Reading Preferences of Finnish, Norwegian and Romanian students #ecil2015

Below I summarise findings from the last two studies about student preferences between electronic and print documents. I will preface this with some of the issues and questions that emerged. One was the problem of government and instutional policies that were pushing strongly towards having electronic materials for students. Studies that had identified that people learnt better from print rather than screen were also mentioned: there seemed to be evidence from these studies, as well, that learners felt that they were learning better from print. What was notable was that the all the studies, from various countries, came up with very similar results. Although none of the samples (as I understood it) were robust and random, aggregating the results makes them more persuasive. There was discussion about whether the preferences would be different if the technology was better (more usable and easy to read).

Next in the print/electronic reading session, some more national studies from the cross-national study I blogged a earlier from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. Firstly, there was Reading Preferences of Finnish University Students, presented by Terttu Kortelainen. have had joint electronic resource in Finland for a while now, and collection of e-books has become larger. In addition to research questions persued in other surveys, a further research question was to see whether students with visual impairments had different preferences. 668 questionnaires were completed (in March 2015), as a result of contact with 18 Finnish universities. 287 were social sciences, 142 medical/nursing (the 2 biggest disciplinary groups). Strengths of printed were seen that it was better for learning, easy to read and share, tactile - but less available. A number of free text views about preferences were given (e.g. getting distracted online, finding the screen too bright, eyes getting more tired when reading on screen, finding easier to read in peace in print). There were also comments about books being "heavy" on screen, but articlres being good electronically. Some students qualified their statements about preferences for print with comments about realising that this print-preference was bad for the environment! (So, the Finnish students were ecologically aware: it was noted during question time that students were assuming that electronic sources were better ecologically, which hasn't been proved). Students mostly did annotate print course materials and didn't annotate electronic ones. There was little difference between the responses of those who had visual impairments and those who did not. The only notable disciplinary difference that was mentioned was that engineers tended to prefer electronic format.
The comments gave more insight into preferences. The students had different preferences in different circumstances and wanted to have the choice (also, e.g. they might want to read in print and archive electronically).

Next, Almuth Gastinger presented The More They Tried It the Less They Liked It: Norwegian and Romanian Student’s Response to Electronic Course Material, coauthored with Ane Landøy and Angela Repanovici. This reported on responses from Norwegian (1063 answers across 6 institutions) and Romanian students (610 responses, from one university).
In terms of preferring to have all course materials in print format, there was a majority agreeing in both countries. In response to a statment about preferring material electronically, there was correspondingly a majority in disagreement. A majority of students felt they remembered information best from printed information. The results from the two countries were very similar, but there was a slightly larger number of Romanian students who liked electronic publications.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Russian church, Tallinn, October 2015

Electronic/ Print preferences in Portugal and France #ecil2015

I will put together the next 2 studies about print/electronic reading, given at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn (one study in France and one in Portugal). Firstly: Student Reading Behavior: Digital vs. Print Preferences in Portuguese Context by Ana Lúcia Terra. Her study was carried out in the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. The 23 item survey was administered March-June 2015. 262 students completed the survey, 73% undergraduate students, 57% male. 53% agreed/strongly agreed they preferred to print course readings. 67% disagreed/strongly disagreed that they preferred electronic textbooks. In comments, preferences for manual handling of books was mentioned. A majority preferred to print items over 7 pages, and 32% preferred to read items less than 7 pages in print (slightly less than the number who disagreed with this statement, 36%). Language did not strongly affect preference. A with studies already presented in this session, students annotated print more than electronic texts, and felt that print was better for remembering and focusing on material. "Portuguese students prerceived print as more suitable for successful learning"- however the students did want a mix of print and digital resources.

Next, Joumana Boustany talked about: Print vs. Electronic: What Do French Students Prefer in Their Academic Reading Material? She started by highlighting how digital technology is everywhere, and the French Government had a goal of making 100% of educational materials in digital format. The survey was the same one as others had mentioned in this session. The author mentioned that it had been difficult to get the questionniares disributed, and she had feared that respondents were biased towards those liking technology as social media was important in recruitment of participants.
1629 completed responses were received, 80% female. The majority were studying at undergraduate level. A majority agreed or strongly agreed that they remember information best, and can focus on and review information better when it is in print. 68% disagreed that electronic was more convenient. The majority of students also preferred to read material in print, and annotated it in print, but not if it was electronic. Preferences were not affected by language (French or another language).
Thus there was a clear preference for print format despite the Government and University push towards the digital format. This leaves a problem for the librarian - to go with user preference or University/Government.

Photo by Sheila Webber: outside a cafe, Tallinn, October 2015

Paper or Electronic: Preferences of Slovenian Students #ecil2015

The next paper in the "reading format" session at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 was Paper or Electronic: Preferences of Slovenian Students from Vlasta Zabukovec, coauthored with Polona Vilar.
This study was part of the multi-country study that I just blogged about: a 25 item survey carried out March-May 2015. The content addressed format preference, behaviour and attitudes, devices used.
120 male and 140 females responded from three universities in Slovenia. There was a strong preference for print format. 76% disagreed or strongly disagreed that e-textbooks were good. When they read the e-textbooks they did so on laptops and PCs more than anything else. The students agreed by a big majority (about 80%) that articles over 7 pages were read in print for preference. Language did not emerge as a factor affecting preference (this would mostly be Slovenian and English). Only about 5% agreed/strongly agreed that they preferred Slovenian material electronically (even a smaller percentage than for other languages). A majority annotated print items, and a smallminority annotated electronic items. In teh learning process, participants identified that print was easier for learning, focusing and reviewing.
There were obvious implications: i.e. that students still want to use printed materials, although there could be scope for developing students' knowledge/skills about electronic publications.
In a question afterwards, it emerged that students did like convenient, free online publications: but then they wanted to print them out.

