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Saturday, December 30, 2017

PRIMO site for December: Developing a Research or Guided Question

The Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) site of the month for December is Developing a Research or Guided Question, created by Bee Gallegos and Deirdre Kirmis. "Developing a Research or Guiding Question, one of a group of general concept tutorials, teaches students how to turn a broad topic into a focused research question that can be analyzed in order to draw conclusions. This interactive web-based tutorial also includes a 10-question quiz at the end that can be graded and a script of the tutorial." The tutorial is at https://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/devel-research-question/story_html5.html and the interview with the creators is at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/pedagogy/primo-peer-reviewed-instruction-materials-online/primo-site-of-the-month/december-2017-site-of-the-month/
Photo by Sheila Webber: tracks and leaf in the snow, December 2017

Friday, December 29, 2017

IM and IL pioneer Woody Horton dies

I only just heard the sad new that Forest “Woody” Horton died of natural causes in his home in Washington, D.C., on December 7, 2017, at the age of 87. He had retained an active interest in the information world to the end. He did particularly valuable work in connecting Information Management and Information Literacy, stressing organisational, strategic and policy aspects of information literacy.
A notable publication was the UNESCO publication, Understanding information literacy "In essence, explaining in an easy-to-understand, non-technical fashion to senior and middle level public and private sector executives – in government ministries, private enterprises, academic institutions, and not-for-profit organizations – how to find, retrieve, organize, evaluate and effectively use information":
- Horton, F. (2008). Understanding information literacy: a primer. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/resources/publications-and-communication-materials/publications/full-list/understanding-information-literacy-a-primer/
And some more papers are:
- Horton, F.W. (2011). Information Literacy Advocacy—Woody's Ten Commandments. Library Trends, 60(2), 262-276. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/461990
- Horton, F.W. (2006). Information literacy and information management: A 21st century paradigm partnership. International Journal of Information Management, 26(4), 263-266. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02684012/26/4
- Horton, F.W and Keiser, B.E. (2008). Encouraging Global Information Literacy. Computers in Libraries, 28 (10), p6-11, 27-32. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ817319
There are other works that are important to information resources management, and other infolit contributions include the UNESCO Training the Trainer programme, and the report on infolit resources around the world. There is an obituary here.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

On The Move: transitioning information skills into the workplace

A free event on February 2, 2018 (2-5pm) at UCL, London is On The Move: transitioning information skills into the workplace. "On The Move is a research project, funded by the CILIP Information Literacy Group, which aims to foster engagement between stakeholders (careers staff, librarians, academic staff, employers, job-hunters) and help them understand the information skills graduates need in their early careers." Speakers include: Marc Forster (Information Literacy in the workplace: the experience of nurses); Megan Wiley (From the library to the workplace: how information professionals can support the development of employability skills); Rosalind Kemp and Laura Brammar ("We are the problem solvers and fixers”: identity, roles and development of HE careers information professionals); Charlie Inskip and Sophia Donaldson (On The Move: transitioning information skills into the workplace). More details and registration at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/on-the-move-transitioning-information-skills-into-the-workplace-tickets-41380256461
Photo by Sheila Webber: a nice Christmas present, December 2017

Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas to all information literates!

I hope that you had a good 2017, and Merry Christmas!
This is the Christmas wreath I made this year (I clip something from the Christmas tree to make it).

