Photo by Sheila Webber: Traveller on the road to Kimu, Tallinn, October 2015
Monday, November 16, 2015
Call for nominations: 2016 Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Awards
Photo by Sheila Webber: Traveller on the road to Kimu, Tallinn, October 2015
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Peer review - #uksg webinar
Photo by Sheila webber: cloths at the Kehrwieder cafe, Tallinn, October 2015
Friday, November 13, 2015
Social media and libraries: Twitter and more
Secondly, The Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science (volume 39, no. 3/4: priced publication) has a special focus on Archives, Libraries and Museums in the Era of the Participatory Social Web. It includes:
- Preface: Archives, Libraries, and Museums in the Era of the Participatory Social Web in English and French by Fidelia Ibekwe-SanJuan, Elaine Ménard
- Influence, Reciprocity, Participation, and Visibility: Assessing the Social Library on Twitter/Influence, réciprocité, participation, et visibilité : Évaluation de la bibliothèque sociale sur Twitter by Lorri Mon, Jisue Lee at http://bit.ly/cjils393_4d
- “Library 2.0” Viewed through the Prism of the French Librarians’ Blogs/La « Bibliothèque 2.0 » vue à travers le prisme des blogs de bibliothécaires français by Bérengère Stassin at http://bit.ly/cjils393_4e
- Social Media in Libraries and Archives: Applied with Caution/Les médias sociaux dans les bibliothèques et les archives : Appliqués avec prudence by Chern Li Liew, Shannon Wellington, Gillian Oliver, Reid Perkins at http://bit.ly/cjils393_4j
Photo by Sheila Webber: house near Kumu, Tallinn, Estonia, October 2015
Thursday, November 12, 2015
#i3rgu conference presentations
They are just identified by name of presenter, so unless you want to take a lucky dip approach you will need to refer to the programme at http://www.rgu.ac.uk/file/i3-programme-2015-pdf-500kb
There were many interesting research presentations about information literacy and information behaviour (some of which I blogged - afraid I'm not going to be going back and adding presentation links, though)
Photo by Sheila webber: pears at the farmers' market, November 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
New articles: Misinformation, search behaviour, situated learning, undergraduate research
- Why Students Share Misinformation on Social Media: Motivation, Gender, and Study-level Differences by Xinran Chen, Sei-Ching Joanna Sin, Yin-Leng Theng, Chei Sian Lee
- The SHU Research Logs: Student Online Search Behaviors Trans-scripted by Beth Bloom, Marta Mestrovic Deyrup
- Beyond Mechanics: Reframing the Pedagogy and Development of Information Literacy Teaching Tools by Stephanie Margolin, Wendy Hayden
- The Effect of a Situated Learning Environment in a Distance Education Information Literacy Course by Amy Catalano
- What do You Give the Undergraduate Researcher who has Everything? An Academic Librarian by Kimberly Douglass, Thura Mack
- Advanced vs. Basic Search: Digital Perception and Library Learning by Jill Strykowski
Issue at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00991333/41/4
There is also a new early release open access article:
Faculty and Librarians' Partnership: Designing a New Framework to Develop Information Fluent Future Doctors by Rachid Bendriss, Reya Saliba, Sally Birch http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0099133315002050
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield University campus: St Georges church and a glimpse of the Diamond building, November 2015
Monday, November 09, 2015
Education in Chemistry
Education in chemistry https://magazines.rsc.org/web-reader/eic/
Photo by Sheila Webber: War memorial, Sheffield, October 2015
Sunday, November 08, 2015
University of South Carolina Upstate infolit award criteria
Photo by Sheila Webber: produce at Blackheath Farmers market, November 2015
Friday, November 06, 2015
cfp 15th Annual Information Literacy Summit (USA)
"We are seeking presenters to lead engaging and interactive discussions about information literacy and library instruction. We are especially interested in breakout sessions and panels which explore critical pedagogies, the evolving nature of information literacy, and are related to this year's theme: Shifting Perspectives: Developing Critical Approaches in Information Literacy. We hope to foster conversations across all types of libraries, schools and other organizations and encourage a diversity of perspectives in this proposal call." Breakout sessions and panels are called for, with a deadline for proposals of January 22, 2016.