Reading Format Preferences of Students - Print vs Electronic Academic Reading Format International Study #ecil2015

After lunch, I am attending a session looking at print/digital reading: I'm liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn. The session started with Reading Format Preferences of Students - Print vs Electronic Academic Reading Format International Study: Investigating the “Print or Electronic” Question around the World from Diane Mizrachi, Joumana Boustany and Serap Kurbanoğlu.
The study was stimulated by a presentation from Mizrachi at the last ECIL conference, into preferences of students at UCLA (USA). Findings from that included that: undergraduate students preferred print, but liked the convenience of electronic. Their preference also depended on context e.g. if a paper was important or long they preferred to print it. Kurbanoğlu presented the next section of the talk, which explained the research network that has developed to do multi-country studies.
In this particular case they used the Limesurvey survey tool. The researchers from each country had responsibility for the survey in threir own language (Limesurvey has a feature that makes formatting this easier). The survey has 25 questions. 9650 completed answers have been collected from 22 countries, with 4 more about to participate. Whilst most questions are uniform, there are some differences (notably, different qualification). They are starting analysis this month (though some national results were being presented later in the session): they have had to do a small amount of data cleaning, and translate comments into English.

Perception of Information Literacy among Faculty #ecil2015

Still liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn. The next paper I heard was Perception of Information Literacy among Faculty at the University of Graz, Tallinn University and University of Zagreb was presented by Valentina Kirinić, coauthored with Christian Schlögl and Sirje Virkus.
The study explored how IL is perceived by academic staff in 3 different disciplines at the three universities. The perception was explored by looking at attitudes and behaviour and practice.
26 academics were interviewed, mainly using closed questions. They were asked to express their familiarity with IL, say whether they thought they were info literate and express the needs, benefits etc. of IL training. Awareness was greatest at Tallinn, but there the discipline was information science. At Graz (business studies) awareness was lowest and at Zagreb there was more familiarity than at Graz, but it tended yo be associated with information technology. In terms of different elements of IL, there was no broad agreement between academics at Graz and Zabgreb, with information sources and quality assessment prioritised at Zagreb, and articulation of information needs at Graz, whilst at Tallinn they were all seen as important, depending on context. Most respondents saw advanced training in IL as important, with only one person at Graz and 3 at Zagreb disagreeing. However there were various views of what kind of training ws needed. Academics at Graz and Zagreb mostly thought IL should be a separate course, whilst at Tallinn they thought it should be integrated.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, 2011

Information Needs of Doctoral Students in Psychology #ecil2015

Zuza Wiorogórska delivered a paper on Field-Specific Information Needs of Doctoral Students in Psychology. A Comparative Study, and I am liveblogging this from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015.
The inspiration for this was work on her PhD research. Her sites were Lille and Warsaw, and participants were PhD students in psychology. She aimed to investigate their information behaviour (IB) and discover their information needs, so library services could be improved. She used three concepts: Information Literacy, IB and methodological literacy. Firstly there was an online survey, and then a semi-structured interview. 5 students from each country agreed to be interviewed (from 12 answering the questionnaire in Poland and 9 in France): she is treating this as a pilot.
In both countries keywords, names and previous references were starting points for search. Students weren't using journal publisher alerts. Students searched in Google, Google Scholar, Science Direct and some other databases, e-journals, and networking websites such as Academia.edu. Polish students complained about embargos on papers and the cost of purchasing articles (which they couldn't afford). The students mostly searched for articles and were selective on what they printed out (e.g. just things for indepth reading). Most of the students downloaded papers and stored them on their computers, also using tools like dropbox, external data stick etc. and some were attempting to categorise them.
The respondents found information sharing important e.g. with peers, supervisor: this was part of being in a community of practice in which students would share ideas with colleagues and learn to network.
There was little use/awareness of bibliographic management software: from that point of view the research itself helped to raise awareness of what was available and could be used.
In terms of social media, French students used Twitter more, and Polish students were more likely to use Facebook. They also looked at academic blogs. In terms of open access, although they saw this as a good ideal, their focus was on publishing in high impact journals (and teh students could not afford to pay to be published).
The results were generally very similar in the two countries, and the respondents felt there was a need to a "structured specialized instruction" for doctoral candidates. The speaker felt that it would be worthwhile to foster a learning community ofPhD students.
The next step is doing a study in the USA, to compare with Polish/French students.

The Enactment of Information Literacy: An Exploratory Study among Interdisciplinary PhD Students #ecil2015

Next in liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 was The Enactment of Information Literacy: An Exploratory Study among Interdisciplinary PhD Students was presented by Ola Pilerot, and his co-author was Louise Limberg.
This study was based on material originally gathered for Pilerot's PhD work. The problem that they perceoved that students in interdisciplinary fields face "a number of chal;enges concerning epistemic traditions and research practices" - as they are having to engage with more than one disciplinary areas they have to cope with a scattered literature, and differences in disciplinary practices (about how you do research, what tools you use, what are good methods etc.)
In this context information literacy is seen as the embodied capacity to engage with information (find, evaluate etc.) in a disciplinary area (so that the students can come to grips with the different disciplinary practices and information worlds). The interdisciplinary field here was "design research".
Research questions were "How is IL enacted in the investigated practice" and "In what ways does IL relate to people and material objects in the practice under study?". There was apractice theory approach. Data was collected through 10 interviews and observations etc. in conferences, meetings etc. The "guiding principles" for the study were activities (what is done); individual agency (what can people do, what practices happen); material objects; power (what can/can't be done) and what it means to be knowledgeable.
The results included that IL is enacted:
- in dialogue with others (e.g. fellow students and conference delegates)
- through discussion about work in progress (which can be academic work, practical design wotk etc.)
Thus IL is "a collectively sustained project that unfolds in dialogue with othersand through interaction with material objects". However, it is challenging for the students to position themselves, when their projects are interdisciplinary and may be novel.
In a question afterwards I made a connection with the skills that a librarian needs to understand and think themselves into different disciplinary information/knowledge worlds.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, 2011

Two Years of Information Culture Development for Supporting Higher Education #ecil2015

Juan D. Machin-Mastromatteo gave the next talk I'm liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn, Estonia. It was entitled: Two Years of Information Culture Development for Supporting Higher Education: Initiatives, Teacher’s Perceptions and Future Actions.
Information Culture is identified by his university (CETYS Universidad, Mexico) as important for students (it is in the strategic plan), and has resulted in an Information Culture (IC) Development Programme. I would say their definition of IC is broadly similar to information literacy. Initiatives are divided into three axes, including subject guides, support of online courses, joint activities between librarians and academics, flyers, videos and (in the axis todo with research support) citation and communication support guides (including courses on publishing etc). They use the SAILS and iSKills assessment tools. There is also an evaluation strand to the programme.
As part of this latter activity, they have interviewed 8 academics and collected questionnaires over 2 years of implementing the programme. Looking at the interviews with academics; they were aware of the initiative but fuzzy about what exactly the scope was and how it differed from other library activities. However, they felt that there were positive changes in the libraries because of the programme, and there seemed to be better links between academics and librarians. It was agreed that IC needed to be better integrated into curricula and the academics gave some specific suggestions.
In conclusion, so far they have been aiming at developing basic IC skills. They have also found that there are fewer barriers when the activities as regarded as challenging (e.g.publishing) so help is welcomed. However, there are still a good deal of challenges in reaching students. They have identified that more promotion and communication has needed. There are opportunities e.g. as the university is moving more towards as a research orientation, and librarians can offer support.

