A Holistic Approach towards

Information Literacy:

The Role of Parents, using the

National Library Singapore

Outreach Programme as a case

study

Ivy Lee Huey Shin & Sara Pek Leng Leng

Why Parents?

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Parents. The often forgotten missing

link in the equation for a student’s

successful learning journey.

children Parents are major influencers of

their children

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Teachers know the

importance of IL, but no

chance for individual

coaching. The parents

do not realise its

importance, and lack

the skills to do so, but

has the means to guide

children.

Example Example

Example Example

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2

3

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5

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end

Mismatch in guidance time and competency level to teach information

literacy

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HIGH COMPETENCY

LOW COMPETENCY

TIME for one-to-one

Parents

NO TIME for one-to-one

Teachers

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Beware of the Tiger Mummy

Carried to the extreme, many parents rob

their children of the opportunity to become

lifelong learners.

Defining the Role of Parents as Advocates of

Information Literacy

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Parent as Helper-Guide Term borrowed from Eisenberg & Berkowitz from

“Big6”

• Provide assistance and advice when

necessary

•Not to lead or partner the child

•Give the child space to develop his own

solutions

•Ask questions to help the child arrive at

solutions

Image courtesy of Susan Sermoneta via Flickr

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Unique Selling Point.

School Projects.

•Greater concern and awareness of weak

judgment and over-reliance on the Internet

•Change in emphasis on academic

excellence based on memorization to

critical thinking skills – fostered by project

work

Implementing the Parents Information Literacy Programme

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S.U.R.E.

Source. Understand.

Evaluate. Research.

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Other half of area can be occupied by image,

charts, headline or information.

Body copy can be placed anywhere within the

slide space. However, as a rule of thumb, always

keep the slide clean and simple as possible.

• Ensure that headline message is clear.

• Ensure that message is not blocked by the icons

or clouds.

• However, a clean and a clear slide frame is

recommended.

• Flush left for bullet point is recommended as

flushing it right making the body copy looking

awkward.

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Ace Your Project Work! A

Parent’s Guide to Helping

Your Child Excel at School

Projects. Courseware development

•Coverage based on Big6, with emphasis

on evaluation techniques that is in-line with

S.U.R.E. campaign messaging.

•Emphasis on role of parents at every step

•E.g. Task definition stage: suggest

parent to ask the child to explain

assignment in his own words;

•E.g. Plan search strategies: suggest

parent to explain each source’s

relevancy and accompany the child

to the library to consult with librarian.

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Ace Your Project Work!

Parents’ Handbook.

Content Overview

Besides the Big6 and specific actions that

parents can take at each step, we also

introduce

•Commonly-used databases for local

history projects such as Infopedia,

NewspaperSG, Ebooks, A2O.

•Better search techniques with Boolean

operators

•Evaluating information using S.U.R.E. and

AACCO

•How to be responsible information users

with citation techniques

•Cyber wellness and what to do when

children are bullied on cyber space

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Ace Your Project Work!

Children’s Workbook.

Content Overview

As a companion to the Parents’ Handbook,

the Children’s Workbook covers similar

structure but with activities that get children

to learn:

•DDC, using library catalogue

•Fiction, non-fiction, articles, books,

databases

•Simple Boolean commands

•S.U.R.E. and AACCO on evaluating

information

•How to cite

•Cyber wellness

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Outreach.

Strategy.

Three-pronged strategy:

•Parents Support Groups in schools

•In-house workshops & parenting talks

•Partner Self-Help groups

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Outreach & Workshops

Workshops & Outreaches People

20 workshops 784 attendees

7 outreaches 1,852 attendees

Challenges & What’s Next

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Challenges implementing

programmes for parents.

•Lack of support from schools

•Parents want to leave the education to

educators

•Labour intensive

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What’s Next?

DIY Learning. Towards a sustainable business

model:

•Parents’ Handbook and Children’s

Workbook to be made available on

our portal for downloads to encourage

DIY learning

•E-learning modules made free to

encourage learning at own pace

•Provide face-to-face workshops only

when schools can commit audience of

a viable size

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What’s Next?

DIY Learning.

Thank You