#Twitter and Media and Information Literacy #MILclicks

As part of Global Media and Information Literacy week, Twitter released an updated Teaching and Learning with Twitter Guide stating that the Guide "now has media and information literacy as its focus". It has collaborated with UNESCO on this. The main chapter topics are:
Media & Information Literacy and Global Citizenship Education; Media & Information Literacy and Digital Citizenship; Digital etiquette; Dealing with Cyberbullying; Nurturing your Digital Footprints through Media & Information Literacy Footprints; Controlling your Digital Footprint; Controlling your Experience on Twitter; Media & Information Literacy Skills in the Digital Space; UNESCO’s Five Laws of Media & Information Literacy; Learning Activities for Educators and Development Actors; Twitter - The Digital Staffroom; plus some examples.
The link is at https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-and-twitter-team-media-and-information-literacy and the direct download is https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/gmw2019_twitter_mil_guide.pdf

Online courses: SoTL; Student Engagement

Two courses running in February from Library Juice:
- Techniques for Student Engagement in Library Instruction, 3 February - 1 March 2020, taught by Kristin Ziska Strange, US $175. "How do we engage students in their own learning, especially in short, one-shot library instruction sessions? In this workshop we will examine a variety of student engagement techniques, focusing on Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning, problem solving, and metacognition. Over the course of four weeks we will examine up to 10 of these techniques and how they can be applied in traditional, blended, and online classes. We will especially uncover approaches that will work for one shot library sessions. In groups we will examine one or two student engagement techniques in detail, and explore how these might work in our own contexts. We will also develop a plan for applying a student engagement technique in our own practice. This will be a discussion intensive workshop in which it will be essential to follow a close schedule of information presentation, interaction, and assessment." http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/078-student-engagement.php

- An Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 3 February - 1 March 2020, taught by Lauren Hays, US $175."The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a movement in higher education to study teaching and learning in order to improve both. Typically, SoTL scholars draw from their own disciplinary expertise when conducting research. Research findings are then shared publicly with the teaching and learning community. In this course, participants will learn about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and identify ways for involvement. Participants will also walk away with ideas for SoTL research." http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/179-SoTL.php
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield Botanic Gardens, November 2019

Recent articles: improv; IL Framework; learning objects; financial literacy

Selected items from the last few issues of open access journal College & Research Libraries News:
- Hosier, A. (2019). I was once a world famous magician: Using improv to improve performance in the classroom. College & Research Libraries News, 80(8), 456. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.8.456
- Beech, V., & Kowalik, E. (2019). From cradle to grave: The life cycle of a digital learning object. College & Research Libraries News, 80(10), 560. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.10.560 "Most librarians have probably experienced finding that a website they liked has disappeared, perhaps a video on YouTube, a tutorial, or even just an informative webpage.  ... Since we also place links to some of these items on our library webpages, disappearing websites create broken links or “link rot.” Librarians are also creators of some of these disappearing websites."
- Collier, J. (2019). Pick your battles: Re-examining the Framework for community colleges. College & Research Libraries News, 80(9), 494. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.8.494 " ... reception of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education has been lukewarm among community college librarians. Many librarians who work in community colleges believe the Framework is meant for four-year schools and research-based institutions. By closely re-examining the Framework and recognizing student needs, community college librarians can use the Framework much more effectively."
- Magi, T. (2019). Why discovery tools and information literacy are not enough: Reconnecting with reference sources. College & Research Libraries News, 80(10), 573. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.10.573
- Mross, E., & Reiter, L. (2019). Partners in financial literacy: Outreach to student entrepreneurs. College & Research Libraries News, 80(10), 575. https://doi.org/10.5860/crln.80.10.575 " ... universities and academic libraries are increasingly supporting student entrepreneurs through both curricular and extracurricular programming to help them develop new startups and small businesses. Though libraries are instrumental in providing access to business development information, they may miss a key service area for successful entrepreneurship—financial literacy programming."
Photo by Sheila Webber: hedge, Greenwich Park, October 2019