Information Literacy and Information Culture in Higher Education #ecil2015

Continuing liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn, Estonia. The next talk I am attending is: Information Literacy and Information Culture in Higher Education Information Literacy and Information Culture in Higher Education Institutions in Estonia. It is presented by Liia Lauri, and coauthored with her supervisors Sirje Virkus and Mati Heidmets.
Information Culture is here interpreted in its information management sense, as an information culture (IC) within an organisation (information/knowledge practices, attitudes and values). Thus the research questions concerned the various ICs in HE instititions in Esonia and how they could be characterised, as well as looking at whether there was any relationship with job satisfaction.
Data was collected via a web based questionnaire, using concepts developed through previous research e.g. information sharing as a component of IC. There were 160 respondents from 12 institutions.
Through factor analysis they identified 3 types of IC:
- Integrated, with academics well informed about their unit and the institution, with formally regulated information sharing: a transparent process
- Proactive, in which the focus is on serach for trends and changes in HE, involved in joint activities, with a high use of new information channels
- Informal, in which people prefer to get information from colleagues, rather than from formal sources.
In terms of information use, Integrated uses more internal (intranet) sources, whereas Proactive uses more external sources (e.g. websites) and uses sources more frequently. Integrated was satisfied with information availability, whilsy Informal was frustrated about information overload.
There was a significant correlation between Integrated and job satisfaction and satisfaction with leadership, as well as with self-reported performance. However Informal IC had negative correlation with job satisfaction and there was more willingness to leave their jobs.
Thus a key finding was that having an integrated IC had significant correlations with job satisfaction and self-reported performance: on the other hand it is notable that this IC was not so outward looking and alert for trends. Therefore it is not compatible with a risk-taking culture that might be seen as necessary for organisational development and market awareness.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, 2011 (I will be reusing some of my old photos today!)

Modelling Children’s Experiences of Online Skills #ecil2015 #eukidsonline

I'm liveblogging from the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn, Estonia. The first keynote is from Sonia Livingstone on Modelling Children’s Experiences of Online Skills, Opportunities and Risks: a European Perspective.
She started by talking about the European Union-funded EU kids online network, which operated 2006-14 and ended by involving 33 countries. It carried out qualitative and quantitative research. This was funded by Safer/ Better Internet for Kids initiatives, and in 2015 the network passed to the Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research in Hamburg. Additionally there is a collaboration between the LSE (where Livingstone is based) and UNICEF: Global Kids Online.
There is a lot of information on the linked websites, and I’ve blogged some of the reports previously as they came out.
Livingstone highlighted how much media anxiety there is about children's use of the internet and online/social media. Indeed there is more focus on that, rather than on the benefits of online engagement. This had had implications for directions in which research and Government attention had gone, with questions urged about the potential harm of digital media. At the same time there was the equally problematic counternarrative about digital natives, which also inhibited focus on developing children's literacies.
Therefore the projects that Livingstone had been involved with were aiming to address these problematic narratives. She highlighted the extent to which access and use of information is changing fast, and the need to investigate the children's perspective. Whilst on the one hand children may be very comfortable with using their devices, they still have anxieties and find some material (e.g. about violence to people and animals) upsetting.
Livingstone said that a survey of a thousand children (and parents) in 25 countries was the one of the most challenging things they did. It shows (and she said, most surveys of this kind show) that the risks that adults worry about (e.g. seeing sexual content and being bullied) affect a minority (e.g. 12% in 2014). Overall, in 2014 17% say they had been bothered by something on the internet in the past year. Notably, some of the things that worry adults were not worrying the children. However, more concerning is that between 2010 and 2014 there was more of an increase oin girls being bothered.
Livingstone moved on to talk about "skills and literacies". The Kids Online project had asked chilldren what they had done online. Comparing 2010 and 2014, basically the children do more of everything. The top 3 activities were visiting social networking profiles, using instant messaging and watching video clips. Using the internet for school work followed on from that. (n.b. this information can all be found in more detail on the websites I've linked to).
Moving on to skills about privacy and evaluation; for example (in 2014, 11-16 year olds) 71% could block messages, whilst at the other end of the scale 37% knew how to change their filter preferences (e.g. on search engines). 57% said they could compare information to find out if it were true. Livingstone showed there was a correlation between doing a lot on the internet and having these skills, although their were variations by country. There were also correlations between a high level of activity and the number of risks encountered. Obviously there are hopes that developing skills in information/media/digital literacy could help counter the risks. What is unclear is which factors make some countries apparently less risky (ie with a lower correlation between high level of activity and experiencing more risks).

Livingstone moved on to reflect on the directions for the research field. One issue is that of the nation: as noted, there are differences between nations, so how does one characterise a nation? There may be ways of comparing between countries e.g. if there is more gender equality in a nation, is there less difference between patterns of male/female internet use? A context for some of this investigation is a new COST project The digital literacy and multimodal practices of young children (DigiLitEY). Livingstone put a model on the screen indicating influential factors at the individual, social and national level (see the 2nd picture). Two question are - what matters (e.g. does it matter that children may be encountering risks and opportunities online rather than face to face) and why does it matter. A final fact that Livingstone highlighted was that children are using online and devices at very young ages and therefore parents involvement is very important. A report released last month is:
Livingstone, S., Mascheroni, G., Dreier, M., Chaudron, S. & Lagae, K. (2015) How parents of young children manage digital devices at home: the role of income, education and parental style. London: EU Kids Online, LSE. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/63378/
This was the outcome of an observational study with 70 families. Parents and siblings interaction and involvement with young children was important.
Livingstone finished by talking about the challenges of impact, in particular impact on policy, as well as achieving change. Sometimes the push for education to simplify and make measurable, and the service/application designers' complication of privacy setttings etc do not help. She left us thinking about digital Barbie, and the issues around the information which children are giving their digital Barbies, and what might happen to it (this draws in issues of surveillance, by companies, parents and governments, the subject of some questions after the talk).

