Webinar: The Flywheel Effect: Bridging the gap for first-year students

A free webinar sponsored by the ACRL ULS Professional Development Committee on 11 May 2021 at 1pm USA Central time (which is, e.g., 7pm UK time) is The Flywheel Effect: Bridging the gap for first-year students in a virtual world presented by Kay Coates and Vivian Bynoe, Georgia Southern University, USA.  "While some students may be prepared [for college], others have lacked the opportunity to develop essential critical thinking skills needed to navigate their coursework and research assignments efficiently. COVID-19 has posed additional challenges for students in high school who will be transitioning to college ... This is an ideal time to ask how our instructional strategy can be thoughtfully crafted to meet these students’ needs. ... The Flywheel strategy is a business concept developed by Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great. An analogy of a flywheel is used to illustrate that successful outcomes can be achieved through deliberate, strategic intent combined with small, repetitive steps by everyone involved. Librarians can implement this strategy to link learners with skill-building resources that impact their lived experiences beyond the classroom via information literacy instruction."  Register at https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4MoM7Hr5TE-iPTL-tV1t9Q

Photo by Sheila Webber: pale tulips, April 2021

Call for papers: New challenges for teachers in the context of digital learning

Comunicar is an open access journal that publishes articles in English or Spanish and covers the areas of communication and digital/media literacy, and they have included articles on information literacy. They are seeking articles for a special issue on New challenges for teachers in the context of digital learning, with a focus on: Teacher training in digital education; Digital competencies of teachers; Distance education: opportunities and risks; Teaching innovation in digital education; Media and information literacy and its integration with ICTs (my emphasis); Media configurations and learning for new generations: social networks and emerging digital resources. The deadline for submissions is 30 May 2021.
The thematic editors include Dr. Rayén Condeza (Pontifical University of Chile), Dr. Michael Hoeschsman (Lakehead University, Canada) and Dr. Divina Frau-Meigs (Sorbonne-Nouvelle University, France). The Call for Papers is at https://bit.ly/3s1aO1K and submission guidelines at  https://bit.ly/2RcCe89
Photo by Sheila Webber: tulips, April 2021

Webinar: Journalist’s perspective on COVID-19 and the infodemic

There is a free webinar at 12 noon UK time on 16 April 2020 (today) organised by the World Health Organization: The inside scoop: a journalist’s perspective on COVID-19 and the infodemic, with journalist Matt Frei talking about "misinformation and disinformation in the Europe region and how they might impede a country’s ability to respond and save lives. Matt Frei has worked as a BBC correspondent covering Europe, Asia, and the USA. Currently a news editor for Channel 4 News, he also hosts a popular talk show on LBC" "We will hear about the current journalistic climate from this experienced and respected inside perspective and focus on what we can do to control this pandemic together as individuals and as the organizations we work for and with" Register at https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wFvl2E50QxKmEUNk7uTftg

Universal Design for Learning; Teaching in a pandemic

I'm not sure why (must have signed up a long time ago) but I periodically get a newsletter from Contact North/ Contact Nord (a non-profit corporation funded by the Government of Ontario). The latest one included a few things I thought worth passing on:
- This article describes a course Accessible Media production, that uses Univeral Design for Learning principles in its own design, as well as teaching students about its principles. The article includes some links about inclusive learninhg design: https://teachonline.ca/pockets-innovation/mohawk-college-program-improves-digital-accessibility
- They recommend: Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (Eds). (2019). Universal methods of design – 125 ways to research complex problems, develop innovative ideas and design effective solutions. Beverly, MA: Rockport Publishing.
- They link to a report which summarises results from 3 substantial surveys of online teaching experiences in the USA at tertiary level: Johnson, N., Seaman, J & Veletsianos, G. (2021). Teaching During a Pandemic: Spring Transition, Fall Continuation, Winter Evaluation. Bay View Analytics. https://www.bayviewanalytics.com/reports/teachingduringapandemic.pdf
Photo by Sheila Webber: possibly a type of cow parsley, April 2021

Challenges and Considerations for Misinformation Research

The Center for an Informed Public (University of Washington) is calling for participants for their virtual workshop on 6 May 2021, Challenges and Considerations for Misinformation Research. There will be sessions on research practices; data collection, use and ethics; communicating findings; and commitments to ethics and welfare. Participants are expected to be "academic and academic-adjacent researchers who have engaged in rapid-impact research projects and media engagement around misinformation events and conspiracy theories — particularly related to COVID-19, recent elections and the broader impacts of mis- and disinformation." They hope "to bring together researchers from across disciplines to discuss how misinformation research can have immediate impact, retain academic rigor, utilize diverse methodologies and be ethically and theoretically grounded." To express interest go to https://www.cip.uw.edu/2021/04/05/cip-challenges-considerations-misinformation-research-virtual-workshop/

