cfp #WILU2016

There is a call for Proposals for WILU 2016, the Canadian Workshop for Instruction in Library Use, which will take place May 30-June 1, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. The theme of the WILU 2016 conference is Intersections. Intersections refers to:
• education that is instructor lead and community generated;
• the growing interdependence of information literacy and digital literacy;
• the pedagogical impact on practice in the classroom;
• the growth of educational innovation and reflective sustainable practices;
• preparation for academic work and building enthusiasm for life-long learning; and
• the goals of the library nurturing an information literate community through partnerships outside of our own institutions.
You canb submit proposals for: Oral Presentations; Lightning Talks; pre-conference workshops; or Posters. Deadline for submissions is December 7 2015 5pm (I presume, 5pm in Vancouver)
There conference website is at http://blogs.ubc.ca/wilu2016/
The online submission form is at https://survey.ubc.ca/s/WILU2016-session-proposals
Photo by Sheila Webber: walking to the Kumu gallery, Tallinn, October 2015

Posters for the ACRL Framework

Ben Hoover, Jill Hallam-Miller, and Nancy Frazier (Bucknell University) have made a series of posters picking out the frames in the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. "Our goal in designing the posters was to make the Framework accessible to students by creating visually attractive posters that would get students thinking." They can be found here are their creators are happy for them to be reused http://researchbysubject.bucknell.edu/framework
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn old town, October 2015

cfp #LILAC16

There is a call for papers for the annual information literacy conference, LILAC. In 2016 it takes place in Dublin, Ireland, 21-23 March. The deadline for submissions is 5pm GMT on 11 November 2015. You can propose workshops, symposia, long and short papers, or interactive posters, and there is also a new session: a "Lagadothon" which "enables presenters to showcase their prototypes for new IL products/games/innovations to small groups of delegates in a supportive environment". The deadline for the Lagadothon is slightly later: 27th November 2015 (17:00 GMT). More information at http://www.lilacconference.com/
Photo by Sheila webber: next to the Parliament building, Tallinn, Estonia, October 2015

Bookmark alert! #LILAC presentation archives

There is a new website for the 2016 LILAC (UK information literacy) conference and I had to search for a bit to find the link to the archive of presentations from previous conferences, so I thought I'd share it here. It is at http://archive.lilacconference.com/past-conferences - the conferences are listed at the top, and the pages have links to presentations embedded in the programmes.
I'm also kind of hoping that the main LILAC website might be offering an alternative view for people who aren't looking at it on small mobile devices....
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn leaves on a bench, Tallinn, Estonia, October 2015

Critlib, youth citizenship, librarian-teacher workshops, research safari #ecil2015

Some presentations from sessions I didn't blogged at the European Conference on Information Literacy:

- Lauren Smith - Learning, Lending, Liberty? Can school libraries be engines for youth citizenship? http://www.slideshare.net/laurensmith/learning-lending-liberty-can-school-libraries-be-engines-for-youth-citizenship
- Annamari Ikonen and Kaisu Sallasmaa - Librarians and English teachers join forces in information literacy training for better learning results http://www.slideshare.net/Metropolian_kirjasto/ecil2015-metropolia-bestpractice
- Denis Kos and Sonja Špiranec - Understanding the field of critical information literacy: a descriptive analysis of scientific articles http://www.slideshare.net/DenisKos/kos-d-piranec-s-understanding-critical-information-literacy-a-descriptive-analysis-of-scientific-articles-ppt
- Leonie McIlvenny - Navigating the ‘information jungle’ on a Research Safari http://www.slideshare.net/LeonieMcIlvenny/the-research-safari - see also http://researchsafari.weebly.com and http://knowledgecompass.weebly.com
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, October 2015

Information Literacy and the Scottish Independence Referendum (2014) #ecil2015

At the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 last week Bill Johnston and I presented on Information Literacy and the Scottish Independence Referendum: in which, after a short introduction about autoethnography, Bill gave basic information about the referendum and gave some initial analysis which has grown out of his reflections and other material forming his autoethnography. Here's the presentation.