Looking forward to #ECIL2015

In a few hours the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 will be opening in Tallinn, Estonia. I aim to be liveblogging as usual, but I won't be doing this for the opening session, since I am representing IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) and reading out a message from the IFLA President, as part of the opening.
However, if the wifi is working, my liveblogging should start with Sonia Livingstone's opening keynote. I myself am contributing a paper and workshop, and two of my my PhD students are also presenting (Jessica Elmore and Evi Tramantza). The picture shows the street in Tallinn old town where I'm staying for the week (the stripey door leads into the building's courtyard).

UNESCO supports media and information literacy in Uzbekistan

The UNESCO Tashkent Office and the National Library of Uzbekistan just held a training-the-trainers meeting for the specialists of libraries and information centres on Media and Information Literacy. For more information: go here
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn across the road from the iSchool

PRIMO site of the month: InfoRhode Tutorials

The latest choice of the Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) Committee of the Instruction Section of ACRL for their Site of the Month is InfoRhode Tutorials. There is an interview with producer Jim Kinnie on the PRIMO website. "InfoRhode Tutorials is an online tutorial that explores the basics of college-level research. It consists of six modules that follow the research process: Start, Identify, Gather I, Gather II, Evaluate, and Cite. Each module includes two sections (one has three sections); each section has a presentation (short video), an interactive activity, and a quiz. InfoRhode modules can be used for point-of-need instruction, as an embedded resource in a credit course, or as a substitute for lecture/demonstration in flipped classrooms. They can stand alone or be used in customizable combinations." The interview is at http://acrl.ala.org/IS/september-2015-site-of-the-month/
Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn in Weston Park, October 2015

Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Awards

Nominations for the 2016 Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Awards are called for. There are two awards:
- "The LIRT Librarian Recognition Award will be presented to an individual librarian in appreciation for her/his contributions to the field [of information literacy]"
- "The LIRT Innovation in Instruction Award will be given to a Library that demonstrates innovation in support of information literacy and instruction."
The awards are presented at the American Library Association Annual Conference. Award winners receive a $1,000 award, a plaque, and a $500 travel grant to be used to
attend the ALA Annual Conference. Awards are sponsored by the Library Instruction Roundtable. It doesn't seem to restrict nominations to ALA members or North American librarians. Deadline for nominations is 31 December 2015. More information at http://www.ala.org/lirt/awards
Photo by Sheila Webber: Gormley ("Another Place") emerging from the mist, October 2015

Barebones teaching mechanics for librarians - the Guinea Pig version!

Only a few tickets left for the online course starting 9 November 2015 Barebones teaching mechanics for librarians - the Guinea Pig version! being offered by Andrew Walsh. This is a reduced-price test run (hence guinea pig ;-) More info and signup at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/barebones-teaching-mechanics-for-librarians-the-guinea-pig-version-tickets-18972752012

Keystones to foster inclusive Knowledge Societies

Another recent UNESCO publication is:
UNESCO. (2015). Keystones to foster inclusive Knowledge Societies: access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy and ethics on a global internet: final study. Paris, France: UNESCO.
The four keystones are: Access to Information and Knowledge; Freedom of Expression; Privacy; and Ethics. Media and Information Literacy is identified as important to the first two of these. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/internetstudy

Media and Information Literacy for sustainable development goals

A book which can be downloaded as a pdf is: Singh, J., Grizzle, A., Yess, S.J. and Culver, H. (2015). Media and Information Literacy for the Sustainable Development Goals: MILID Yearbook 2015. Gothenburg, Sweden: Nordicom.
MILID is Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue, a programme fostered by UNESCO and UNaOC. There are chapters from different parts of the world e.g.
- Li Xiguang, Zhao Pu, Ouyang Chunxue: News Kills: Media Literacy and Health Education
- Ogova Ondego: Media Wise: Empowering Responsible Religious Leadership in the Digital Age
- Jun Sakamoto: Intercultural Dialogue and the Practice of Making Video Letters between Japanese and Chinese Schools
- Dilara Begum: Media and Information Literacy in Bangladesh: A Case Study of East West University
- Forest Woody Horton Jr.: Muses on Information Literacy, Media Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue: A Coffee and Tea Shop Application
The photo shows the printed version which I got at the inaugural meeting of the European chapter of GAPMIL (Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy), which is taking place at UNESCO HQ in Paris. I'm chairing the meeting on behalf of IFLA so I'm not doing any liveblogging, but I'll do a post afterwards.Find the book at http://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publikationer/media-and-information-literacy-sustainable-development-goals

Wikipedia article

Garrison, J. (2015). Getting a “quick fix”: First-year college students’ use of Wikipedia. First Monday, 20(10). (an open access journal) "College students use Wikipedia frequently, despite educators’ highly divided opinions about it, and so it is important to understand how and why they are using it. This study followed a first-year class of undergraduate, liberal arts students over the course of their first semester to see how they used, were influenced about, and rated Wikipedia. Data was collected via two surveys of the first-year class, as well as focus groups and a survey of college faculty. This study found that first-year students are uncertain about the variety of ways to use information sources like Wikipedia, and that a direct and balanced approach to this area from instructors may lead to better outcomes than strict prohibition or silence." http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5401/5003
Photo by Sheila webber: another Gormley, October 2015

MOOC pedagogy; Enthusiasm for digital games; Predictors for satisfaction in online learning

