Siobhán Dunne Ursula Byrne

Humanities Librarian Head of Academic Services

DCU Library Humanities & Social

Sciences

UCD Library

Making it real: information literacy & student engagement

28th August 2008

NUI Maynooth

Overview

• Changes in higher education

• Information literacy & achieving learning outcomes

• Case Study 1 – DCU (first years)

• Case Study 2 – UCD (third years)

• Partnership

Changes in Education

• Shift toward semesterisation & modularisation

• New approaches to teaching

• Resulting change in the role of libraries & librarians

• Inter-disciplinary approach

• Development of life-long learning skills

Why is Information Literacy important?

– Slide adapted from presentation by Lorna Dodd, Liaison Librarian, UCD

Is it a named learning outcome or competency in your module descriptor?

Identify information

need

Identify the most

appropriate source

Effectively retrieve relevant

information

Use the information in an ethical way

INFORMATION LITERACY

Evaluate the reliability, relevance, currency &

appropriateness of the

information

First year undergraduates; Core Module

4 partners:

• Computer Services Department

• Library

• School of Applied Languages & Intercultural Studies

• Teaching and Learning Unit

Example of Programme – DCU

Study and Research SkillsSchool of Applied Languages & Intercultural

Studies

Demonstrated need for this module from students

Explicit Learning Outcome:

“The module will contribute to facilitating the transition into a third level learning environment”

Example of Programme: DCU School of Applied Languages & Intercultural Studies

Module Aims

• introduce students to technologies and resources that will underpin their work at university

• enable students to gather, interpret and present information

• introduce students to academic writing skills

• enable students to reflect on their work practice and progress (assessing one’s work)

• foster group work by identifying common goals and working towards individual & group aims

• help students become aware of motivating and organisational factors which affect learning

Library component

• 5 x 1 hr

• Diagnostic assessment

• Continuous hands on element

• Discussion and reflection in each session

• Emphasis on collaboration & peer assessment

• Module content posted on VLE

• Timely feedback to guide learning

Learning Outcome:

Clarify your research topic - using mind mapping

Indentify and locate scholarly & popular information sources

Locate newspapers & journals – both print/online

Evaluate information found Module Aims

•enable students to gather, interpret and present information

•enable students to reflect on their work practice and progress (assessing one’s work)

Hands on Session 4Planning your Search Strategy

• Reflective learning log (30%)

• End of Semester Essay (70%) on the topic of “Academic Writing” - students required to formulate their own research question

Explicit essay criteria

• Employ and cite, AT LEAST three different sources• Use a keyword search in the library catalogue. • Plan your research

Assessment

LETSDCU Library E-tutorial for Students

Overview: UCD, 2006 -

• Where within a programme are IS skills acquired?

• Approach taken : Information Skills Steering Group

• Sub-Group: T&LIS : Delivery of information skills within programmes

• Pick n Mix

• Example : School of Economics

• 30 minutes demonstration/lecture; 30 minutes worksheets

• Changes in module from 2006/07; 2007/08

• Year 1:Lectures 1-6 by Academics ; Lectures 7 – 14 by Library staff “Equip students with skills necessary to write a research proposal”

• Year 2 : Lectures 1-9 by Library staff

Example of UCD Programme:School of Economics

3rd year undergraduates

10x 1hour

Laptop trolley – Carter

25 Dell D600 laptops

Compatibility in rooms

Data projector availability

Trolley availability

Example of Programme:School of Economics – 3rd years

• Create a search strategy

• Identify back-round information

• Use relevant print and electronic journals

• Use relevant databases to locate information

• Locate and evaluate relevant web resources

• Alternative sources to consider – Google Scholar, Open Access publications, e-theses, Gateway sites

• Evaluating information found

• Ethical use of Information

handout

School of Economics programme 2007/2008Library component 30% marks

Workbook = 20% marks• 9 worksheets*

• Demonstration /lecture + relevant worksheets filled in

• EndNote Library = 10% marks• Create an EndNote Library - Week 4

• Each EndNote library contains unique references for each project

• Each EndNote library contains at least one of each the following:– Journal article; Book or book chapter; Newspaper article; Website;

Official document; Reference

• *Worksheet 9 distributed in class

Comparison of two years

2006 – 2007

53 students registered

Average attendance:

80% (Plagiarism session 60%)

Worksheets

92.5% average mark achieved

EndNote Library – not separately marked

Assessment strategies:

Attendance/participation – 15%

Worksheets 40% -

Detailed Project outline: 45%

2007 – 2008

39 students registered

Average Attendance:

76% (Plagiarism session 85%)

Worksheets

81% average mark achieved

EndNote Library 66% average mark achieved

(100% highest; 0% lowest (5 not submitted))

Assessment strategies:

Worksheets = 20%

EndNote Bibliography 10%

Final Project : 70%

Evaluation of Programme over 2 years

Evaluation: Year 1 Year 2

68% Response74.4%

Of those who responded:

Year 1 Year 2

Worksheets 75% helpful 82.8 %

11% too difficult

Use Library more effectively: 94% 89.7%

Apply knowledge to other courses: 75% 89.7%

Making it real

Partnership with Academic community– why embedding IS skills is more successful than the

traditional generic approach

• Appropriate learning experiences - Directly related to students’ work

• Active “hands on” session

• Evaluation forms

• Communication

Student Feedback

The library sessions … taught us how to

make the most of the library and they also

taught us about plagiarism

Worksheet was good for developing project topic and making you read up and find information about the topic.

Happy days, very helpful for research, wouldn’t be a bad idea doing this for 1st years coming in to university

Really good practical sessions. …. A good mix of demonstration and

practice.

More in-depth analysis of databases would be helpful and Endnote would be better if introduced in an earlier class.

More on literature reviews

The library session… explained citing and referencing and I had

never done this before.

Academic StaffFeedback, 2008

“They’ll apply what they have learned to other modules they are taking in Economics, … and have also gained skills that’ll be of benefit in the workplace when they leave [university]”

The embedding of IS within the Economics module has

resulted in students having “a better understanding of the

range of economic resources available, and how to cite these resources correctly”

“Because the skills were linked

to credited course work, the students were

more engaged in the process”

Partnership

• Achieving strategic objectives of the institution

• Delivering information skills across Programmes

• Supporting different forms of teaching – PBL, Large Group teaching etc

Questions?

Contact

Siobhán Dunne: 01 7008327 siobhan.dunne@dcu.ie

Ursula Byrne: 01 7167025 ursula.byrne@ucd.ie