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Technology ownership, use patterns, and expectations in the student experience

Something I missed in June was the report with results from the 2017 ECAR study, which surveys use/expectations of technology in universities. "This research explores technology ownership, use patterns, and expectations as they relate to the student experience." There were 13,451 faculty respondents from 157 institutions in 7 countries, and 43,559 undergraduate students from 124 institutions in 10 countries. A few items scooped out from the highlights:
- "Laptops are king, smartphones are queen, and tablets are on the way out. At least 19 of 20 students own a laptop or a smartphone, and 3 in 10 students own a laptop, a smartphone, and a tablet. Students view their laptop as critical to their academic success, and three-quarters of students said their smartphone is at least moderately important. Tablets appear to be in decline in terms of ownership, utility, and importance, in part because their functionality is duplicated by a combination of laptops and smartphones."
- "Students are choosing sides in the online versus face-to-face debate. For the fourth year in a row, the number of students preferring a blended learning environment that includes some to mostly online components has increased. The number of students preferring completely face-to-face or completely online courses continues to dwindle. The number of students expressing no preference has been cut by more than half since 2014.
- "Students would like their instructors to use more technology in their classes. Technologies that provide students with something (e.g., lecture capture, early-alert systems, LMS, search tools) are more desired than those that require students to give something (e.g., social media, use of their own devices, in-class polling tools). We speculate that sound pedagogy and technology use tied to specific learning outcomes and goals may improve the desirability of the latter."
- "Students reported that faculty are banning or discouraging the use of laptops, tablets, and (especially) smartphones more often than in previous years."
 https://library.educause.edu/resources/2017/6/2017-student-and-faculty-technology-research-studies?
Photo by Sheila Webber: Christmas puddings that I made a few weeks ago, before they were steamed and put away to mature before Christmas. A bit late for anyone to make them now, but I used my mother's recipe

Friday, December 22, 2017

Information Literacy Assessment & Advocacy Project #ILAAP assessment tool

I've blogged about this before, but a reminder about the free Information Literacy Assessment and Advocacy Project (ILAAP) information literacy assessment tool for undergraduate infolit sessions. "The ILAAP Assessment Tool is a customizable tool that responds to the unique needs of undergraduate information literacy instruction. The tool is web-based, offering multiple-choice and qualitative questions that have been mapped to the both the ACRL Standards and the [ACRL IL] Framework. This is how it works: you select questions from a question pool that you wish to use in each session, tailoring the assessment tool to content delivered in specific sessions. After you select the questions, we send you the URL to use after you teach. Then, we send you a report summarizing the responses.... " More information at http://ilaap.ca/use_ilaap/
Photo by Sheila Webber: who was here? December 2017

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Open access chapters from the SAGE Handbook of Social Media

One of the co-editors to the just-published SAGE Handbook of Social Media has helpfully produced a set of links to those chapters that are available open access. The links are currently to the following chapters (the numbers are the chapter numbers in the book)
(from Part 1 Histories and Pre-histories)
3. Alternative histories of social media in Japan and China - Mark McLelland, Haiqing Yu and Gerard Goggin
4. From hypertext to hype and back again: Exploring the roots of social media in early web culture - Michael Stevenson
(from Part 2 Approaches and Methods)
5. Digital methods for cross-platform analysis - Richard Rogers
6. A computational analysis of social media scholarship - Jeremy Foote, Aaron Shaw and Benjamin Mako Hill
7. Digital discourse: Locating language in new/social media - Crispin Thurlow
8. Ontology - Nick Couldry and Jannis Kallinikos
(from Part 3 Platforms, Technologies and Business Models)
13. The affordances of social media platforms - Taina Bucher and Anne Helmond
14. Governance of and by platforms - Tarleton Gillespie
15. Social media app economies - Rowan Wilken
18. Alternative social media: From critique to code - Robert W. Gehl
(from Part 4 Cultures and Practices)
21. Trolling, and other problematic social media practices - Gabriele de Seta
23. Self-representation in social media - Jill Walker Rettberg
24. Sexual expression in social media - Kath Albury
(from Part 5 Social and Economic Domains)
26. Social media marketing - Michael Serazio and Brooke Erin Duffy
28. Social media and the cultural and creative industries - Terry Flew
30. Social media and new protest movements - Thomas Poell and José van Dijck
31. Lively data, social fitness and biovalue - Deborah Lupton
32. Social media platforms and education - José van Dijck and Thomas Poell
Go to http://www.uva.nl/profiel/p/o/t.poell/t.poell.html#tab_1
Photo by Sheila webber: snow on the Christmas tree, December 2017