Photo by Sheila Webber: row of tulips, April 2021

New articles: ACRL Framework; Fake news; Flipped classroom; Library anxiety; Peer teaching

The latest issue of the Journal of Academic Librarianship (Volume 47 issue 2) includes the following (priced publication - though one article, marked below, is open access):
- The ACRL Framework successes and challenges since 2016: A survey by Ma Lei Hsieh, Patricia H. Dawson, Sharon Q. Yang (" The findings indicate that other than course assignments, the Framework is librarians' most used document for their instruction.")
- Training peer teachers to teach first year graduate level information literacy sessions by Frances Brady
- Exploring potential roles of academic libraries in undergraduate data science education curriculum development by Gang Shao, Jenny P. Quintana, Wei Zakharov, Senay Purzer, Eunhye Kim
- Much more than a mere technology: A systematic review of Wikidata in libraries by Karim Tharani (Open access)
- Flipped classroom pedagogy in an online learning environment: A self-regulated introduction to information literacy threshold concepts by Elizabeth Humrickhouse
- Library anxiety among Omani and Saudi Arabian international students: A case study at the University of South Carolina, USA by Esra Seddiq Abdoh
- Librarians against fake news: A systematic literature review of library practices (Jan. 2018–Sept. 2020) by Jorge Revez, Luís Corujo
Go to https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/the-journal-of-academic-librarianship/vol/47/issue/2
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherry blossom, March 2021

Webinar: Searching the internet effectively

On 13 April 2021 starting at 12 noon UK time, the Association of Women Librarians in Nigeria (AWLIN) (a section of the Nigerian Library Association) in conjunction with Insights4uToday YouTube educational and technological channel, offer "a free one day online training" (I'm afaid I don't know further details) on Searching the internet effectively. Go to http://youtu.be/rdSOexuNFrY

Global Festival of Active Learning online

The free online Global Festival of Active Learning runs 19th-24th April 2021. "For two hours each day (9am-10am, 5pm-6pm UK time), there will be exciting chances to share, collaborate, listen, and network with others interested in active teaching and learning." There's an interesting range of sessions on offer, which are listed in the programme on their website - it includes a couple of library-specific items, but generally it would be of interest to people teaching information literacy https://activelearningnetwork.com/active-learning-events/ Instructions on booking at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/aln-global-festival-of-active-learning-19-23-apr-2021-tickets-148323259863

Recordings from Misinfo day

Last month, the University of Washington (USA) Center for an Informed Public held Misinfo day. There are recordings from the day, namely: Understanding the Landscape of Information Disorder (Jacquelyn Mason); Fact-checking Claims and Sources (Mike Caulfield and Scott Leadingham); Spotting Misinformation (Jevin West); Disinformation Goals & Tactics (Kate Starbird and Kolina Koltai); Disinformation Goals & Tactics (Jordan Foley) and also toolkit (list of suggested and example activitie and resources) for the day. Go to https://www.cip.uw.edu/
Photo by Sheila Webber: lost item series, lost monkey (it was someone else that tied it to the post), April 2021

Critical Disinformation Studies

Alice Marwick, Rachel Kuo, Shanice Jones Cameron and Moira Weigel have created a syllabus for Critical Disinformation Studies "as a provocation to disinformation researchers to rethink many of the assumptions of our nascent field". It is published by The Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The syllabus has 13 sections, with a topic/issue or an example for each section, in each case having a paragraph outlining the theme and some readings. The authors note that it is focused on a United States perspective, and also I would say that the disciplinary perspective is that of media literacy and communications (rather than information science and information literacy). Thus, as well as the sections making an interesting focus for discussion in themselves, it would also be interesting to reframe the syllabus to different national/cultural contexts and different disciplinary contexts. The authors themselves say that they "make this offering as a means to encourage ongoing critical and multi-faceted reflections of power and history in the study of disinformation." Go to https://citap.unc.edu/research/critical-disinfo
Photo by Sheila Webber: celandine and violet, March 2021

Call for proposals: LILi conference 2021 #LILiConf2021

Proposals are sought for the 2021 Lifelong Information Literacy (LILi) conference, which will take place online on 9 July 2021. Deadline for proposals is 15 April 15 2021. The theme is What You Don’t Know & Are Afraid to Ask: Teaching Ourselves & Others. which is "about examining and reflecting on who we are as teachers, learners, or any stakeholder in that relationship through time, space, format (online, in person, hybrid), and location such as: in community, in the home, at the institution, in the streets, and in our learning journeys. As we know, teaching/learning is a relationship that is dynamic and multifaceted. This conference will explore and include discussion about what it means “to educate”, “to learn”, and the process of learning including where we learn, how we learn, what we learn, do not learn, unlearn, re-learn and beyond."
Session formats will include 10-minute lightning talks, 20-minute presentations, a poster session, and virtual roundtable discussions. Example topics include:
- Learning communities; pedagogies; community teaching and learning; community work
- Creating inclusive instructional environments in a remote world; what skills and ideas are needed?
- Land acknowledgments; indigenous-led topics and themes; tribal histories
- Advocacy and abolition; access and the digital divide
- Universal Design in information literacy
- Information literacy for workers and learning on the job
- Decolonizing the LIS curriculum
- Educational equity and trauma informed teaching
- Effective classroom management; facilitating synchronous and asynchronous sessions with equity in mind
- Negotiation skills; how to get buy-in
More information at https://lili.libguides.com/lili There are links to information on the previous Lili conferences at https://lili.libguides.com/c.php?g=660853&p=6557962