Information Literacy and the Scottish Independence Referendum: (2014): an autoethnographic exploration of political decision-making from Sheila Webber

Closing session at #ecil2015

Back in the UK now, and I'm catching up with the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 that took place in the past week. In the closing session, they gave some facts and figures about the conference: there were 195 contributions from 50 countries, and 361 delegates. The top countries for participation were: 55 from Finland, 32 from Estonia, 26 from USA, 21 from both Norway and the UK, 15 Sweden, 13 from both Germany and the Netherlands, 12 from the Czech Republic and Croatia, 11 from Australia. You can see a Google map with the delegates marked on the map. The next venue (for ECIL 2016) was also announced: Prague, Czech Republic. I had been asked to act as raporteur for the conference, and I gave a short presentation (in the closing session) of what I saw as key points about the conference: I've embedded it below.
I've still got to post the first presentation I contributed to, and a couple of other posts that I only half-finished whilst I was there.

Thoughts from ECIL 2015 from Sheila Webber

Information Literacy Instruction Methods for Lower Secondary Education in Finland #ecil2015

The next talk at this doctoral session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 Information Literacy Instruction Methods for Lower Secondary Education in Finland from Tuulikki Alamettälä. She is looking at development of a new approach, using design based research and with Kuhlthau's model of guided inquiry as a framework. As well as having steps in the inquiry process, it involves collaborative forums and inquiry tools such as journals.
Her research investigates teachers' practice and feelings and the students' learning experiences, feelings and self-efficacy (etc.); in following a guided inquiry approach. This is a longitudinal study, and includes a control group not using guided inquiry. There will be questionnaires, interviews, tests and observation. Data collection started this autumn, with an intervention in a literature course, but the data has not yet been analysed.
Photo by Sheila Webber: another church I pass walking in to the conference, in Tallinn old town

Exploring the information literacy experience of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Learners #ecil2015

Jess Elmore talked about Exploring the information literacy experience of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Learners: a Discussion of Methods as the next presentation in the doctoral session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. She is using a case study approach, focusing particularly on what is happening in the ESOL classroom. Jess identified the huge number of people who lack English in the UK (1 million) and the disadvantage this causes. She identified her research as interpretive, reflexive and participatory, and also identified the problematic issues packed in these terms. Her research questions (at the moment) are focused on the interaction between learning and information literacy in the classroom. Elmore was reporting on a pilot study, using focus groups and observation, and also drawing on interviews with stakeholders and documents. She used pictures to elicit discussion (e.g. picture of a smartphone to elicit discussion about use of phones).
From the pilot she learnt about how complex the ESOL classroom was (with "life going on" in the classroom), how diverse experiences was, the importance of religeon and of keeping in touch with home, and there were very varied digital practices (e.g. importance of video - but some participants can't use a computer).
Elmore talked about challenges and learning from her pilot (e.g. about how she deals with participants' language level; that she needed to build relationships with participants over time; working out what "participatory" means in this context; that her findings will be about these particular classrooms.)

Electronic Engineering Student Information Literacy Needs: A Pilot Study #ecil2015

Evi Tramantza presented next in the doctoral forum at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 on Electronic Engineering Student Information Literacy Needs: A Pilot Study at the University of Surrey. She is using case study approach, including an action research element (as she teaches information literacy to the student in her case studies), in two universities, the University of Surrey (UK) and Aristotle University (Greece), with a focus on mechanical engineering students. Tramantza was reporting on a pilot study of electronic engineering students. She had undertaken focus groups and interviews, and collected documentation on the module structure, as well as her own field notes (as she teaches information literacy in this course). She has identified four key thematic areas: the first is resources, which included a theme about categorisation (the students struggling to find material at the right level, and anting it cartegorised) and use of media (e.g. Youtube video to explain concepts). The second thematic area was skills: students identified a lot of different skills that they need to complete their course (and these students were quite confident in identifying what they needed) and also the lecturer identifying needs in writing. The third area was Pedagogy and Learning, which included the nature of engineering teaching (with a more transmissive approach to teaching engineering) and peer learning (with engineering students having their own communities of learning, and this being connected to their identity as engineers). The final theme was information literacy iteself: including the students' awareness of the need to find good information and apply it.