For more information, go to http://informationliteracysummit.org/
Photo by Sheila Webber: the library at Tallinn Airport. There was also a cute shabby-chic coffee shop that did aeropress coffee; and various other amenities. This gives it the rare disctinction of being an airport departure lounge I would have liked to have spent more time in. October 2015
Thursday, November 05, 2015
Mathematics and information literacy: chat and article
- Bussmann, J. D., & Bond, J. D. (2015). Information Literacy in Mathematics Undergraduate Education: Where Does It Stand Today? Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship, 81, DOI:10.5062/F4WM1BD8 http://www.istl.org/15-summer/refereed2.html
- Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). (2015). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
Questions to be discussed include:
- How have you been most successful in teaching information literacy for math students?
- How have you been most challenged?
- Have you made use of the new information literacy framework in your instruction to math students? Have you thought about how to make use of it? Which of the threshold concepts seem most relevant to math students?
The discussion is in Adobe Connect: go to http://ala.adobeconnect.com/r9d5u9fcgv9/
If you have never attended an Adobe Connect meeting before: test your connection at http://ala.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm and get an overview at http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html
STS Monthly chats are archived at http://bit.ly/stsilmonthlychatarchive
Photo by Sheila Webber: Seagull overlooking Tallinn, October 2015
Tuesday, November 03, 2015
Framework spotlight on scholarship
Garcia, L. (2014). Applying the Framework for Information Literacy to the Developmental Education Classroom. Community and Junior College Libraries, 20(1-2), 39-47.
http://acrl.ala.org/framework/?cat=17
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn, October 2015
Engaging with the ACRL Information Literacy Framework Conference
This will be taking place on March 10, 2016 at the University at Albany, USA. "There will be opportunities to engage in discussions about the Framework, share your experiences with it, learn from colleagues, and engage with a panel of disciplinary faculty members. Look for a call for poster sessions soon with registration information to follow." There doesn't seem to be a website yet: information was posted by Allison Hosier, Information Literacy and Undergraduate Outreach Librarian, University at Albany, ahosier@albany.edu
Friday, October 30, 2015
cfp #WILU2016
• 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
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Posters for the ACRL Framework
Photo by Sheila Webber: Tallinn old town, October 2015
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
cfp #LILAC16
Photo by Sheila webber: next to the Parliament building, Tallinn, Estonia, October 2015
Bookmark alert! #LILAC presentation archives
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
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Critlib, youth citizenship, librarian-teacher workshops, research safari #ecil2015
- 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
Monday, October 26, 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.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Closing session at #ecil2015
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.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Information Literacy Instruction Methods for Lower Secondary Education in Finland #ecil2015
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
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
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).
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
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
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.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Critical Evaluation of Information: Generic, Situated, Transformative and Expressive Windows #ecil2015
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.
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!
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
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
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
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".
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Update #ecil2015
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
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.
Ethics of Professional Information Literacy #ecil2015
Matthias Rath is speaking next, at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015. His topic is Ethics of Professional Information Literacy. In particular his focus was on the information literacy of professional journalists. He felt that communicating "many to many" with Web 2.0 (defined as a participative web) was the problem for journalists. He defined user created content as being content created "outside professional routines and practices". He also used the concept of the "public sphere" (professional, non-private, one to many, and associated with bourgeois society in the 17-19th centuries). Ordinary citizens did not have opportunities to communicate within this public sphere in its traditional form. The speaker presented a model in which journalists were positioned as representatives of the public, but also a bottleneck intermediary (between citizens and politicians, for example). However, this situation changed with Web 2.0. Axel Bruns had identified the "produser" (user and producer). Not only citizens, but also companies, politicians etc. also participated in Web 2.0 "many to many" interactions.
Turning to positives and risks of this situation. Positives were: Negotiation (different perspectives); Collective intelligence; Judgement (helping people to evaluate reliability). Risks included lack of orientation about truth; no control over truthfulness.