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

New articles Information seeking; Indigenous research; Student online reading

The latest issue of the open access journal Information Research (vol. 22 no. 4, December, 2017) has been published at  http://www.informationr.net/ir/22-4/infres224.html Articles include
- Stefan Ek: Factors relating to problems experienced in information seeking and use: findings from a cross-sectional population study in Finland.
- Karen Nowé Hedvall, Cecilia Gärdén, Sara Ahlryd, Katarina Michnik, Urban Carlén and Byström: Social media in serious leisure: themes of horse rider safety
- Barbara Apostolou, France Bélanger and Ludwig Christian Schaupp: Online communities: satisfaction and continued use intention
- Tim Gorichanaz: Applied epistemology and understanding in information studies

Also, there is a special supplement: Proceedings of RAILS - Research Applications, Information and Library Studies, 2016: School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, 6-8 November, 2016. Articles in that include:
M. Asim Qayyum, David Smith and Simon Welsh Improving student online reading for assessment in higher education
Bruce White and Amanda Cossham Partnerships or parallel lines? The contributions of practitioners and academics to library and information research
Spencer Lilley Assessing the impact of indigenous research in the library and information studies literature
Jelina Haines, Jia Tina Du, Jing Gao, Gus Geursen and Ellen Trevorrow Understanding Elders’ knowledge creation to strengthen Indigenous knowledge sharing
Maureen Henninger Freedom of information and the right to know: open government information practices in Australia
Stephanie Ferrara The information practice of volunteer guides at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Alex Wylie Atmore Just rol[l/e] with it: the sense-making practices of a tabletop roleplaying game community
Nicole Johnston and Alicia Salaz Using phenomenography to bridge the gap between research and practice
Michael Olsson and Annemaree Lloyd Losing the art and craft of know-how: capturing vanishing embodied knowledge in the 21st century
Dean Leith and Hilary Yerbury Practicing humour: information and knowledge sharing and humour in the workplace
Kathryn Oxborrow, Anne Goulding and Spencer Lilley The interface between indigenous knowledge and libraries: the need for non-Māori librarians to make sense of mātauranga Māori in their professional lives
Photo by Sheila Webber: Jiji, a nice present last Christmas

Monday, December 18, 2017

Innovating #pedagogy 2017

The Open University has published its annual Innovating pedagogy list of innovative themes for pedagogy. They state that the series "explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This sixth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education." I think it was originally produced as a complement to the Horizon report series, which focuses on use of technology in education, but is not good on the pedagogic issues (nor is it good at drawing on pedagogic research).
The "innovations" they identify are: Spaced learning (which means structuring learning interspersed with other activities); Learners making science; Open textbooks (adapting them for local use); Navigating post-truth societies ("Epistemic education for the 21st century"); Intergroup empathy; Immersive learning; Student-led analytics ("Using data to help learners set and achieve their own goals"); Big-data inquiry: thinking with data; Learning with internal values ("Using students’ interests to inspire learning"); Humanistic knowledge-building communities ("Helping learners to develop knowledge")
In particular "Navigating post-truth societies ("Epistemic education for the 21st century")" is relevant to information literacy, and could be a hook for identifying its value as part of innovative pegagogy.
I think this is an interesting document, and nice to have innovation not simply tied to use of technology. The report is at http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/innovating/
Photo by Sheila Webber: artwork on Sheffield University campus, December 2017

Friday, December 15, 2017

The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on Student Success

The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on Student Success: A Multi-Institutional Investigation and Analysis is a full text report on a study put online in October: "The GWLA Student Learning Outcomes task force analyzed the data from over 42,000 first-time, first-year freshmen and over 1700 distinct courses from 12 research institutions to determine the impact(s) of information literacy instruction integrated into course curriculum on several student success measures.".
Blake, J., Bowles-Terry, M., Pearson, N.S. and Szentkiralyi, Z. (2017). Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) Research Study - The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on Student Success: A Multi-Institutional Investigation and Analysis. http://scholar.smu.edu/libraries_cul_research/13/
Photo by Sheila Webber: mini snowman, Sheffield December 2017

