Monday, March 18, 2024

Article: La Alfabetización Informacional en las carreras pedagógicas cubanas

Photo by Sheila Webber of daffodils in March 2024

Hernández-Campillo, T.R.,Veranes Gálvez, L. & Arias Hidalgo, A.B. (2023). La Alfabetización Informacional en las carreras pedagógicas cubanas [Information Literacy of Cuban trainee educators]. Información, cultura y sociedad , (49), 9-33. (In Spanish) https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=9295411&fbclid=IwAR3sTLwQ4goDxxy_FwJZkIfxNesqG7RZvG6R_LKQgwDzio-CZ69EM_-7d-E
English abstract: "The study discusses the relevance of information literacy in higher education, based on Area 1 of the European Framework of Digital Competences for Citizenship. In this sense, an information literacy program is proposed for the acquisition of informational competencies of students of pedagogical careers at the University of Camagüey." They used mixed methods with students and teachers "The results of the diagnosis show insufficiencies in the search, evaluation, and management of digital information. Thus, the program developed contains a set of actions focused on the treatment of digital information for teaching activities to improve the information literacy of the subjects investigated. It is concluded that information literacy should have an important place in the academic performance of students and be subject to continuous evaluation." 
Spanish abstract: "El estudio aborda la pertinencia de la Alfabetización Informacional en la educación superior, a partir de lo explicitado en el Área 1 del Marco Europeo de Competencias Digitales para la Ciudadanía. En ese sentido, se propone un programa de Alfabeti-zación Informacional para la adquisición de competencias informacionales en estu-diantes de carreras pedagógicas de la Universidad de Camagüey. La pesquisa asume el enfoque mixto de la investigación y la observación no participante como método empírico. ... Los resultados del diagnóstico evidencian insuficiencias en la búsqueda, evaluación y gestión de información digital. De esta forma, el programa elaborado contiene un conjunto de acciones enfocadas al tratamiento de la información digital para las actividades docentes con el fin de mejorar la Alfabetización Informacional de los sujetos indagados. Se concluye que la Alfabetización Informacional debe ocupar un espacio importante en el desempeño académico de los discentes y ser sujeta a continua evaluación."
Photo by Sheila Webber of daffodils in March 2024

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Webinar: Inclusive pedagogical practices in library instruction

Photo by Sheila Webber of spring blossom February 2024

A free ACRL webinar on 27 March 2024 at 11.00 US Pacific time (which will be 18.00 UK time, as the US has sprung forward but the UK hasn't) is Inclusive Pedagogy Spring Webinar: Inclusive pedagogical practices in library instruction
"Topics of inclusive pedagogy have a strong connection to the field of education and are usually centered on instruction issues. These connections have strongly influenced LIS practice especially through libraries' information literacy and instruction roles, and the instruction component of reference services. A recent special issue of Reference Services Review, co-edited by Dr. Kawanna M. Bright and Dr. Mónica Colón-Aguirre, focuses on the integration of critical and inclusive pedagogical practices into library instruction and instructional aspects of reference services.
"In this webinar, Drs. Bright and Colón-Aguirre will provide insights into the articles included in the special issue. In addition, a select panel of authors who contributed to the issue will provide personal perspectives on their work and its importance to the field."
Register at https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__LIvDA_nRryU0Mo42oCV8w#/registration
Photo by Sheila Webber of spring blossom, February 2024

Friday, March 15, 2024

Call for participants: #REDMIL24

Photo by Sheila Webber of plum blossom February 2024

There is a call for participants (PhD students) for the 2024 (9-12 September 2024) Summer School - Research on Digital, Media and Information Literacy (ReDMIL 2024) which will be held in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) with the theme of From mass media to generative AI: Charting the (dis)continuities in literacies. There is a Euro120 delegate fee. The deadline is 15 May 2024.
The summer school "aims at contributing to the convergence between digital, media and information literacy research by bringing together researchers from all three communities, to foster the scientific debate and explore connections between them."
The format is that talks from invited experts alternate with sessions in which PhD students present and debate their research. I was an invited expert in a previous REDMIL and it was one of my best ever conference experiences as it gave a lot of opportunity to get to know people and debate in depth. The experts this year are: Gianna Cappello, University of Palermo (Italy); Normand Landry, Université TELUQ (Canada); Julian Sefton-Green, Deakin University (Australia); Leo Van Audenhove, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium); Emily Vraga, University of Minnesota (USA).
As regards the theme, they say "We wish to inject a historical dimension into our examination of research in media / information / digital literacy and devote some of our attention to the changes in media, media practices, audiences and user communities, but also in imaginaries and narratives that embody the hopes and fears we place in media and information technology.
"We want to ask what these changes force us to reconsider in research on media / information / digital literacy, how they are accompanied by changes in the way we theorize media, information, technology and literacies, the way we conceive our research methods, our epistemologies, and our axiological positions. In reflecting on these developments, we are more attentive to continuities than to chiasms and so-called paradigm shifts."
The website is at https://sites.uclouvain.be/redmil/ and the full call for applications (a lot more detail!) at https://sites.uclouvain.be/redmil/call2024/