Doctoral Research on Teachers as Technology Users: Summary of a Work in Progress #ecil2015

Next in the doctoral session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 was Doctoral Research on Teachers as Technology Users: Summary of a Work in Progress from Agnese Karaseva. She is doing a PhD by publication, so has published articles and is writing the connecting part of the thesis. She is analysing how various aspects of different social domains are related to the ways in which teachers integrate technology into the practices. Thus the focus is on the factors behind the practice, rather than the practices themselves. She is using the theory of Derek Layder. The context is Latvia and Estonia, with her being able to compare the data she herself collected in Latvia with data collected by her supervisor in Estonia. The speaker noted the de-centralised school system, with teachers getting more training in technology than Latvian ones.
16 teachers in each country were interviewed; there were class observations in Estonia, and 10 of the Latvian teachers (who were all in the same school) were observed doing search tasks online. The latter showed that actual competence was not related to self-reported efficacy.
She showed a table with the elements identified by Layder: in particular there were a number of factors under "Psychobiography" (e.g. teacher's belief about IT) and "Situated activity". Preliminary conclusions included the very strong influence of subject cultures, the need to have a holistic view of background factors to understand practice, the impact of students having to take exams, and also that "technology has not brought a revolution to the classroom".

International students and academic integrity #ecil2015

I'm attending a doctoral forum at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 and will blog some of the presentations from the doctoral students.

Amanda Click talked about International students and academic integrity: global perspectives on a complex issue, reporting on emerging findings from her doctoral study. She is investigating how international graduate students studying in the USA conduct their academic research and writing, and how they engage with, and negotiate, issues of academic integrity.

She is using cross-cultural adaption theory (with critical incident technique for data elicitation), and as part of this she has been looking at stress points and adaptions e.g.

Stress - learning a new academic style (adaption is e.g. guidance from lecturers, feedback from American classmates

Stress - fear of commiting academic dishonesty (adaption as e.g. understanding the honor code, learning to cite)

Stress - reading and writing in English (with difficulty in finding adaptions!)

Students felt that in their own countries they did pay attention to academic integrity, but it was more implicit, whereas in the USA they were warned against plagiarism all the time and became afraid about it. There was also worried about unauthorised collaboration - they were unsure what was ok in the many different assignments they took. There was also the issue that lecturers themselves had different approaches to what acceptable behaviour was (e.g. some telling students to avoid direct quotation, others encouraging it).

Research challenges were particularly assessing material as to whether it was relevant, and synthesising information.

In the discussion afterwards, implications of the various interpretations of academic integrity by both academics and students, were discussed (obviously when the academics have different interpretations it is difficult for the students; there was also the question of the phrase itself, whether it is easily understood).

Beyond the Hyperbole: Information Literacy Reconsidered #ecil2015

Heidi Julien was the second speaker today, and she started an interesting discussion with her talk Beyond the Hyperbole: Information Literacy Reconsidered, at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
She started by talking about the range of literacies, and the different ways in which people defined the same term (including information literacy). She noted that burdens were placed on concepts such as information literacy, associated with supporting democracy, inclusive society and so forth. This placed political and practical weight on the term and raised the issue of who was claiming to take responsibility or to own that term. Julien said that the library and information responsibility for information literacy was limited to certain aspects of information searching and interaction, and she placed information literacy within the context of socially contructed information practices.
Julien noted that behaviour with information was influenced by convenience etc.: human nature (including social norms) would have more impact on people's attitudes and behaviour than did IL. She doubted "whether information literacy alone can shift the ground towards social good". Julien noted the challenges to developing information literacy: including people's current convenient habits, misapprehensions about young people's skills, lack of resources to enable libraries to offer relevant services, a lack of librarians (e.g. in schools) and some gaps in librarians' own skills.
Julien then looked at IL in the context of global challenges. These include sustainability, inclusive social development, conflict, education. It is easy to exaggerate the potential of IL to meet these challenges. Julien highlighted some areas were she felt IL could make a real contribution, such as helping citizens engage in civil society, and in promoting health and wellbeing. In order to fulfill this contribution, library and information professionals needed to understand people's information practice and information behaviour. Then it is possible for information literacy to make its real contribution.
There was also a lively discussion after this, but I was listening and contributing ratherthan blogging that part ;-)
Photo by Sheila Webber: the Russian church again - on the walk into the conference from my apartment yesterday, Tallin, Estonia