#MOOC: Information Literacy Online

The MOOC: Information Literacy Online has been released. The MOOC is available in: English, German, Catalan, Spanish, Croatian and Slovenian. There are six main modules:
Module 1: Orienting in an information landscape
Module 2: Research is a journey of inquiries
Module 3: The power of search
Module 4: Critical information appraisal
Module 5: Information use: the right and fair way
Module 6: Let’s create something new based on information and share it!
Additionally there are a couple subject-specific modules (in the English-language version, but only one in the German and Croatian versions and none in the Spanish). There is text and pictures, plus some videos and quizzes.
This is the outcome of a European project (articles etc. about the project here - this article gives an interesting and detailed account of the guiding principles and practicalities).
The content can also be re-used under a Creative Commons license.
Go to https://informationliteracy.eu/en

Fighting Fake News with Information Literacy eCourse

A priced online short course is the Fighting Fake News with Information Literacy eCourse, which runs 6 January to 2 February 2020. It is taught by Melissa Mallon and Megan Mallon and costs US $250 "In this four-week eCourse, you’ll learn how to develop and enhance students’ critical information and digital literacy skills. The instructors share techniques and strategies for teaching students how to analyze and critique news and media sources that can apply in a variety of settings. You'll also get an opportunity to make immediate connections between the course content and your own professional environment. You will leave this course with specific lesson plans, activities, and assessments that you can use to help your students become media literate in today’s digital society." More info at https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/fighting-fake-news-information-literacy-ecourse
Photo by Sheila Webber: walking dogs in Greenwich park, October 2019

Call for proposals #LOEX2020

There is a call for proposals for the The LOEX (US, Information Literacy) Conference , to be held in Ypsilanti, USA, May 7-9, 2020. Deadline for proposals is November 22 2019. You can propose a Presentation or an Interactive Workshops. there are 6 core themes: Assessment: Building in Quality Control; Innovation: Forging Ahead for 21st Century Learners; Leadership: Stepping Up to the Line; Failures and Problem-Solving: Retooling and Reinventing; and Collaboration and Outreach: Assembling Production Teams. For more info go to http://www.loexconference.org/breakout-sessions/

Teaching with Digital Primary Sources

A recent publication is: Gormly, B. et al (2019). Teaching with Digital Primary Sources: Literacies, Finding and Evaluating, Citing, Ethics, and Existing Models. https://dlfteach.pubpub.org/pub/digitalprimarysources "This white paper explores the opportunities and challenges of teaching with digital primary sources, including relevant literacies and issues in finding, evaluating, and citing digital primary sources, emphasizing ethical use and concluding with existing models for teaching." It "seeks to think through the limitations and affordances of teaching, researching, and otherwise working specifically with digital primary sources"
Photo by Sheila Webber, taken in Second Life (TM Linden Lab)

Webinar: Social Media in the Age of Misinformation

The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) has a webinar which is free to members and US $25 to non-members. It is on 12 November 2019 at 11-12 US Eastern time (which is, e.g. 4pm-5pm UK time): Social Media in the Age of Misinformation. "YouTube is one of the most important platforms for the networked public sphere. The site is a search engine, social network, repository, and alternative to television. Its algorithms also contribute to the formation of filter bubbles and the spread of misinformation. In this talk, "Misinformation in the Networked Public Sphere: The Case of YouTube," Jonas Kaiser [Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and Associate Researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society] will talk about his research on YouTube in Germany, the United States, and Brazil. Based on the example of videos about the Zika virus, Kaiser will highlight the risks of algorithms in the context of misinformation. Learning Objectives: - Participants will learn about filter bubbles on YouTube. - Participants will learn about the case study of health misinformation in Brazilian YouTube - Participants will learn about the risks of recommendation algorithms - Participants will develop a more critical understanding of misinformation in the networked public sphere"
Go to https://www.asist.org/meetings-events/webinars/social-media-in-the-age-of-misinformation-part-1/ for more info
Photo by Sheila Webber: National Maritime Museum, October 2019