Thursday, December 14, 2017

(UK) Children and parents: media use and attitudes report 2017 #medialiteracy #fakenews

The 2017 annual research report from Ofcom on Children and parents: media use and attitudes has been published. As usual, it draws on substantial research, both quantitative and qualitative, and covers things like children's consumption and trust of news stories, use of social media, use of devices. "It provides detailed evidence on media use, attitudes and understanding among children and young people aged 5-15, as well as about the media access and use of young children aged 3-4. The report also includes findings relating to parents’ views about their children’s media use, and the ways that parents seek – or decide not – to monitor or limit use of different types of media." Ofcom is the communications and media official "watchdog" in the UK. The report has findings from their own quantitative and qualitative research and some other research, including:
- an online study of 500 children aged 12-15, "which explored children’s awareness, use and perceptions of content providers, and their interest in and ability to make critical judgements about news".
- Analysis of children’s television viewing habits sourced from BARB, the UK’s television measurement panel, 2011-2016.
- ComScore data on the frequency with which the most popular web entities among internet users were visited by children aged 6-14 in May 2017.
- Ofcom's qualitative study of children's media use.
I found an interesting finding was the prominence of YouTube: (p.3) "Double digit increases this year mean that half of 3-4s and more than eight in ten 5-15s now use YouTube. It is the most recognized content brand among 12-15s, and the one they are most likely to think includes their age group in its target audience, saying either that it is aimed specifically at their age group or at everyone. It is the one they would turn to first for all types of content they say is important to them, and the one they say they would miss the most if it was taken away. More 8-11s and 12-15s also say they prefer watching content on YouTube than TV programmes on the TV set" Different age groups prefer different types of video (p.9).

TV is seen as more reliable than social media (p.4) "TV is an important source of news for children, and is seen as more likely than social media to report the news truthfully. Around half of 12-15s say they are interested in the news, increasing to almost all 12-15s after prompting with a list of different types of news, including music, celebrities, sports and serious things going on in the UK and the world. TV is the most popular source of news among 12-15s, followed by social media and friends and family, and those who watch news on TV are more likely to say it is reported truthfully than those who get their news from social media."

Although often aware of personalised advertising and the fact that vloggers may be making paid endorsements "the qualitative research suggests that children can find it difficult to identify these adverts in practice, especially on social media where they may look similar to other kinds of content." This applies also to verifying news stories (p.4) "nearly half of 12-15s who use social media for news agreeing that it is difficult to tell whether a news story is true, and two in five saying they have seen something online or on social media that they thought was fake news. However, most of those who use social media for news have strategies for checking whether a story is true, with the most popular approach checking to see if a story appears elsewhere, followed by looking at the comments to see what people had said about the story. The news brand was also important, with around a quarter looking to see whether the source of the story was trustworthy or whether they had heard of the organisation behind the story."

There are some gender and age differences in value put on channels/devices (p72) "when comparing the device children would miss the most by gender, boys in each age group are more likely than girls to say they would most miss a games console/ player. Girls aged 5-7 (30% vs. 20%) and 8-11 (27% vs. 18%) are more likely than boys to miss a tablet; girls aged 8-11 also more likely to miss books, magazines or comics (8% vs. 3%). Girls aged 12-15 are more likely to miss a mobile phone (68% vs. 47%) as are girls aged 8-11 (22% vs. 14%)."
The report is at https://www.ofcom.org.uk/research-and-data/media-literacy-research/childrens/children-parents-2017
Photo by Sheila Webber: reflection: outside the V&A Museum, London, November 2017

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Blended Learning in Our Library Learning Landscape Workshop