Information and Awareness for Sustainability #ecil2015

The first invited speaker today at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn was Mikhel Kangur, on Information and Awareness for Sustainability. The key theme for the conference was sustainability and green issues.
He started by defining sustainability and highlighted the particular problem areas for earth e.g. population, scarcity of fresh water, climate change, threat to the biosphere. He then talked specifically about Estonia: environmentally they were in a relatively safe position, but this could be a trap. Estonians (according to surveys) consider themesleves quite environmentally aware. However, behaviour or mentality of Estonins gives a different perspective: a survey had shown that Estonians scored lowest in Europe in terms of considering water or energy conservation, or reducing waste in everyday life. A survey asking them about their behaviour showed that Estonians scored low in terms of, for example, participating in action groups. He showed an interesting diagram which showed that Baltic countries (including Estonia) were different from the "protestant Europe" group (including Nordic countries) in terms of "Survival vs. self-expression values". Thus although the Estonian economy was comparable, there was still this difference: there was knowledge about the problems, but not so much the will to change (and Estonians are not alone in this).

Also Kangur noted that there was a lack of holistic systems looking at all these issues together. He took an example of the Baltic sea, and showed that there were various Governments/ organisations responsible for it, who did not necessarily collaborate to ensure its sustanability. Although there are techincal solutions being developed (for example, to desalinate salt water) these are expensive (and therefore not necessarily sustainable.

Thus there is a need to go beyond just informing people, and raise consciousness that people must take action snd change their behaviour, otherwise nothing will change.

Critical Evaluation of Information: Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive Windows #ecil2015

At the end of the day, Mandy Lupton is speaking on Critical Evaluation of Information: Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive Windows at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
She started by describing her conception of inquiry learning, using a model of three overlapping circles: research cycle, questioning frameworks and the information literacy framework. She noted some of the terms that had been used at the conference itself to mean a critical perspective (e.g. evaluation, information discernment). Lupton said she had questioned why there was such an emphasis on evaluating web based information, rather than encouraging critical engagement with all types of information (she used examples of an article in a refereed journal being retracted, predatory publishers and example of a study showing that experimental results were not replicable). She also identified that for younger people all online things are the web (not just things other than journals and databases). Thus there could be a credibility crisis: with propoganda, hoaxes and scams.
At that point Lupton identified that for her information included sensory, embodied, subjective, artefactual etc. information, as well as textual. She recalled some of her doctoral work, where she had created four frames: Generic, Situated (e.g. disciplinary approaches), Transformative (coming from critical media literacy) and Expressive (creative) windows on information literacy worlds. These are hierarchical, where Generic is incorporated in Situated, and those are incorporated in both the other two.