The speaker proposed journalists as "managers of attention" helping citizens to decide where they could most usefully direct their attention on the web. Turning explicitly to ethics, Rath identified general journalistic ethics (being balanced, not publishing news that causes harm, giving citizens information they need for self-government). To enact these ethics, journalists needed to be information literate, particularly in the Web 2.0 world. Individuals haave to earn their own individual reputation and credibility, including journalists. Also (I think) this might help non-journalists develop a sense of what it meant to be a reputable, reliable producer/produser in the Web 2.0 environment.
A delegate raised afterwards the issue of journalists who are told what to do by a government or powerful figure (which was acknowledged as a problem), and the speaker also mentioned that there is an issue of journalists who are working online, and often working/publishing in different countries. The problems of a press controlled by vested interests even in a democracy (the UK) were also raised.
Turning to positives and risks of this situation. Positives were: Negotiation (different perspectives); Collective intelligence; Judgement (helping people to evaluate reliability). Risks included lack of orientation about truth; no control over truthfulness.
The speaker proposed journalists as "managers of attention" helping citizens to decide where they could most usefully direct their attention on the web. Turning explicitly to ethics, Rath identified general journalistic ethics (being balanced, not publishing news that causes harm, giving citizens information they need for self-government). To enact these ethics, journalists needed to be information literate, particularly in the Web 2.0 world. Individuals haave to earn their own individual reputation and credibility, including journalists. Also (I think) this might help non-journalists develop a sense of what it meant to be a reputable, reliable producer/produser in the Web 2.0 environment.
A delegate raised afterwards the issue of journalists who are told what to do by a government or powerful figure (which was acknowledged as a problem), and the speaker also mentioned that there is an issue of journalists who are working online, and often working/publishing in different countries. The problems of a press controlled by vested interests even in a democracy (the UK) were also raised.
Information-seeking Behavior and Information Needs of Farmers in Turkey and Sweden #ecil2015
The speakers identified that farmers encounter problems, both do to with their farm produce and the more general economy, climate etc. Previous research has identified that farmers benefit from national systems to support the farmers' information needs. There may also be issues of farmers' literacy.
This study investigated the needs to two areas, in Western Sweden (a developed country) and a comparatively less developed region of Turkey, Fethiye. A questionnaire was used for both countries, using both print and online (36 respondents in Sweden, 38 in Turkey) Additionally in Turkey there was an interview with farming associations, and for those Turkish farmers who were illiterate, there were phone questionnaires.
The educational and literacy levels were higher in Sweden. The biggest needs in Turkey were seed and product cultivation and other physical aspects (more so than in Sweden, where there was more interest in market prices and day to day trends). The Swedish farmers were using libraries to find information, in contrast to Turkey.
Recommendations included "green spaces" in libraries, and courses from libraries, but most of all there was a need to tailor services and information to the local needs of the farmers, which the study showed were varying.
Photo shows another view of lunchtime at the conference
Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers #ecil2015
European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn. Determining the Value of Information Literacy for Employers was presented by Stéphane Goldstein and Andrew Whitworth. In work sponsored by the CILIP IL Group they had investigated 3 companies and developed a draft tool to help people identify the value of information literacy to employers. This is a spreadsheet with cells for areas in which the participants said they invested and the expected returns on investment.
The areas for investment included investment in: organisational practice, information systems and technologies, staff development and support; and use of space.
One thing that was mentioned that the participants said they wanted to develop the capacity of their clients in handling information (e.g. a local authority wanting to develop citizens' skills or a company wanting people to develop skills in using its software)
As usual this is just a liveblogged impression of the talk and there is a lot more detail here, including the actual spreadsheet tool: http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/transferable-skills/il-value/ and I've embedded the presentation below
The areas for investment included investment in: organisational practice, information systems and technologies, staff development and support; and use of space.