3 recent papers to do with learning and technology.
- Stieler-Hunt, C. and Jones, C. (2015). Educators who believe: understanding the enthusiasm of teachers who use digital games in the classroom. Research in Learning Technology, 23. "This study used qualitative methods to explore why some educators embrace the use of digital game-play (DGP) in the classroom. The results indicated that these teachers had a very strong belief that DGP could be beneficial for learning which stemmed from experiencing their own form of subjective success with using DGP in the classroom, availing themselves of information and advocacy about using DGP in the classroom and personal experiences with DGP either through their own DGP or through watching their own children play games. They also shared positive attitudes towards information and communication technologies generally and had initially been invited to use DGP in the classroom by someone in authority. ... Finally, this study indicates that teachers need to experience their own form of subjective ‘success’ in order to find DGP valuable and this subjective ‘success’ often goes beyond test score performance." http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/26155 (open access journal)
- Kauffman, H. (2015). A review of predictive factors of student success in and satisfaction with online learning. Research In Learning Technology, 23. It identifies learner characteristics and the literature (perhaps unsurprisingly) shows that "Adequate instructional methods, support, course structure and design can facilitate student performance and satisfaction." http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/26507
- Ferguson, R. et al. (2015). Moving through MOOCS: pedagogy, learning design and patterns of engagement. In: EC-TEL 2015: Tenth European Conference on Technology-Enhanced Learning (Klobucar, Tomaž and Conole, Grainne eds.), 16–17 September 2015, Toledo, Spain. Springer.
"Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are part of the lifelong learning experience of people worldwide. Many of these learners participate fully. However, the high levels of dropout on most of these courses are a cause for concern. Previous studies have suggested that there are patterns of engagement within MOOCs that vary according to the pedagogy employed. The current paper builds on this work and examines MOOCs from different providers that have been offered on the FutureLearn platform. A cluster analysis of these MOOCs shows that engagement patterns are related to pedagogy and course duration. Learners did not work through a three-week MOOC in the same ways that learners work through the first three weeks of an eight-week MOOC." Proof copy: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/87328/ Priced final version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24258-3_6
Photo by Sheila Webber: Another Place, Antony Gormley sculptures: a Gormley and a not-Gormley, October 2015

Library 2.015 Worldwide Virtual Conference

The Library 2.015 Worldwide Virtual Conference (free and online) is on October 20th 2015. Go to http://www.library20.com/2015. There is a variety of sessions, with a few on information literacy, I noted:
Creating Information Literacy Toolkits for HBCU Libraries--Undergraduate Research by kYmberly Keeton
First Year Library Instruction in China: Active Learning, Collaboration and Assessment by Ray Pun
Instructing the Masses with an Army of One: Extending Information Literacy Online with a Limited Budget and Staff by Seth Allen
Photo by Sheila Webber: Gormley in the distance, October 2015

Collaborative Information Seeking

New book: Hansen, P., Shah, C. and Klas, C-P. (Eds.) (2015). Collaborative Information Seeking: Best Practices, New Domains and New Thoughts. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-18988-8
http://www.springer.com/gb/book/9783319185415
Chapters include:
- Collaborative Information Seeking: From ‘What?’ and ‘Why?’ to ‘How?’ and ‘So What?’
- Situating CIS: The Importance of Context in Collaborative Information Seeking
- Learning Through Collaborative Information Seeking
- Collaboration, Information Seeking, and Technology Use: A Critical Examination of Humanities Scholars’ Research Practices
- Affective Dimension in Collaborative Information Seeking
- Collaborative Information Seeking Around Big Data
Photo by Sheila webber: looking over a Gormley's shoulder, October 2015

Concept mapping (and many other things)

Kathy Schrock maintains pages of links to many useful things related to educational technology: one I link to for my students has links concerned with Concept Mapping, but as you can see from the home page at http://www.schrockguide.net/ there are pages on many other topics (e.g. online tools, 3D printing, Infographics). I didn't check all of them, but of the half dozen I checked, all except one had been checked/upadted in September or October 2015.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Another photo of Antony Gormley's Another Place sculptures, October 2015

Play, Games and Information Literacy

Organised by the UK's Information Literacy Group, the one-day event Play, Games and Information Literacy is free for ILG members, £25 to others. It takes place in Leeds, UK on 23 November 2015. More information at https://ilgplay.eventbrite.co.uk
Photo by Sheila Webber: the first of several photos of Antony Gormley's "Another Place", October 2015.

Assessment in Action

The Western New York/Ontario (WNY/O) ACRL Fall Conference is on October 30 2015 and focuses on Assessment in Action. It takes place in Henrietta, NY, USA. The speakers are: Gabriela Castro Gessner, Research and Assessment Analyst, Cornell University Library; Zsuzsa Koltay, Special Projects Librarian, Cornell University; Bonnie J. M. Swoger, Science Librarian, Head of Reference and Access Services, Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo; Corey Ha, Head of ITS, Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo. More information at: http://wnyoacrl.org/wnyo-acrl-fall-conference-2015-2/
Photo by Sheila Webber: away down the path, October 2015

USA's Information Literacy month in October

Tomorrow (1st October) is the start of Information Literacy Awareness month in the USA. President Obama made the first proclamation of an Information Literacy month in October 2009.
Go to http://infolit.org/october-is-national-information-literacy-awareness-month/. There is also an ongoing campaign to get individual US states to sign up for information literacy http://infolit.org/nfil-proclamation-campaign-project/

Understanding Young People's Information Literacy Beliefs and Practices in the United States

An interesting recent article:
Metzger, M. et al (2015). Believing the Unbelievable: Understanding Young People's Information Literacy Beliefs and Practices in the United States. Journal of Children and Media, 9 (3), 325-348.
This is a study of young people's credibility judgements about websites (e.g. could they identify hoax websites). "2,747 responses were obtained from children [in the USA] between the ages of 11–17 years plus 18-year olds still residing with their parents." The researchers formed hypotheses that various factors would affect credibility judgements. The older children were better at evaluating websites (as had been hypothesised) but there was no correlation between higher economic status and evaluation skill.
"Across all outcomes except believing the hoax websites, the thinking style variables—including need for cognition, flexible thinking, and faith in intuition—emerged as the strongest predictors of young people's awareness of credibility problems and information evaluation skill. Overall, and as predicted, being open to various and conflicting perspectives and liking to think hard about problems lead to higher reported use of more effortful credibility evaluation tactics, while faith in intuition and trusting others lead young people to be more trusting of online information."
However, having had teaching in how to evaluate websites did not necessarily improve people's skill in spotting hoax websites "these findings suggest that young people might be using the evaluation techniques they have learned they should use (or perhaps just reporting that they use these techniques) without understanding their purpose." It is recommended that children should be taught the purpose of evaluation, rather than a checklist of how to evaluate.
Photo by Sheila Webber: trees moving to autumn, September 2015

Recent theses: Information Literacy in an Irish Higher Education; Minecraft and IL; Critical literacy; IL and serious leisure

Delaney, M. (2014) Concept, Ownership and Impact of Information Literacy in an Irish Higher Education Setting. EdD thesis, University of Sheffield. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/8563/1/Mary%20Delaney%20thesis.doc (Education School)