Lupton showed the generic skills and processes window, and talked about it as a tool for analysis (she runs a module on inquiry learning). She thought it this generic window was important, but as a building block rather than as a whole generic solution. Lupton highlighted some of the questioning frameworks she'd collected, which could be useful, however it was not satisfactory if you used some of these rubrics without looking at the socio-cultural context (she used the example of an article about drop bears).
Therefore the next window (Situated) came in. There is a rather poor photo of it, at the top of the post. The Verification handbook http://verificationhandbook.com/ was given as an example of tools for this window, and also https://veri.ly/ Lupton presented a list of questions that represented a verification tool for historical documents, and another example of disciplinary situatedness concerned geographical place.
Then there is the transformative window (see the 2nd poor photo), which engages with critical theory, and issue of politics, ethnicity, gender etc. Lupton showed questions that might be asked at a historical site (e.g. about who is involved in maintaining it, who is excluded, whose voices are unheard etc.)
Finally there is the expressive window, in which affect is important (Lupton included the question "does this nourish me") and also aesthetics, self-expression (developing your own voice), and social media responsibility. She showed a rubric used by a design colleague which includes both transformative and expressive elements.
This was a fascinating and useful talk: you can find  more on her blog and publications.

Supporting information literacy in MOOC learning #ecil2015

This is my slideshare and some links for the ECIL workshop this afternoon!

Supporting information literacy in MOOCs from Sheila Webber

Futurelearn "Exploring Play" MOOC https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/play

- Conole, G. (2014). A 12-Dimensional classification schema for MOOCs. http://e4innovation.com/?p=799

- Entwistle, N., Nisbet, J. and Bromage, A. (2004). Teaching-learning environments and student learning in electronic engineering: paper presented at Third Workshop of the European Network on Powerful Learning Environments, in Brugge, September 30 – October 2, 2004. http://www.ed.ac.uk/etl/docs/Brugge2004.pdf

- Sharpe, R. et al. (2006). The undergraduate experience of blended e-learning: a review of UK literature and practice. York: HEA. https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/teachingandresearch/Undergraduate_Experience

Information Literacy Instruction: What Can We Learn from Reading and Writing Research #ecil2015

The first invited speaker today is Eero Sormunen, talking on: Information Literacy Instruction: What Can We Learn from Reading and Writing Research? at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
He was motivated by the challenges of teaching information literacy in schools and by dissatisfaction with research silos (people being unwilling tolook outside their own discipline). He highlighted relevant work in education, some of which he was going to talk about more.
He went on to mention Kuhlthau's ISP model, and then showed his own model for information interactions in learning tasks. Elements were information environment, search interactions, source interaction and learning task (unfortunately since I'm still in the back row I couldn't capture the diagram).
Then Sormunen talked about research into reading multiple texts: "reading to write" studies (from the 1990s; e.g.looking at synthesising across texts, reading and writing as an integrated process) and later multiple text comprehension research on the internet (e.g. with a focus on evaluation and selection of information, synthesis across sources, constructing arguments). He moved on to research in online reading, mentioning particularly the work of Leu, who looked at information processing practice in online reading (e.g. this, or (thanks to Eero Sormunen) this). There was a cluster of reasons identified for reading e.g. to understand important questions, to evaluate information critically.
Another example given of online reading research was by Kiili, a qualitative study which identified various reading patterns in learners working in pairs on a task (e.g. co-construction of knowledge and meaning; individual construction of meaning; silent reading) (a quick search found what I think is the study he mentioned, and a similar study by the same author)
Then there were studies on epistemic thinking: people's ways of knowing, and conception of what knowledge is. He showed Kuhn's developmental model of epistemic beliefs and noted that there is current research into reading multiple documents and epistemic beliefs.
Sormunen finished by talking about his own research in this area, in particular the ARONI project: argumentative online inquiry in building students' knowledge work competencies. The home page for the whole research project is here: https://blogs.sis.uta.fi/aroni/
They are looking at information and school-based practices, as well as information literacy education. He is working with teams from educational research (with expertise in online reading, argumentation, knowledge work competencies, evaluation of teaching practices). You can find a little further information on the website that I just linked to: the project only just started. It aims to develop an instructional model for Finnish high schools.
(Some updates made 15 November)
Photo by Sheila Webber: front door  to my apartment in Tallinn old own, where I'm staying this week