One thing that was mentioned that the participants said they wanted to develop the capacity of their clients in handling information (e.g. a local authority wanting to develop citizens' skills or a company wanting people to develop skills in using its software)
As usual this is just a liveblogged impression of the talk and there is a lot more detail here, including the actual spreadsheet tool: http://www.researchinfonet.org/infolit/ridls/transferable-skills/il-value/ and I've embedded the presentation below
Professional Information Literacy From Workplace to Profession #ecil2015
She identified that workplace information literacy has been examined before, and workplace information literacy researchers have emphasised to look at IL in context, with the need to examine different types of workplaces. Therefore she agreed that IL is shaped by context (people, spaces and the interactions). The focus here was on level of interaction. Workplace was distinguished from professional in focusing on location (with local colleagues) rather than looking at the group/community that form a profession (with interactions within the profession).
Abdi's PhD was a phenomenographic investigation the IL of web professionals. She had not started out by distinguishing between workplace and profssion, but the participants were articulating their IL more as professionals (rather than relating it to their physical worlplaces). The categories that she discovered were staying informed; building a successful website; problem solving; and participating in a community of practice.
This prompted the focus on professional IL. In the case of web authoring, there is a virtual working aspect that might put more emphasis on professional rather than physical workplace settings.
This is the start of this research and there werre intersting questions about the differences between the two concepts and where Communities of Practice fitted in, following the talk.
Photo taken at lunchtime today
How Can Video Games Facilitate Information Literacy? #ecil2015
I will take this opportunity to advertise my article, since this addresses the title topic:
Gumulak, S. and Webber, S. (2011) "Playing video games: learning and information literacy" Aslib proceedings, 63 (2/3), 241-255. I've also supervisied numerous other Masters dissertations on information behaviour and videogames e.g. Cheng, Y. (2013). An Analysis of Gamers’ Information Behaviour in Computer Gaming Environment: improving the features of games. MSc Dissertation. University of sheffield. http://dagda.shef.ac.uk/dispub/dissertations/2012-13/External/Cheng_Y_Y60.pdf
Photo: another shot from last night's reception
Systemic Disturbances in Thesis Production Processes #ecil2015
They used Engestrom's activity system approach: looking at the process of preparing and finalise a thesis, in which the elements were fullfilling administrative tasks (factitive system), the thesis process as the thesis research and reporting process unique to each student, (the object system) and the activities to support students in completing the thesis (the support system). In addition to this the speakers looked for anomalies in information use. For example the ideal is to write an original text, plagiarism is an anomaly; the ideal is to do a rich information search, not doing one is an anomoly. This opposes the idea of accepting that there is a "new normal" (of superficial search and copying).
They took the example of "unclear references within a text" - a student might use many references in a paragraph, but the role of each reference may be unclear. The second case was of a thesis detected to have plagiarised material; it was implied (I think) that this might be ignored or remain undetected. Another example was where student and others including supervisor made assumptions that were in fact incorrect (should the librarian intervene here?)
In conclusion, the speakers felt that at the moment the actors were seen to be the student, supervisor and (if present) project or client partner (i.e. not the librarian). They proposed that institutions should be more open about it being OK for theses to be "quick and dirty" or take things like plagiarism more seriously.
I think it would be interesting to have learnt more about the use of activity theory here. In teh questions there were various questions raised about plagiarism (including what IS plagiarism)
Photo by Sheila Webber: more food at the reception last night
Reflecting on Diverse Teaching Methodologies for an Information Literacy Programme #ecil2015
Theo Bothma presented Reflecting on Diverse Teaching Methodologies for an Information Literacy Programme for Large Groups (coauthored with Ann-Louise de Boer) at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 in Tallinn.
He explained that they had been delivering an information literacy module at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) for some time. They were redesigning the module, and they used the The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) as part of this process. Analysing the textbook they'd been using, they identified whetre it was lacking in terms of the HBDI, and used that in designing the new online version of the texbook. For example they added simulation exercises. This module is taken by 9000 students over 3 campuses, there are 175 sessions a week in 16 dedicated teaching labs, with 35 students per session (so it's a very big initiative!)