Bebbington, S. (2014) A Case Study of the Use of the Game Minecraft and Its Affinity Spaces for Information Literacy Development in Teen Gamers. Masters thesis, School of Information Studies, University of Ottawa. http://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/31699/1/Bebbington_Sandra_2014_Thesis.pdf

Alford, J. (2015) Conceptualisation and enactment of critical literacy for senior high school EAL learners in Queensland, Australia : commitments, constraints and contradictions. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/79931/ (Education School)


Demasson, A.. (2014) Information literacy and the serious leisure participant : variation in the experience of using information to learn. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78615/

Photo by Sheila Webber: autumn anemone, September 2015

European Conference on Information Literacy programme available #ecil2015

The provisional programme for the European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) 2015 is available. ECIL 2015 is organized by the Institute of Information Studies of Tallinn University, on 19-22 October 2015, in Tallinn, Estonia. Go to http://ecil2015.ilconf.org/ for more information. I and two of my PhD students are presenting there ;-)
Photo by Sheila Webber: the first apples from my tree, Sept 2015

#OERs section on CILIP ILG site

There is a new section on the CILIP Information Literacy Group website, focusing on OERs (Open Educational Resources). They provide "an overview of the wide variety of OERs available for information literacy teaching and learning" and will also have sections on Finding OERs, Using OERs, Creating OERs and Sharing OERs. The first two sections are already there. Go to http://www.informationliteracy.org.uk/teaching/oers/
Photo by Sheila Webber: more hydrangea, September 2015

Threshold Concepts in the Information Literacy Classroom

A 6 week online course, Threshold Concepts in the Information Literacy Classroom: Translating the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy into Our Teaching Practices, is offered by Library Juice Academy October 5 to November 13 2015, cost $250. The educator is Andrea Baer. More info at http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/119-frameworks.php

Call for Proposals #LOEX2016

There is a call for proposals for LOEX 2016 (the main USA information literacy conference) to be held May 5-7 2016 in Pittsburgh, USA. The conference theme is Learning from the Past, Building for the Future. The conference tracks are: ReImagine- Rethinking Teaching & Learning; ReFrame- Exploring Multiple Perspectives on Pedagogy; ReCycle- Using Technology & Keeping Teaching Fresh; ReConnect- Meeting Your Neighbors - Outreach & Collaboration; ReInvigorate - Leading to Create Change; ReAssess - Learning from Success & Failure.
Proposals for 50-minute long presentations and interactive workshops can be submitted through the online submission form; deadline November 20 2015. For more info, go to
http://www.loexconference.org/breakoutproposals.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea, September 2015

Futurelearn Academic Network (FLAN) meeting #flnetwork

Today I'm attending a Futurelearn Academic Network (FLAN) meeting being held at the British Library (which has its own logoed water bottles, see pic). Futurelearn operates the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platform that my university (Sheffield University), and numerous others, use. There is a special focus on collaborations, particularly with cultural organisations such as museums.
From this morning's session I'll just pick out a few points
- Issues around literacies in using MOOCs - one of the MOOCs had a real time discussion within the MOOC and found that participants were a bit confused about how this worked and how to engage with it.
- Thinking about the relationship between your pedagogic and media approach and the actual topic of the MOOC. Thus within the Propaganda and Idealogy in everyday life MOOC there was a backlash against using Flickr to share images from participants (because of privacy and surveillance issues).
- The way in which the tone of the conversation within the MOOC is set: there was some discussion around why discussion wasn't having much trolling, even when the topic was potentially contentious. This could be because a MOOC was flagged up as being "academic", because of the way moderators managed the conversation (through their comments and replies), or because of the tone set at the start of the MOOC (if people's comments showed empathy and respect from the start, making the MOOC a safe place).
- The importance of building on existing partnerships (using the example of Cardiff University's Muslims in Britain: Changes and challenges MOOC) and how a MOOC could lead to future partnerships.
- There were interesting questions about the way in which the physical and digital worlds interacted. For example, MOOCs "piggybacking off exhibitions" (and how, if the MOOC and the exhibition were on together, you would track whether people at the exhibition had participated in the MOOC). Someone who was involved in the Richard Third MOOC said there had been cross fertilisation, with people at the visitor centre promoting the MOOC, and the MOOC offering opportunities to promote the centre. A further example was the plan for the London Central Mosque linking to MOOC material from their printed guide. Someone representing the National Trust said they were interested in MOOCs helping them to tell more engaging stories, for deeper connection. There was also discussion about whether, if you had a live physical event during the MOOC, people would attend (I think the answer to that is "it depends".

MOOC for librarians, on literature searching

There has been an invitation for librarians to register for the LIHNN (Library and Information Health Network North West (of England) Introduction to Literature Searching MOOC which "aims to provide librarians with the knowledge, skills and examples to provide an effective literature search service." It is a pilot project funded by Health Education North West and is targeted at:
- Health care Librarians (not students/users/clinicians)
- Librarians new to literature searching or wanting a refresher
- Librarians wanting to undertake CPD for CILIP accreditation or revalidation
- Librarians wishing to look for examples of how to deliver their search results
- Librarians looking for examples and ideas to evaluate the impact of their literature searches to provide evidence for the (NHS) Library Quality Assurance Framework

"Hosted in Blackboard CourseSites [you need to use Google Chrome or IE10], the content is broken down into 6 sections:
Week 1 ASK will look at how we refine the request from the user so we know exactly what we are searching for.
Week 2: will look at how we SCOPE the resources, to select the most appropriate source to undertake the literature search in.
Week 3: will look at how we can undertake an effective literature SEARCH using textwords and thesaurus terms.
Week 4: will look at how we can REFINE the search, techniques to narrow/broaden the search
Week 5: will look at how we can SUMMARISE the results of the literature search and how we can present these results to the user.
Week 6: we’ll look at how we can EVALUATE the quality, the performance and the impact of our literature searches to provide evidence for the Library Quality Assurance Framework, or LQAF."
It is scheduled to take about 1.5 - 2.5 hours a week and starts on October 5 2015
If you are outside the national Health Service, you won't be able to try out the demonstration searches, but you can still join the MOOC (free) Go to http://www.coursesites.com/s/_LIHNNMOOCLS
Photo by Sheila Webber: michaelmas daisies, September 2015