Guided Inquiry: A Pathway to Information Literacy in Action #ecil2015

It's day three of the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 and I have to confess that I arrived a little late, and therefore this liveblog has the caveat and apology that I missed the very start of the keynote by Carol Kuhlthau: Guided Inquiry: A Pathway to Information Literacy in Action. The photo shows my view from the back (rather than my usual front row view).
Kuhlthau proposed a definition for Information Literacy which was: "Information Literacy is the ability to use information to construct knowledge for wise action". The question was how to develop this kind of IL in learners: Kuhlthau was proposing that using her Information Search Process model and Guided Inquiry in combination would be valuable.
Kuhlthau mentioned some recent responses by other organisations to the question of "what is information literacy?" e.g. the new ACRL framework and the Standards for the 21st Century learner.
The speaker moved on to her own response in the new (2015) edition of her book on guided inquiry, which can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Guided-Inquiry-Learning-21st-Century/dp/1440833818/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445410611&sr=1-2. In this new edition, she includes a curriculum which is built around three key questions:
1) "How do I find information about my questions?". This had an associated concept that "Information that is organised provides access to facts, ideas and multiple perspectives". She mentioned David Ellis' steps in information seeking.
2) "How do I know know the information I find is dependable?" with an associated concept "Valuable information prompts curiosity, reflection and enlightment"
3) "Will the information I find help me learn about my questions?" There was an associated principle "Thoughtfully interpreting information over time leads to deep learning" (note that I may not have got these wordings 100% correct as I transcribed them quickly)
Kuhlthau identified a gap in understanding how information becomes knowledge, and she highlighted some work which relates information behaviour to learning (e.g. Heinstrom, Limberg - and I would add my colleague Nigel Ford). (This is reaching back to the concepts of surface/strategic/deep learning developed by Ference Marton and his colleagues).
There was also Kuhlthau's own work, including her work of many years into seeking meaning and her Information Search Process model. She has a lot of information about this research model here https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/information_search_process.htm Kuhlthau talked through some key elements in the model e.g. the critical stages of exploration and formulation, and she focused on uncertainty as part of learning (uncertainty being one of the stages in the affective aspect of the ISP). She also explained her ideas of zones of intervention (the points where the librarian could best help the learner, within the ISP).
Finally Kuhlthau brought together the Guided Inquiry process and the Information Search Process. Again there is a good amount of information about this on her website here https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/guided_inquiry_design.htm so I won't try to explain it here.
She finished by adding to her definition a further gloss "The ability to interpret and use information for creating solutions for sustainable living".

Update #ecil2015

Still 2 days left of the the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015!
Apologies - earlier today I posted a post with nothing in it but the link to the conference website, by mistake (and it had got 40 page hits before I noticed and deleted it, which made me feel guilty!) I'll be liveblogging a bit less less tomorrow since I'm delivering a presentation and a workshop.
Here's a link to a presentation that I didn't attend:
Presentation by Jane Secker and Maria Bell: Sustaining student ambassadors: developing digital literacies in undergraduate students
and of course there is the Twitter stream at https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ecil2015

Mapping Collective Information Practices in the Workplace #ecil2015

Liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. Andrew Whitworth presented a paper on Mapping Collective Information Practices in the Workplace coauthored with Maria-Carme Torras i Calvo, Bodil Moss, Nazareth Amlesom Kifle and Terje Blåsternes
They had been looking at IL as a set of practices (a collective activity) in two Norwegian libraries. To quote the abstract "The basis of the project is its investigation of how members of communities of practice collectively manage, or “steward” their informational resources – or information landscapes – in a context of significant change."*
They aimed to get both insider and insider view, and also to engage the staff with data. They used a mapping tool, Ketso, to map the information landscape. This mapping was focused around responsibilities and tasks, and looking at information sources and needs, as well as things that were blocking progress. This also helped to articulate tacit knowledge (see picture; though it's a pretty dreadful photo, it gives you an idea of the maps).
These maps could be revisited periodically, to see (for example) whether the blockages were being removed. Whitworth said that he felt that it would have been useful to have the maps on the wall as reminders, rather than folding them away between meetings.
*I removed the references from this quote.