He said that IL was presented as being valuable for life, not just study. The IL aspect is based on the big 6, and there is also a computer literacy component. There is a lot of emphasis on searching, as well as ethical use, evaluating and presenting the information. Computer skills training is I think integrated, in that they learn by using applications such as Word and reference managers as part of the tasks and assignments.
They have evaluated the module over the years, currently this is done via questionnaires and focus groups. Before starting the module students tend to be negative (why are we doing this) but survey shows that at the end a big majority agree that IL is important, is important to studies etc. In terms of print/online preferences, 25% said they only use the paper workbook, whilst 11% use only the e-textbook. The rest use both, with varying preferences. Most students liked use of multimedia and would have liked more, although some felt they hadn't the time to watch extra videos. They were more divided in opinion about whether there should be more exercises.
They want to introduce more subject-specific exercises and assessments; want to do more advocacy (to make academics aware of whathe students do in the class: at the moment there isn't development of IL to build on this initial education); to improve the e-book with more interactivity; to review pedagogic approach in light of the HBDI model; to get the publishers of the e-book to get it to work properly on a mobile device.
I think I have blogged about this initiative before. Also there are publications e.g.
De Boer et al. (2011) Enhancing Information Literacy through the Application of Whole Brain Strategies. Libri, 61, 67-75. http://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/17889
He explained that they had been delivering an information literacy module at the University of Pretoria (South Africa) for some time. They were redesigning the module, and they used the The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) as part of this process. Analysing the textbook they'd been using, they identified whetre it was lacking in terms of the HBDI, and used that in designing the new online version of the texbook. For example they added simulation exercises. This module is taken by 9000 students over 3 campuses, there are 175 sessions a week in 16 dedicated teaching labs, with 35 students per session (so it's a very big initiative!)
He said that IL was presented as being valuable for life, not just study. The IL aspect is based on the big 6, and there is also a computer literacy component. There is a lot of emphasis on searching, as well as ethical use, evaluating and presenting the information. Computer skills training is I think integrated, in that they learn by using applications such as Word and reference managers as part of the tasks and assignments.
They have evaluated the module over the years, currently this is done via questionnaires and focus groups. Before starting the module students tend to be negative (why are we doing this) but survey shows that at the end a big majority agree that IL is important, is important to studies etc. In terms of print/online preferences, 25% said they only use the paper workbook, whilst 11% use only the e-textbook. The rest use both, with varying preferences. Most students liked use of multimedia and would have liked more, although some felt they hadn't the time to watch extra videos. They were more divided in opinion about whether there should be more exercises.
They want to introduce more subject-specific exercises and assessments; want to do more advocacy (to make academics aware of whathe students do in the class: at the moment there isn't development of IL to build on this initial education); to improve the e-book with more interactivity; to review pedagogic approach in light of the HBDI model; to get the publishers of the e-book to get it to work properly on a mobile device.
I think I have blogged about this initiative before. Also there are publications e.g.
De Boer et al. (2011) Enhancing Information Literacy through the Application of Whole Brain Strategies. Libri, 61, 67-75. http://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/17889
Argument-Driven Inquiry in the Information Literacy Instruction in Taiwan #ecil2015
Next at the European Conference on Information Literacy 2015 for me was Argument-Driven Inquiry in the Information Literacy Instruction in Taiwan , presented by Lin Ching Chen, coauthored with Yaw-Huei Chen. She started by identifying the importance of argument learning (which means meaning making anargument using logical reasoning and relevant evidence to convince and audience whilst condsidering one's own opinion). The speaker felt that there was a lot of similarity between information literacy and argument-driven inquiry. The purpose of her presentation was to examine students' overall argument performance and to get the views of teachers and students.
She used a class of 30 grade 5 (which is towards the end of primary school, I think) learners in Taiwan where IL using the Super 6 and Big 6 were intergrated into the curriculum. The exercise involved groups of students chosing a controversial figure, mindmap the person, identify pros and cons of the person with evidence, write argumentative essays and then present their conclusions to the class.
