the learner experience

21
The Scottish Information Literacy Project: working with partners to create an information literate Scotland The Project and the ‘Learner experience’ Dr John Crawford & Christine Irving JISC RSW SW Conference Weston – Super - Mare 2009 16 -17 th June 2009

Upload: cirving

Post on 12-Jan-2015

1.582 views

Category:

Education


3 download

DESCRIPTION

JISC RSW Summer Conference 09 - The Learner Experience - conference presentation

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: The Learner Experience

The Scottish Information Literacy Project:working with partners to create an information literate Scotland

The Project and the ‘Learner experience’

Dr John Crawford&

Christine Irving

JISC RSW SW Conference Weston – Super - Mare 2009 16 -17th June 2009

Page 2: The Learner Experience

But who are the learners and what is their experience ?

Craigholme School Pupils, Glasgow 2008

Page 3: The Learner Experience

Where it all began

Drumchapel Project 2003 An exploratory project – initially ICT skills orientated Community ICT facilities little used - Library and Cybercafés –

implications only now being addressed School and School Library are main focus for IT use in

deprived areas Little integration of information literacy into the curriculum Levels of ICT ‘deprivation’ did not seem to be high Basic IT skills exist- WP, email, Internet Pupil evaluation of websites poor An asylum seeking issue An information literacy skills/transitional agenda emerged

Page 4: The Learner Experience

Project objectives• to develop an information literacy framework, linking

primary, secondary and tertiary education to lifelong learning including workplace and adult literacies agendas

• Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for education and the wider community

• Working with information literacy champions both UK and worldwide

• Researching and promoting information literacy in the workplace

• Identifying and working with partners, both in education and the wider community

• Researching the role of information literacy in continuing professional development

• Researching the health and media literacies agenda

Page 5: The Learner Experience

Previously on the Scottish InformationLiteracy Project …………….

• 2003 – The Drumchapel Project – where it all began• 2004 – The ‘one year’ Information Literacy, the Link between

Secondary and Tertiary Education Project launched • 2005-8 - the first draft of the National Information Literacy

Framework Scotland completed, piloted and evaluated• Contact and work with Learning and Teaching Scotland and

learndirectscotland• Extensive network of partners and contacts from school,

FE/HE, workplace, lifelong learning, Adult literacies + overseas• Website developed and more recently blog + PR activities• Initial health and media literacy contacts

Page 6: The Learner Experience

Current key objectives (Esmee Fairbairn Foundation funded)

• Further develop the Framework to extend the early years, workplace, wider access and lifelong learning components to make it a genuine lifelong learning policy documents

• Research and progress the information literacy in the employability/workplace agenda

Page 7: The Learner Experience

Information literacy in the workplace study Dec.2007- Jan.2008 – key findings

• The traditional ‘library’ view of information as deriving from electronic and printed sources only is invalid in the workplace and must include people as sources of information

• The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and qualifications is a fertile area for further investigation and developmental work

• Advanced Internet training extends employees’ information horizons• A skill and qualifications based agenda is an important pre-condition • Most interviewees viewed public libraries as irrelevant for anything other than

recreational purposes• Information literacy training programmes must be highly focused on the target

audience An understanding of what constitutes information literacy is widespread in the

workplace but is often implicit rather than explicit and is based on qualifications, experience, and networking activities

Organizations which access a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization, will make the best informed decisions

Page 8: The Learner Experience

• Contacts should be established with chambers of commerce, skills agencies and other organizations involved in workplace training

• Organizations’ information polices which are largely implicit should be made explicit and should include accessing a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization

• Preliminary skills audits should be carried out within organizations to determine staff information literacy skills and the organization’s information literacy policy

• The viability of developing information literacy training programmes should be further researched

• Information literacy training programmes should initially target sympathetic organizations

• Advanced Internet training programmes should be offered to all workplace employees

• The private sector should be researched further• The provision of information literacy training programmes by public

libraries should be investigated• Developmental work should be undertaken with Adult Literacies

agencies • NHS contacts should be expanded to progress the health literacies

agenda

Recommendations

Page 9: The Learner Experience

Which led to meetings with: • Glasgow Chamber of Commerce – couple of meetings. Agreed to progress

by sending out a questionnaire devised by us to all Glasgow Chamber of Commerce members about their information skills training needs. Article written for their magazine

• CBI Scotland – one meeting to identify companies who might want to incorporate IL training into their CPD programmes but no takers

• Scottish Trades Union Congress – presentation to Everyday Skills Committee of STUC (composed of TU learning representatives) – well received

• Skills Development Scotland (Careers Division – old Careers Scotland) – meetings led to identification of IL as a career choice, progression, CPD and employability skill. Joint symposium with SDS 27th March

• Employability and Skills Division, Lifelong Learning Directorate – meeting which validated our strategy of targeting employers’ and skills organisation

Page 10: The Learner Experience

Some outcomes • Public library services – contacts with three services including

Inverclyde Libraries who are currently running employability training courses (10 weeks). IL has been incorporated in the courses at our suggestion. (Basic skills courses run by public libraries have IT/Internet training from which IL training can be developed)

• Aberdeen Business School – secured £400,000 + EU funding to run ‘bite sized courses’ for local SMEs (up to 12 modules). 20 businesses and 70 learners so far – hope for 175. Exchanged information and role of IL – employers’ don’t know what training they need (RGU finding)

• Royal Society of Arts - Opening Minds Curriculum running in 200 schools in England – includes an IL component – Managing information – also strong focus on skills acquisition in education and the workplace

