Report from #ecil2014 - An Information Literacy Course for Doctoral Students

Another liveblog from the European Conference on Information Literacy, held in Dubrovnik. Ann-Louise Paasio and Kristiina Hintikka (Turku University library) talked about An Information Literacy Course for Doctoral Students: Information Resources and Tools for Research. They were talking about a course they have run since 2012. It gives training to doctoral students in all faculties at Turku University (Finland). It is voluntary and run both in Finnish and in English.
It consists of 4 assignments, 15 hours of lectures and computer class sessions, and students get credit (1 ECTS). The basic course content is the same, but the students are grouped broadly by discipline, so they are working with students in their own fields - also it means subject specialists can be involved. The course includes searching, using bibliographic management and keeping up to date. Academics also are included as invited lecturers. The course web page (in English) is here
http://www.utu.fi/en/units/library/findasklearn/learn/utugs/Pages/home.aspx
The university's graduate school coordinator was an important collaborator in planning and publicising the course. The students' feedback has been mainly positive, with students finding the practical skill sessions useful, for example. They also liked sharing experience with other students and getting personal guidance from the lecturers. There is now an online version of the course being launched. The speakers noted the challenges of having groups with a mix of disciplines, and also the time taken for marking.
Photo by Sheila Webber: harbour cat, Dubrovnik, October 2014