As a research instrument she had a 13 item instrument (e.g. asking them to give a positive example or argument abpuyt something, or asking about the argumentative process itself), which was used for a pre and post test, and looking at the written answer and using a kind of rubric as analysis framework. There were much better results in the post test. One third of students had difficulty integrating multiple perspectives in one text. 50% could apply what they learned in argumentative texts. Looking at the teachers' opinions; time was a key problem (more time was needed). The speaker recommended teacher librarian and classroom teacher systematically and collaboratively designing argument-driven inquiry projects.
She used a class of 30 grade 5 (which is towards the end of primary school, I think) learners in Taiwan where IL using the Super 6 and Big 6 were intergrated into the curriculum. The exercise involved groups of students chosing a controversial figure, mindmap the person, identify pros and cons of the person with evidence, write argumentative essays and then present their conclusions to the class.
As a research instrument she had a 13 item instrument (e.g. asking them to give a positive example or argument abpuyt something, or asking about the argumentative process itself), which was used for a pre and post test, and looking at the written answer and using a kind of rubric as analysis framework. There were much better results in the post test. One third of students had difficulty integrating multiple perspectives in one text. 50% could apply what they learned in argumentative texts. Looking at the teachers' opinions; time was a key problem (more time was needed). The speaker recommended teacher librarian and classroom teacher systematically and collaboratively designing argument-driven inquiry projects.
Young Children Making Connections Using the Web #ecil2015
She started by identifying access issues for children in Australia. She said that Australia's network was slow. 90% children 5-14 years old have access to the internet - but that means that 10% do not. As in other countries, low income families are less likely to have access to the internet. If children in low income areas need to use the internet for homework, then they may have to find somewhere that has free wifi, particularly a problem in rural areas and where public transport isn't good. Similarly, low income families will have older/cheaper devices, which may disadvantage children who are expected to bring their own devices to school. Another issue is whether parents join in communal activities around computers (e.g. games and Minecraft), or whether the child uses apps by themselves without social interaction.
Danby highlighted some research on very young children and web searching. She mentioned Australia's early years learning framework, that included technology and use of digital technology for information seeking and play. However there is still ambiguity about this use. Danby briefly described some of her own research, in which they surveyed teachers, observed children at home and at school, and then the final phase will be a survey of teachers. There is also a 3-year longitudinal study of 6 families (with young children, 3-5 years). Through the projects they are aiming to understand childrten's use of technology in terms of social interactionsand daily practice.
From the teacher survey, about 80% gave access to computers (though less were connected to the internet). Although the teachers had positive beliefs about the place of digital technology, only a minority (for example) discussed finding information in class. The teachers appeared to struggle to know how to incorporate use of digital technology in the classroom. By the way, Danby put a lot of information on the screen, and I could only capture some of it.
She gave a couple of examples of something prompting a web search (e.g. a child having a tick, leading to discussion in class, then a search at break time, which gets documented as an activity). Another example was a child discovering a caterpillar, leading to an unsuccessful web search, then a digital photo sent to an expert, then an ongoing search for information, interacting with actual observation of the caterpillar pupating, becoming a butterfly, and the teacher and child seeking out more caterpillars of the same species. Danby showed us a video recording a teacher with a child trying to identify the tick that she had, looking at the ways in which the teacher and learner interacted, and the assumptions being made about the child's knowledge.
Further video clips showed children exploring google streetview, playing with what can be done on the screen, and talking about themselves in relation to a location they have been, and then interacting with each other, screen and mouse to find a place on google maps. Another example, of a Sunday morning in bed, a father was taking the two young children's digital interactions for granted and asking them questions about what they were looking at e.g. the older child looking at pictures of the planets and the sun. In another video clip, a father was scaffolding a child in working through a search problem (encouraging, querying and guiding). Therefore in these examples the focus is on "talk in practice", how the teachers, parents or peers are interacting with the child and the device to problem solve, and whether or not they are scaffolding students' progress and giving them agency.
