post) Peer Portfolio

Quality Collaborative Multi-dimensional Holistic Assess the thinking

process Include critical thinking

elements Managed

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Creating your assessments

Create a list of KSAs: What should learners know and be able to do?

Identify standards that the learners need to meet

Design some tasks that will illustrate whether learners have grasped concepts

Determine what signifies “good” performance

Develop rubrics to be used in grading and course redesign

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Assessment models and samples

TRAILS: Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (http://www.trails-9.org/)

http://www.paccd.cc.ca.us/library/ilhandbook/il_assessform.htm

http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/ http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/a

ssess.html

iSkills from ETS Additional assessment resources (

http://www2.acs.ncsu.edu/UPA/assmt/resource.htm)

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Monitoring your performance as well

Establish a tracking system to monitor both plan execution and impact

For each scheduled milestone, compare the actual performance with the anticipated, and report results

For all variances in scheduled performance…

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Ask the following:1. How does the reported performance compare with

the previous performance? Benchmark the starting line

2. Is the performance/schedule variance likely to prevent goal achievement?

Particularly when the “stepped approach” has been used

3. Are external factors affecting performance? Which?4. Is the variance due to unrealistic expectations (from

planning stage)? What adjustments should be made?

5. What modifications should be made to the action plan?

6. What performance information should be collected now?

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Establishing the worth

Of training Subjective method for establishing the

worth of improved performance (as a result of IL training)

Comparing costs and benefits by calculating total Return on Investment (ROI)

Assessing results

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A more detailed illustration of the process

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What you should have at the end of this session

Model worksheets for creating action plans

Ideas to use as the starting points for your IL training efforts

Resources to consult My bookmarks How you can share yours

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Comments? Questions? Suggestions?

Thank you!

Barbie E. Keiser

barbieelene@att.net

bkeiser1@jhu.edu