An online workshop from the American Library Association is: Blend It 2018: Blended Learning in Our Library Learning Landscape Workshop, on 18 January 2018 2.30-4pm US Eastern time, which means e.g. it starts at 7.30pm UK time. It is led by Paul Signorelli. Costs are: US $65.00; ALA Member: $ 58.50. "The places where we train, teach, and learn are continuing to expand in dynamic, rewarding ways. Learning that once took place entirely within the physical spaces of our buildings, with clearly-established starting and ending times, now flows through our walls and turns our classrooms into potentially global workspaces at the drop of a tweet or the posting of an observation on a Facebook page. The communication is multi-directional as prospective participants join us informally on Twitter and other social media platforms and formally through live, well-facilitated tweet chats, Google Hangouts, and other synchronous and asynchronous learning tools. Join us for a highly-interactive exploration of how our blended (onsite-online) learning spaces offer continually expanding opportunities to better engage and serve our learners. This session will include a few case studies and plenty of time for participants to share their own efforts to create and facilitate the use of blended learning spaces."
Register at https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/blend-it-2018-blended-learning-our-library-learning-landscape-workshop
Photo by Sheila Webber: frosty fruit, Blackheath Farmers Market, December 2017

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

cfp Teaching for Curiosity, Creativity, and Action

There is a call for proposals for the 17th Annual Information Literacy Summit (at Moraine Valley Community College, USA), which takes place April 20 2018 with the theme Teaching for Curiosity, Creativity, and Action. The keynote is Char Booth, Associate Dean of the University Library at California State University San Marcos. "We are seeking presenters to lead engaging and interactive discussions about information literacy and library instruction. We are especially interested in breakout sessions and panels which focus on this year’s theme: Teaching for Curiosity, Creativity, and Action. How might we engage our learners to help them develop curiosity and creativity? What role does information literacy play in taking action and making change in our communities? How might our own teaching practice reflect these dispositions? We hope to foster conversations across all types of libraries, schools, and other organizations and encourage a diversity of perspectives in this proposal call." Topics include: social Justice; Service Learning; Student Curiosity and Creativity; Student Centered Teaching and Learning; Students as creators; Critical Information Literacy; Critical Pedagogies; Reflective Practice; Communities of Practice; Applications of the Framework for Information Literacy; Programmatic assessments; Instructional design.
Breakout sessions and panels are 50 minutes long and should be interactive. Panel discussions should up to 3 panelists. Submission consist of a 200-300 word description of the proposed session. "Please include learning outcomes and a brief explanation of why people should attend your session and what they will take away." Submission deadline is 12 January 2018. Submit at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf9PZ7cb9dITsEurYp1Hv9tJG7wUr_LhOGNXNJFncMjg34toA/viewform
Photo by Sheila Webber: snowy flower, Sheffield, December 2017