Some finishing thoughts were that
- there was some rich interaction between siblings going on in homes around digital technology
- teachers of older children could learn from teachers of young children in the way that the teachers of young teachers used real life incidents to stimulate web searches
- adults could be playful in their web searching, and also use correct terminology to help children learn
This talk was also interesting in that to me these would fit as information behaviour studies, but undertaken by someone outside the IB community: there is a lot of overlap in terms of research questions and methods between the two fields.
Photo by Sheila Webber: food at the reception last night.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Outsourcing Trust to the Information Infrastructure #ecil2015
The first thing he looked at was the changing learning environment in schools. Theses changes mean that there is an increase in active learning, looking at many websites rather than one book, with more digital media, ubiquitous access, new ways for mediating knowledge, and possibly with knowledge itself more subject to market forces. For example, the top hits on Google may be said to be there because of market forces. Sundin gave the example of a search on climate change where suggestions for search (from Google) included prominently "climate change hoax": the top hits, as readers will know, depend a lot on the popularity of sites (in links and clicks and various other - secret- aspects).
Sundin then cited a Swedish National Agency for Education survey from 2013 which showed that students of about 13-15 years thought they were pretty good at searching and evaluating (Sundin noted that the fact that search is not seen as a problem IS the problem).
This forms a background to Sundin's research. He identified that, in this research, he took a sociomaterial perspective, saw humans as coproducing knowledge, and people as "actors translating their activities in relation to each other" (so people are acting and reacting, I think also in relation to the tools as well as each other). Thus people's source evaluation practice is shaped by the nature of the technical/information infrastructure and sources themselves.Sundin identified Google as "obligatory passage point": something that people had to engage with in order to act and progress.
Sundin then presented some insights from the project on Knowledge in the Digital World (KDW). This is funded by the Swedish Research Council, and investigates practice of information seeking in everyday life and at school. They have been collecting qualitative data and Sundin presented some vivid quotations that showed how search had become an intergrated part of everyday life. In a focus group there was a response to a question about when you didn't search - and answers frpm participants were that you only didn't search if the internet was down, or your phone battery was flat.
Regular readers of this blog will remember that I blogged a talk from Sundin at the i3 conference, and there he introduced a phrase "search-ification of everyday life", which captured people's imagination at the conference. He also introduced it here. It indicates how many different kinds of information were accessed, or mediated,via a search engine. Search engines, particularly Google, have thus become naturalised as an unquestioned part of people's lives.
This means that people "outsource critical evaluation of information to Google" (by accepting the top hits). So "Search engines are not just tools for finding information, they are also technologies for establishing significance".
Sundin concluded by calling for a renewed interested in search as an object of learning, with searching seen "in a critical light" rather than being regarded as neutral. This information side needs to be addressed critically as part of media and information literacy research. This involves probing the information infrastructure which is hidden beneath the seeming simplicity of the search box: highlighting that this seeming simplicity is actually complex.
Another old photo: Olof is from Lund University and this shows a picture taken in the grounds of Lund University by me in 2013
From Information Literacy to Environmental Literacy #ecil2015
So, what can the information community contribute? Chowdhury emphasised that plans for sustanaibility of information systems and services need to take account of the institutional context. One possibility is replacing print with digital, however ther ehas not been good research that actually demonstrates that replacing print with digital is necessarily more sustainable. He noted that "Globally the ICT industry produces over 830m tonnes of Co2", and specifically HE institutions produce high levels of CO2 from ICT. A substantial amount comes from individual use of PCs again, so reducing access time would seem positive.
The speaker felt that sustainability could be improved through collaboration and access (e.g. open access). However, there can be questions about the sustainability of institutional repositories, which tend to be funded in addition to journal subscriptions etc. and have rising energy costs. He went on to talk about improving search recommendations and filtering, which would save time of learners' searching (and thus save energy costs) - though possibly this would not develop their information literacy!
Chowdhury was keen to develop a community researching these issues. During his talk he also presented a model of the sustainable digital library (see picture).
He has written about these issues, for example here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00799-014-0116-0 and here http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=049566
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