PS. In searching for REDMIL I discovered that some expert talks from REDMIL2018, including mine, are on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@groupederechercheenmediati3820
Photo by Sheila Webber of plum blossom, February 2024

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Data Literacy & Information Literacy

Image by Sheila Webber with Midjourney AI a japanese windchime, glass bell furin, with sakura pattern, hanging in a forest, restful, blossoms on the breeze --v 6.0

Pinto, María; Caballero-Mariscal, David; García-Marco, Francisco-Javier; Gómez-Camarero, Carmen (2023). A strategic approach to information literacy: data literacy. A systematic review. Profesional de la información, 32(6), article e320609. https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2023.nov.09 Spanish language version https://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com/index.php/EPI/article/view/87425
"For this purpose, a systematic review was carried out of the papers in the main collection of the Web of Science that contain both concepts (DL and Infolit) and that were indexed up until March 2023. External aspects, such as the growth of the research and the identity, nationality, professional scope, and productivity of the authors, were taken into account. In addition, internal aspects, such as context (theory, frameworks, definitions, models, and related disciplines), objectives, methodology, results, conclusions, and recommendations, were analyzed to obtain a detailed perspective of the scientific research process adopted. A synchronic and diachronic analysis of the corpus of selected articles is offered, focusing on the aforementioned aspects" 

Ebijuwa, A.S. (2023). Integrating Data Literacy into Information Literacy Programmes: Any Difference? International Journal of Library and Information Science Studies, 9(6), 33-45.https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:62597/
"... the question as to whether data literacy should replace information literacy has not been properly articulated in recent times in Africa even though it is acknowledged that the resultant effect of this data literacy is expected to precipitate the advent of the data revolution and the rise of digital technologies which are needed in today’s information age. The question of the degree of the nature of the integration of data literacy into information literacy programs and how it could be taught synergistically and push data literacy strategically for the fourth industrial revolution is a major fulcrum of this study."
Image by Sheila Webber with Midjourney AI a japanese windchime, glass bell furin, with sakura pattern, hanging in a forest, restful, blossoms on the breeze --v 6.0

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

AI for Infolit in HE; Generative AI in teaching business IL

Image of a glass bell suspended in a forest with cherry blossom petals

Firstly, a useful padlet of 10 resources on Information Literacy in Higher Education in the age of AI by Daihua Chen at Robert Gordon University (for those who want to use AI in teaching IL):   https://padlet.com/34811368/annotated-bibliography-diswm0hnmlhx9tot 

Secondly, an article reflecting on generative AI use in a business class:
- Jonathan M. Torres (2024) Leveraging ChatGPT and bard for academic librarians and information professionals: a case study of developing pedagogical strategies using generative AI models, Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship. (early online publication). https://doi.org/10.1080/08963568.2024.2321729 "This study focuses on improving pedagogical strategies by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and library databases. Examples from ChatGPT and Bard were used to demonstrate the quality of information. A cross-examination using a research validation template was conducted; it revealed that no artificial hallucinations were produced. However, the information provided by both AI chatbots was slightly outdated based on organizational changes and did not provide an in-depth analysis of the company."
Image created by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI

Monday, March 11, 2024

Registration open for #WILU2024

Registration is open for the 2024 Workshop for Instruction in Library Use (WILU), to be held in Richmond (Metro Vancouver), BC, Canada, 15-17 May 2024. The Conference Theme is Embracing Change and the programme is available.
I'm happy to be chairing a panel there, Information as a discipline enabling change, with Karen Kaufmann, Syeda Hina Batool, Clarence Maybee and Bill Johnston.
Costs: Regular Attendee: $335 + tax (earlybird to 2 April), $385 + tax; Speaker $285 + tax (earlybird to 2 April), $335 + tax; Student $180 + tax. Go to https://wordpress.kpu.ca/wilu2024/

Friday, March 08, 2024

New articles: Curriculum mapping; Research sprints

Photo by Sheila Webber of daffodils in February 2024
The March 2024 issue of open access journal College & Research Libraries (vol. 85 issue 2) includes:
- When There’s No Information Literacy Requirement: Curriculum Mapping to Drive Engagement by Monica V. Locker and Jennifer L.A. Whelan.
- 'A Supernova that Sparks in Every Direction’: A Long-Term Assessment of the Research Sprints Faculty Engagement Program by Jenny McBurney, Sarah Jane Brown, Mariya Gyendina, Shanda Hunt, Rebecca Orozco, Michael Peper, Greta Valentine, Benjamin Wiggins, and Karna Younger.
Go to https://crl.acrl.org/index.php/crl/issue/view/1653/showToc
Photo by Sheila Webber daffodils February 2024