Monday, December 11, 2017

Literacy, Democracy and #fakenews

The latest issue of the open access publication Literacy in Composition Studies (volume 5 issue 2, 2017) is a special issue, on Literacy, Democracy, and Fake News. The main articles are:
- Navigating a Varied Landscape: Literacy and Credibility of Networked Information by Jacob W. Craig ("Drawing on two accounts of information literacy, one from American students and another from teenaged Macedonian fake news makers, I argue that developing an information literacy reflective of the monetized and hierarchical nature of networks is paramount to writing and research. Focusing on the relationship between technological discourse—what is said about technology—and literacy—what people do with technology, I argue that recognizing the influence of corporations and differences between print and digital media are paramount for the development of information literacy.")
- How Automated Writing Systems Affect the Circulation of Political Information Online by Timothy Laquintano and Annette Vee ("This article argues that fake news is only one instantiation of a shift that literacy studies will need to reckon with to understand how people encounter texts on an everyday basis. It argues that looking at the information ecologies in which fakes news circulates reveals a shift to the reliance on computational and automated writing systems to circulate texts and amplify their distribution. The article critically synthesizes existing literature and provides key examples of how algorithms and bots were deployed strategically to pollute the media ecology with fake news in the time immediately preceding the 2016 Presidential election in the United States. The argument ultimately raises a series of questions that literacy studies will need to confront given the importance influence of computation in contemprary information environments, including how people engage in responsible discourse in the face of rapidly evolving technologies that can be exploited and offer a bullhorn to the most detestable of political positions.")
- ‘Globalist Scumbags’: Composition’s Global Turn in a Time of Fake News, Globalist Conspiracy, and Nationalist Literacy by Christopher Minnix ("... This article maps out how global higher education is constructed in the populist rhetoric of the political right, both in accounts from fake news sources and hard right news sources and in the educational policy discourse of conservative organizations like the National Association of Scholars. It then explores the consequences of anti-global education rhetoric for the global turn in rhetoric and composition studies and maps out both a critical and political response.")
- Toward a Theory and Pedagogy of Rhetorical Vulnerability by David Riche
Go to http://licsjournal.org/OJS/index.php/LiCS/issue/view/13
Photo by Sheila Webber: sparkle, Peter Lewis store, London, December 2017

Call for nominations for LIRT awards

The ALA LIRT (Library Instruction Round Table) "welcomes submissions for two awards created to recognize excellence in information literacy and instruction. Submissions from all types of libraries are encouraged. Winners will receive a $1,000 award, a plaque, and a $500 travel stipend to be used to attend the 2018 ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, where the awards will be presented." As far as I can see, it is not restricted to librarians in North America.
- The LIRT Librarian Recognition Award honours a librarian for her/his contributions to information literacy and instruction.
- The LIRT Innovation in Instruction Award honours a library for their innovative approach to information literacy and instruction.
Deadline for submissions (you can nominate yourself or others) is January 15, 2018. Full information at http://www.ala.org/rt/lirt/awards
Photo by Sheila Webber: snowy hedge, Blackheath, December 2017

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Engaging with the ACRL Framework: A Catalyst for Exploring and Expanding Our Teaching Practices

A workshop at the American Library Association Midwinter meeting in Denver, USA, on 9 February 2018 is: Engaging with the ACRL Framework: A Catalyst for Exploring and Expanding Our Teaching Practices. The registration fees vary from US $255 to $325. More information at http://www.ala.org/acrl/conferences/frameworkworkshop

Friday, December 08, 2017

Translating the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy into Our Teaching Practices

Translating the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy into Our Teaching Practices is a rerun of a 6 week asynchronous online course; part of the Library Juice programme, this course is run by Andrea Baer, and it starts on January 8 2018, until February 16 2018. The cost is US$250. More information at http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/119-framework.php
Photo by Sheila Webber: house, with threshold, Sheffield, November 2017

Thursday, December 07, 2017

Library Instruction by Design: Using Design Thinking to Meet Evolving Needs

The California Conference on Library Instruction will take place on June 1, 2018, with the theme Library Instruction by Design: Using Design Thinking to Meet Evolving Needs, at the University of San Francisco, USA. "Design Thinking involves using a designer’s perspective to improve services through creative problem solving. A fundamental aspect of this process is that it is iterative, in that intermediate “solutions” are potential starting points that allow for experimentation and flexibility in piloting or revitalizing programs. Design Thinking allows for redefinition of the initial problem by stakeholders throughout all points of the design process. “The challenges facing librarians are real, complex and varied. And given the rapidly evolving information landscape, they need new answers, which requires new perspectives, new tools, and new approaches. Design thinking is one of these new approaches” More info at http://www.cclibinstruction.org/
Photo by Sheila webber: the last of the wild strawberries in my garden, a couple of weeks ago