Purdue "data information literacy" studies

Purdue University has a number of sets of material that they have developed to teach data information literacy in different subject areas. "Each of the DIL case studies includes a description of the educational program and any accompanying supporting materials such as syllabi, lesson plans, rubrics, exercises or other learning objects." The most recent is:
Johnston, Lisa and Jeffryes, Jon (2015). Teaching Civil Engineering Data Information Literacy Skills: An e-Learning Approach. Data Information Literacy Case Study Directory, 3(1), Article 1. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dilcs/vol3/iss1/1/

Other case studies are listed at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dilcs/ e.g.
- Teaching Data Information Literacy Skills in a Library Workshop Setting: A Case Study in Agricultural and Biological Engineering by Marianne S. Bracke and Michael Fosmire
- Developing a For-Credit Course to Teach Data Information Literacy Skills: A Case Study in Natural Resources by Sarah J. Wright and Camille Andrews
- Teaching Ecology Data Information Literacy Skills to Graduate Students: A Discussion-Based Approach by Brian Westra and Dean Walton
- Planting the Seeds for Data Literacy: Lessons Learned from a Student Centered Education Program by Jake Carlson and Marianne S. Bracke
Photo by Sheila Webber: hydrangea, September 2015

cfp Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies

There is a call for papers for the inaugural issue of the open-access Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies, with the theme: Why is the Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies needed today? Deadline for receipt of manuscripts is December 18th, 2015 (and there are various contributions solicited e.g. research papers, reviews, interviews. The journal "addresses the need for critical discourse in library and information science and associated domains such as communication and media studies. It critically engages the cultural forms, social practices, the political economy, and the history of information and information institutions. It also seeks to broaden the methodological commitments of the field and to broaden the scope of library and information studies by applying diverse critical, trans-disciplinary, and global perspectives. The journal engages issues of social and cognitive justice and the historical and contemporary roles of documentary, information, and computational technologies in creating, mediating, surveilling, and challenging personal and social identities in cultural and political economies of power and expression."
http://libraryjuicepress.com/journals/index.php/jclis/announcement/view/2
Photo by Sheila Webber, taken in Second Life, which I was demonstrating today at a Technology Enhanced Learning fest.

New articles: Information Research

A new issue of the open-access journal Information Research has just been published. Articles include:
- Naresh Kumar Agarwal: Towards a definition of serendipity in information behaviour
- Gloria Ponjuán, María Pinto and Alejandro Uribe-Tirado: Conceptualización y perspectivas de la alfabetización informacional en Iberoamérica: un estudio Delphi [in Spanish. tr Conceptualisation and perspectives on information literacy in Latin America: a delphi study]
- Lin Wang and Fei Guo: Environmental cognitions and scanning behaviour of managers of Chinese small and medium-size enterprises: an empirical study of a multidimensional model
- Jin Ha Lee, Rachel Ivy Clarke and Yea-Seul Kim: Video game information needs and game organization: differences by sex and age
- Tung-Mou Yang and Yi-Jung Wu: Exploring the effectiveness of cross-boundary information sharing in the public sector: the perspective of government agencies
- Safirotu Khoir, Jia Tina Du and Andy Koronios: Everyday information behaviour of Asian immigrants in South Australia: a mixed-methods exploration
Go to http://www.informationr.net/ir/20-3/infres203.html
Photo by Sheila Webber: Beer on bench, Boras, Sweden, September 2015

New US libraries survey reports public "thinks libraries are important to communities"

A report on Libraries at the Crossroads was published yesterday by the Pew Research Center. The results come from a survey of 2,004 Americans aged 16+, which was carried out in spring 2015. The researchers note that use of libraries "edged downward over the past three years" but many positive messages came through. For example "85% of Americans say that libraries should “definitely” coordinate with schools in providing resources for children." "65% maintain that libraries contribute to helping people decide what information they can trust." "78% of those 16 and older say libraries should “definitely” offer programs to teach people how to use digital tools such as computers, smartphones and apps."
Full report at http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/09/15/libraries-at-the-crossroads/
Photo by Sheila Webber: lemon meringue pie, Brogyllen cafe, Gothenburg, September 2015

cfp Creating Knowledge #ckviii

The 8th Creating Knowledge conference will take place at the Hilton Nordica Hotel in Reykjavík, Iceland, 2-3 June, 2016. There is a call for abstracts. The main theme is Practices, goals and visions for information literacy in higher education. The sub-themes are Implementation of information literacy into the curriculum; Assessment of information literacy; Information literacy and writing centres; New challenges for information literacy. Abstract submission closes on January 15th 2016. Go to http://upplysing.is/?Page=495
Photo by Sheila Webber: damsons, September 2015

cfp COLIS 2016

Conceptions of Library and Information Science (CoLIS) 2016 will be held in Uppsala, Sweden, June 27-9 2016. COLIS "is a series of international conferences aiming to provide a broad forum for the exploration and exchange of ideas in the field of Library and Information Science, Information Studies, and related disciplines." The keynote speakers are Geoffrey Bowker (University of California, Irvine), Louise Limberg (University of Borås) and Pamela McKenzie (University of Western Ontario). You can submit research papers, short papers, panels, workshops, alternative events and posters. Contributions can be in any area of information science, including Information behaviour and information practices, digital literacy and information literacy. Full papers have to be submitted as complete research papers. Deadline for all submissions is January 15, 2016. http://www.abm.uu.se/colis9/cfp/
There is also a doctoral forum, to be held on 26 June. Submissions for this are due on March 1, 2016
Photo by Sheila Webber: I'm sure these were labelled kohlrabi, but they look more like beetroot to me

EdTechReview

EdTechReview is an "Education Technology Community for Developing Nations to enhance the relationship between Technology and Education" and their Youtube channel has just loaded talks from the 3rd Educational Leadership Conference held in August including a talk on Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Schools https://www.youtube.com/user/ETR360/videos
Photo by Sheila Webber: plums, September 2015

Links to #wlic2015

Today I was doing feedback sessions on the World Library and Information (IFLA) Conference that took place last month, and for that purpose I listed some key links, so here they are.