Thursday, March 07, 2024

Creating Knowledge XI: Registration opens

Photo by Sheila Webber of a squirrel under a tree in February 2024
Registration has opened for the 11th Creating Knowledge conference, being held in Helsinki, Finland, 6-7 June 2024. The theme is: Think before you click: Responsibility in the digital information landscape. Keynotes are:
- The tide, not the waves: AI education for novice learners by Matti Tedre and Henriikka Vartiainen, University of Eastern, Finland
- Shifting the Paradigm: Addressing Manipulative Behaviour Instead of Problematic Content by Siim Kumpas, European External Action Service, EU
- Human Brains in the Digital Information Landscape - Neuroscience of Learning and Attention by Minna Huotilainen, University of Helsinki, Finland
Go to https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/creating-knowledge-2024 Registration for the conference will open on 28 February 2024. Early-bird registration fee (to 2 April) is 350 EUR and then it's 410 EUR.
Photo by Sheila Webber: squirrel and tree, February 2024

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Music students and information literacy

Image by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI, prompt is  musical notation, notes flying in the air, green forest, spring flowers --v 6.0

An article which talks about applying the ACRL Framework for information literacy to the music curriculum, with some detailed examples and lesson plans:
Roush, K. (2023). Applications of Information Literacy to Teaching Independent Music Analysis. Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy, 37, 124-156. (this is the link to the whole issue) https://digitalcollections.lipscomb.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1439&context=jmtp
Image by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI, prompt is: musical notation, notes flying in the air, green forest, spring flowers --v 6.0

Tuesday, March 05, 2024

Citizen Engagement in Evidence-informed Policy-making

Image by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI, prompt people in a circle, holding hands, semi-abstract, line drawing, pastel colour wash, tranquil --v 6.0 --ar 16:9
The World Health Organization just published a guide to involving citizens in decision making. The focus is decision making about health policy, but the guidelines would be useful for other policy areas as well:
World Health Organization. (2024). Citizen engagement in evidence-informed policy-making: a guide to mini-publics. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/376107/9789240081413-eng.pdf
"Mini-publics are a type of forum that include a cross-section of the population, selected through the civic lottery method, to participate in evidence-informed deliberation to inform policy and action. The term refers to a diverse family of democratic innovations, including citizens’ juries, planning cells, citizens’ assemblies, citizens’ panels, consensus conferences, citizens’ councils, and citizens’ committees."
They also reminded us of their earlier document:
World Health Organization. (2024). Implementing citizen engagement within evidence-informed policy-making: an overview of purpose and methods. https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/364361/9789240061521-eng.pdf?sequence=1
Image by Sheila Webber using Midjourney AI, prompt people in a circle, holding hands, semi-abstract, line drawing, pastel colour wash, tranquil --v 6.0 --ar 16:9

Monday, March 04, 2024

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

logo of Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The call for papers for the Georgia [USA] International Conference on Information Literacy has been extended to 8 March 2024. The conference is online, and will be held 19-20 April 2024 with the conference theme: Information Literacy in the Age of AI.
“We invite proposals that speak to the theme of information literacy in the age of AI, including, but not limited to, teaching critical information literacy, ethical considerations in using AI in research and teaching, the role of AI in misinformation and disinformation, AI technologies for research, assessing student work, librarian-educator partnerships, challenges and possibilities for diversity and inclusion in the age of AI, and the importance of human librarians and instructors in information literacy.”
Go to https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/

Friday, March 01, 2024

Webinar/ discussion: The Query Search Method

Photo by Sheila Webber of shadows and sun in the Botanic Gardens in February 2024

The next (free) LIS Pedagogy chat is The Query Search Method: Teaching Database Searching for Contemporary Reference Services on 8 March 2024 at 14.00 US Eastern time (which is, for example, 19.00 UK time). "Vanessa Irvin (East Carolina University, USA) and Sarah Nakashima (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, USA) will share their innovative approach to synthesizing database search techniques with reference services. The Query Search Method (QSM) brings criticality, literacy studies, and reflective inquiry into reference services that are now primarily technology-driven for a holistic, sociocultural consideration of the interaction between librarians and patrons and the questions they both ask in library settings."
Registration at https://www.lispedagogychat.org/schedule-registration
Photo by Sheila Webber: shadows and sun in the Botanic Gardens, February 2024

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Call for proposals: Digital Pedagogy Institute

Photo by Sheila Webber of  crocus in February 2024

There is a call for proposals for the 2024 Digital Pedagogy Institute (DPI) which takes place online on 13-15 August 2024. It is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Scarborough Library, Brock University, Toronto Metropolitan University, and University of Waterloo, Canada. The deadline for proposals is 19 April 2024.
Streams include:
A. Critical Ideologies and Digital Pedagogy.
B. Digital (de)colonialism.
C. Inclusivity, Accessibility, and Digital Pedagogy.
D. Sustainability, Renewability, and Environmental Costs in the digital sphere.
E. Digital Pedagogy and the Post-Truth society.
F. Digital Pedagogy and Emerging Technologies.
Formats are presentations and tool demos/workshops
More details and proposal submission at https://forms.gle/hZBjF7hrcj3FYRQB7
Photo by Sheila Webber: crocus, February 2024