Photo by Sheila Webber: fallen blossom, April 2021

London Kent Surrey and Sussex regional searching guidance for health librarians 2nd edition

There is an updated edition (April 2021) of the open-access London Kent Surrey and Sussex (NHS) regional searching guidance. It is "intended for librarians tasked with searching the evidence on behalf of NHS staff" but most of it would be valuable in other healthcare settings, and indeed as general advice for good searching. The guidance is laid out very clearly in bullet points. As well as the guidance, which includes sections on different types of evidence search (e.g. evidence search for care of a specific patient; for (NHS) commissioning; for study; for a business case) there are sets of links to other useful resources (e.g. training materials, search tools and other search guidance). It is produced by expert staff in Kent, Surrey and Sussex NHS Library and Knowledge Services Searching and Training Forum. Go to https://sites.google.com/site/healthliteraturesearchers/Home
Photo by Sheila Webber: white daffodils, I think Thalia, March 2021

Responses to #COVID19 : Librarians in lockdown in Scotland; the state of American libraries

Two new reports with insights into the response of libraries to the pandemic. Firstly, Peter Reid & Lyndsay Bloice (Robert Gordon University) undertook research supported by the Scottish Library & Information Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, now published as Libraries in Lockdown. Through analysis of social media and web based content and interviews with librarians they examine "Scottish Public Libraries and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 and in particular the way in which they have, through their digital offering, helped to support community resilience and cohesion. The research also explores the issues that library services have had to contend with during lockdown." It is a 100 page report that finishes with reflections and recommendations. Go to https://librariesinlockdown.weebly.com/
Secondly the State of America's Libraries 2021 Special Report: COVID-19 has been published by the American Library Association. The ALA produces a "state of the libraries" report every year, and it's always interesting to see their perspective on trends and developments. This time they "find 2020 was a year when library professionals answered the call to serve amid multiple emergencies and a year when library workers again proved to be essential 'first restorers' or 'second responders.' " The final section in the report is about librarians fighting disinformation "Throughout 2020, librarians responded to misinformation about vaccines, the census, and the November election, as well as the demonization of the mainstream media as purveyors of “fake news,” by creating resources to fight disinformation." It also talks about issues such as internet/broadband provision, supporting learning, dealing with banning of books. and dealing with inequalities. Go to http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2021
Photo by Sheila Webber: tulips, March 2021

Internet Archive scholar

New to me - Internet Archive Scholar "This fulltext search index includes over 25 million research articles and other scholarly documents preserved in the Internet Archive. The collection spans from digitized copies of eighteenth century journals through the latest Open Access conference proceedings and pre-prints crawled from the World Wide Web". It brings up interesting results for Information literacy searches - I think it will be a source to consider searching along with others when doing subject searches. https://scholar.archive.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber, blackthorn, March 2021

Recordings on librarians' self-care conference

There are recordings of most of the sessions from the recent Blossom (Building Life-long Opportunities for Strength, Self-Care, Outlook, Morale, and Mindfulness) online conference that was a "free virtual symposium for library staff focused on their health and wellness". It has a North American focus, but obviously themes that are more widely applicable. https://blossom.heysummit.com/replays/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Blossom, March 2021

Webinar: how Media and Information Literacy is linked to Digital Skills from a creative point of view

On 6 April 2021 at 3pm Athens time (which is, e.g., 1pm UK time) there is a media and information literacy webinar organised by EKOME in partnership with UNESCO MIL Alliance Europe Sub Chapter Mediterranean Group. It will explore how Media and Information Literacy is linked to Digital Skills from a creative point of view and be in English. Speakers will be: Alex Le Voci Sayad, UNESCO MIL Alliance International Steering Committee co-chair; Alessandra Falconi, Head of Centro Zaffiria, Italy; and Cristina Pulido, Serra Húnter Professor of Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona. The moderator will be Irene Andriopoulou, Head of Education Department of EKOME and UNESCO MIL Alliance ISC co-Secretary General and take place in English. To register, go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_povlLLhaQDu-ydG1mzalyg

Photo by Sheila Webber: more violets, March 2021