- 2015 Conference website http://conference.ifla.org/ifla81
- IFLA Library, where this year’s full-text conference papers are uploaded: http://library.ifla.org/ (click on “search” in the red area on the top left, and you have a form which allows you to filter in various ways, including by conference year)
- Twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/wlic2015
- Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WLIC2015
- Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifla/collections/72157656911097061 – in particular note the good set of poster pictures https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifla/sets/72157657395345395/
- My blog posts http://information-literacy.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/wlic2015
- Sarah Bratt’s Storify https://storify.com/sebratt/wlic-south-africa
- Thoughts of delegate Shaharima Parvin: http://connection.sagepub.com/blog/sage-connection/2015/09/01/what-are-the-global-challenges-faced-by-librarians-reflections-from-ifla/
- Interview with Lambert Heller (in German) on his thoughts on the conference and on information literacy https://biistories.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/lambert-heller-ueber-social-media-horizon-report-und-information-literacy-interview-mit-den-nachwuchsstipendiaten/ - one amongst many blog posts by the German biistories folk https://biistories.wordpress.com/tag/wlic2015/

Some statements and documents released during the conference:
- Statement on Privacy in the Library Environment http://www.ifla.org/node/9803 “This new Statement on Privacy in the Library Environment is intended to give guidance to libraries and information services in an environment that includes mass surveillance by governments and routine user data collection by commercial interests that provide content or services through the Internet. Risks to library users' privacy might arise through their use of search or social media applications on the Web or their use of library platforms and content that collect data on end users.”
- Cape Town Declaration (as already blogged) http://www.ifla.org/node/9767
- New standard: IFLA School Library Guidelines, 2nd edition http://www.ifla.org/node/9744
Photo by Sheila Webber: apples and pears, September 2015

International Literacy Day

Rather belatedly, Today was International Literacy Day. http://internationalliteracyday.org/
There is a Call To Action on the IFLA website, with a quotation from Kofi Annan " For everyone, everywhere, literacy is, along with education in general, a basic human right.... Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential." and IFLA says "On International Literacy Day, 8 September 2015,we would like to ask the United Nations Member States to go further in their ambitions to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all as stated in the Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Goal 4." IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) then identifies the key action points. http://www.ifla.org/node/9861

Librarians and faculty both rate information literacy highly in survey

Library Journal and Gale conducted surveys of academics (using Gale's mailing lists) and academic librarians (using Library Journal lists) asking each about what the most important activities were for librarians, what librarians did well, and how they communicated with each other. In the article cited below they summarise results and there is a full report. One has to bear in mind that the librarians and faculty members didn't necessarily come from the same institutions, but it is still interesting to see the comparison of results. Both librarians and academics agreed that "information literacy instruction" was most important ;-)
Unsurprisingly, faculty was less concerned than librarians about communicating (98% of librarians thought communication with faculty could be improved, whilst 45% of faculty thought communication with librarians could be improved). Faculty members seemed to perceive the librarians as having a wider role than the librarians did (e.g. rating text and data mining by librarians more highly than librarians did).
Schwartz, M. (2015, September 1).Closing the Gap in Librarian, Faculty Views of Academic Libraries| Research. Library Journal. http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/09/academic-libraries/closing-gap-librarian-faculty-views-research/
Photo by Sheila Webber: cherries from my tree, July 2015: as usual birds got more than I did

Gamification resources

A recently released "Infokit" on Gamification from JISC, authored by John Kirriemuir, is at http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/infokit/games/ and there is also a note from the author at http://www.silversprite.com/?p=1870
A couple of other useful resources:
- Educause. (2011) 7 Things you should know about gamification. http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-gamification
- Hamari, J. et al (2014). Does Gamification Work? — A Literature Review of Empirical Studies on Gamification. (conference paper). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256743509_Does_Gamification_Work__A_Literature_Review_of_Empirical_Studies_on_Gamification
- Kim, B. (2015). Understanding Gamification. American Library Association Library Technology Reports. Downloadable version at https://journals.ala.org/ltr/issue/view/502 (subscription only) and a review at http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue74/kirriemuir#sthash.OgNx7S8y.dpuf
- Perrotta, C. et al (2013). Game-based Learning: Latest Evidence and Future Directions. NFER Research Programme: Innovation in Education. http://www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/GAME01/GAME01_home.cfm
Photo by Sheila webber: hydrangea, September 2015

Transparency in Teaching and Learning

The latest Project Information Literacy (full text) interview has just been published. It is with Mary-Ann Winkelmes "As the director of the Transparency in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Project, she urges faculty to think about how they teach by asking their students to think about how they learn." The interview is at http://projectinfolit.org/component/k2/item/75-smart-talks
Looking at the Transparency project website, one part of it has a process where:
"Instructors invite their students to complete a 7-10-minute online survey about their learning experiences. The survey data complements traditional student ratings of instruction by providing a measure of how students view their learning experiences and learning strengths. [people are invited to sign up for this: I don't think it gives the survey instrument, I don't think it can be the well-tried "approaches to study" inventory]
"An individualized, confidential report offers real-time insights to each instructor about how to improve students' learning, based on analysis of the data gathered from their own students and other, similar students in comparable courses.
"Optional workshops offer guidance for participating instructors on how to implement small teaching changes that will enhance their students’ learning, depending on the level and discipline of the course."
There is a page which has a list of ways in which students could be more actively involved in their learning, with examples: http://www.unlv.edu/provost/transparency. I don't think any of this is new, but it is nice to have it brought together in one place. For those interested in this area, there is a lot of relevant material on the UK Higher Education Academy's website, for example the report Engagement through partnership: students as partners in learning and teaching in higher education https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/engagement-through-partnership-students-partners-learning-and-teaching-higher-education#sthash.Njxevcbg.dpuf
Photo by Sheila Webber: ice plants, September 2015

Calibre e-book software

Not really IL-related, but a colleague (in fact an educator I got to know in Second Life, the virtual world I still use for development and networking) recently highlighted this free e-book software, that she uses with students as well. More information at http://calibre-ebook.com/about#features

CONUL Annual Teaching and Learning award

CONUL, the Irish Consortium of National and University Libraries has introduced the Annual Teaching and Learning award for outstanding contribution, achievement, excellence or innovation in the field of information literacy and teaching in Ireland. The winner will receive €1,000 for use in professional development or project related activity, the opportunity to publish their findings and a certificate of recognition. The award is open to all library staff working in CONUL libraries. The deadline for nominations is 2 October 2015. More information at http://www.conul.ie/sub-committees-groups/teachingandlearning/award-2/
Photo by Sheila webber: another fern, August 2015