• Scottish Government Information Service – have set up advanced Internet searching skills courses for staff; developed an information strategy for the Scottish Government. Now on Scottish Government website – Education and Training (Information Literacies) – a first? www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/skills-strategy/progress/sg/supportingindividuals/InformationLiteracies/Q/forceupdate/on

Page 11: The Learner Experience

And more recently • Information literacy case studies/exemplars of good practice in secondary

schools completed www.ltscotland.org.uk/informationliteracy/sharingpractice/index.asp

• Funding obtained from Learning and Teaching Scotland to develop learning materials and CPD materials for teachers aimed at Primaries 1-3 (5-7) - See Digital Britain report (2009), p.64

• Fruitful working relationships established with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; Scottish Trades Union Congress; Learning and Teaching Scotland; Skills Development Scotland; public libraries; Royal Society of Arts; Scottish Government Information Service

• Study on the workplace and its consequences • Joint Open Space event with Skills Development Scotland• Post Open Space meeting• Internal focus

Page 12: The Learner Experience

Skills utilisation ?

• 'Skills utilisation is about ensuring the most effective application of skills in the workplace to maximise performance through the interplay of a number of key agents (e.g. employers, employees, learning providers and the state) and the use of a range of HR, management and working practices. Effective skills utilisation seeks to match the use of skills to business demands/needs.' (p.2)

• Skills utilisation literature review, a report by CFE for the Education Analytical Services, Lifelong Learning Research, Scottish Government (Executive summary and full text available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/15114643/0)

Page 13: The Learner Experience

The role of the framework in the workplace and skills development• Framework skills and competencies (CILIP definition)– starting place– used as advocacy tool in discussions re skills strategy /

skills needs– link to work related learning– needs to be interpreted to meet the needs of different

• sectors , professions • organisations, departments, sections • employers, employees, learners• environments, resources (in all different formats and mediums),

experiences

– recognition of the nature of information literacy

Page 14: The Learner Experience

The Nature of Information Literacy

Product

Change in behaviour

Change in understanding

ProcessPersonal development

Social participationSkills

Attitudes

Values

Means

End

A way of being An unappreciated way of being

NHS Scotland 2008

Page 15: The Learner Experience

The Framework• Draft pdf further developed as a Weblog – static pages (background information, different

sectors, levels etc.)– interactive through postings (current activities,

developments etc.)

National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)

• Still to be further developed– workplace case studies needed, SME’s, large

organisations (public and private), different professions

Page 16: The Learner Experience

What we have learned• Different groups of people constantly reinterpret IL in the light of their

own qualifications, training, experience and needs• IL is a key career choice, progression, CPD, employability and workplace

skill • IL is not recognised in any government skills document produced since

2005 which recognises IL as an independent skill. It is rolled up with IT – but Digital Britain is an encouraging sign

• Target skills and employers’/employee organisations• IL skills training in the workplace is feasible but must be carefully planned

and targeted • The public library can offer IL training, developed from IT training but

again it but must be carefully planned and targeted. Public librarians must be involved in IL skills development

• Need to think cross sectorally - Govan High School’s ‘Future Skills’ framework of about 70 skills in association with local employers and involving the pupils. Includes IL. Blane (2008)

• Findings of workplace study have been validated

Page 17: The Learner Experience

Who are (or should be) the learners?

• School children – Primary 1 onwards (nursery?) – and what about parents?

• Teachers - a CPD issue• University students – for course and workplace• Academics – an embedding and collaborative issue? • Learners in and for the workplace• Decision makers in the workplace• Those learning employability skills • Lifelong learners• Anyone concerned with promoting the skills agenda• But - apparently different groups of learners can be the same

people and their experience may be different in different circumstances

Page 18: The Learner Experience

And what is (or should be) the experience

• Do we know what the need is and are we matching it to demand

• Pockets of good practice in all sectors with HE in the lead• Information recognised within a wider skills context e.g.

Govan Future Skills Framework • Active support from Government(s) and skills agencies• IL skills embedded and taught within organisations • Public libraries running IL courses• Helpful reports to support action – Digital Britain

www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digital_britain_interimreportjan09.pdf ; Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/heweb2.aspx

Page 19: The Learner Experience

Some further information • Crawford, John and Irving (2008) Going beyond the ‘library’: the current work of the Scottish

Information Literacy Project. Library and information research, (32) 102, pp. 29-37 http://www.lirg.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/article/view/89

• Crawford, John and Irving (2009) Information literacy in the workplace: a qualitative exploratory study, JOLIS, (41 )pp. 29-38 http://lis.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/1/29?etoc

• McDonald, Natalie and Keenan, Peter (2009) The ‘stuff beyond Google: information literacy in a corporate setting . http://www.information-online.com.au/sb_clients/iog/bin/iog_programme_you_may_be_right_C1.cfm?vm_key=8EDF7462-D5A6-FFAA-AB89D511D74817DA

• Crawford, John et al, (2008) Use of information in the Scottish Government, Library & information update, Dec., pp. 48-49

• Interview with Philip Pothen, formerly of JISC, 28.11.08 about the work of the Project http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/02/podcast71johncrawfordchristineirving.aspx

Page 20: The Learner Experience

Contact details Dr. John Crawford, Christine IrvingLibrary Research Officer, Researcher / Project OfficerMilton Street Building Milton Street BuildingMS004, (ground floor) MS005, (ground floor)Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University Cowcaddens Road Cowcaddens RoadGlasgow, G4 0BA Glasgow, G4 0BATel: 0141-273 -1248 Tel: 0141-273 -1249

Email [email protected] Email [email protected]

Project website www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/Project blog http://caledonianblogs.net/information-

literacy/

Page 21: The Learner Experience

Questions?