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

2 new PRIMO tutorials of the month: PICO and Academic Integrity

Two new Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) "sites of the month", both tutorials from the same university library. Firstly: Academic Integrity at
https://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/academic-integrity/story_html5.html - the interview with creators Bee Gallegos & Deirdre Kirmis is at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/pedagogy/primo-peer-reviewed-instruction-materials-online/primo-site-of-the-month/october-2017-site-of-the-month/ "Academic Integrity is an interactive web-based tutorial that teaches students about academic integrity and the consequences of academic dishonesty. It features an interactive game with academic integrity scenarios, a 10-question quiz at the end that can be graded, and a script of the tutorial."
Secondly, PICO: Research Questions for Health Sciences at https://www.asu.edu/lib/tutorials/storyline/pico/story_html5.html The interview with creators Bee Gallegos, Deirdre Kirmis, and Kevin Pardon is at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/instruction-tools-resources-2/pedagogy/primo-peer-reviewed-instruction-materials-online/primo-site-of-the-month/november-2017-site-of-the-month/ "PICO: Research Questions for Health Sciences tutorial is part of a series of general research skills tutorials developed for ASU students. Although the focus, as the title implies, is the health sciences, the PICO framework has value for students in other disciplines who are trying to define a topic and develop a thesis statement or answerable research question. This tutorial is licensed through Creative Commons, so individual branding and other modifications can be made with attribution."
Photo by Sheila Webber: winter berries, November 2017

Playful learning in #LTHEChat 6 December

The next LTHEChat (chat in Twitter about teaching and learning in higher education) is on Wednesday 6 December at 8-9PM (UK time: that's e.g. 3-4pm USA Eastern time). It will be based on questions from Katie Piatt and Fiona MacNeill (University of Brighton) on Playful Learning. To join in, just use #LTHEChat - the website is here https://lthechat.com/ and the Storify should appear at https://storify.com/LTHEchat/

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

New articles in @JInfoLit student research; school library perspectives; distance learning; audience response; #blacklivesmatter

The latest issue of open access Journal of Information Literacy has been published (volume 11 number 2 2017). The articles are:

- Celebrating Undergraduate Students’ Research at York University by Sophie Bury, Dana Craig, Sarah Shujah
- Using audience response systems to enhance student engagement and learning in information literacy teaching by Paula Funnell
- School library staff perspectives on teacher information literacy and collaboration by Christine McKeever, Jessica Bates, Jacqueline Reilly
- Distance learning as alterity: facilitating the experience of variation and professional information practice by Lee Webster, Andrew Whitworth
- Examining structural oppression as a component of information literacy: A call for librarians to support #BlackLivesMatter through our teaching by Angela Pashia
- Exploring the experience of undergraduate students attending a library induction during Welcome Week at the University of Surrey by Charlotte Barton
Plus a conference review and 2 book reviews. Go to https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JIL/issue/view/187
Photo by Sheila Webber: winter rose, November 2017

Monday, December 04, 2017

Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices in the home and in formal settings

Just published are 2 literature reviews:
- Kumpulainen, K. and Gillen, J. (2017). Young Children’s Digital Literacy Practices in the Home: A Review of the Literature. http://digilitey.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/WG-1-Lit-Review-04-12-17.pdf
- Kontovourki, S., Garoufallou, E., Ivarsson, L., Klein, M., Korkeamaki,R.L., Koutsomiha, D., Marci- Boehncke, G., Tafa, E. and Virkus, S. (2017). Digital Literacy in the Early Years: Practices in Formal Settings, Teacher Education, and the Role of Informal Learning Spaces: A Review of the Literature. http://digilitey.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/WG2-LR-March-2017-v2.pdf [This does include a subsection on libraries and museums as informal learning spaces.]
They are both released as part of the European project. The objectives of this project are "to create an interdisciplinary network that will advance understanding of young children ́s digital literacy and multimodal practices in the new media age and which will build a co-ordinated European agenda for future research in this area." The project website is at http://digilitey.eu
Photo by Sheila Weber: squash, Farmers market, November 2017