Searching with pubmed

There's a recording of a webinar held in June 2019 on Searching with pubmed. It has presentations: How to search PubMed: The easy way (Margaret Vugrin); Searching PubMed Like an Expert: The Evolution (Nancy Adams, Marie C. Cirelli); Teaching PubMed Basics: An Active, Flipped Pedagogical Approach (Virginia Desouky); The Amazing Research Race: PubMed Edition (Annie Zeidman-Karpinski). Go to https://acrl.libguides.com/c.php?g=519489&p=6027142 for the recording and the powerpoints.
Photo by Sheila Webber: Sheffield, October 2019

Information Literacy as part of deterrence against "emerging forms of warfare"

This morning I was excited to hear information literacy mentioned as a way of combating disinformation: nothing new to readers of this blog, but it was on a discussion on the BBC Radio 4 news programme Today, and mentioned by a non-library person. It was Elisabeth Braw, director of RUSI's (Royal United Services Institute), Modern Deterrence Project, who felt that we all have a responsibility to check before we share information. She identified that the country that "is most resilient with disinformation is Finland where disinformation ... information literacy is taught in schools." and she went on to say how important it was to teach information literacy in the curriculum.
I have been discussing disinformation with students here in the information school and we have noted how this has become a broader political issue, but it is interesting to see information literacy and social resilience placed firmly within the scope of a project looking at ways of deterring against "emerging forms of warfare", noting that "Together with the armed forces’ capabilities, such societal resilience can function as a crucial deterrent."
The recording of the radio programme is here (right at the end of the 3 hour broadcast, at about 2 hrs 55 minutes- someone from the Oxford Internet Institute was also part of the segment) https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0009z6s and the Modern Deterrence Project is here https://rusi.org/projects/modern-deterrence
Photo by sheila Webber: plane over Greenwich Observatory, October 2019

Featured Teaching Librarian @Earth2Brooke

Brooke Duffy (Coordinator of Instruction Librarian at Seton Hall University) is the Featured Teaching Librarian on the ACRL blog: read more about her ideas and experience here:
https://acrl.ala.org/IS/ftl-brooke-duffy/

Towards an information literate society; IL as a catalyst for educational change #GlobalMILweek

As Global Media and Information Literacy week draws towards a close, I thought I would recall one of the publications that I think is particularly important: The Prague declaration "towards an information literate society" which was a product of the first strategic international and cross-sectoral meeting on Information Literacy, in 2003. The document is only one page, but has one of my favourite definitions of information literacy:
"Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of one’s information concerns and needs, and the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address issues or problems at hand; it is a prerequisite for participating effectively in the Information Society, and is part of the basic human right of life long learning." http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/CI/pdf/PragueDeclaration.pdf The meeting report is also interesting.

I was hoping to link to the proceedings of one of the influential International Lifelong learning conferences (held between 2000 and 2008), which had a rich mix of papers about information literacy and lifelong/adult learning, strong on critical and social justice perspectives. Unfortunately the institutional repository they used to be in seems to be no more (though fortunately for me, I have the printed copies). However, I identified a 2004 keynote from Christine Bruce in a different repository. This discusses themes which are still with us.:
Bruce, C. (2004) Information Literacy as a Catalyst for Educational Change. A Background Paper . In Danaher, P. et al. (Eds.) Proceedings “Lifelong Learning: Whose responsibility and what is your contribution?”, the 3rd International Lifelong Learning Conference. (pp. 8-19). Central Queensland University. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/4977/
Photo by Sheila Webber: Beech in autumn, October 2019

Monitoring progress towards access to information #GlobalMILweek #SDGs

UNESCO published a report monitoring progress towards the sustainable development goal (SDG) concerning access to information (more specifically, legal rights to access information, and freedom of information). "An important conclusion is that both oversight/appeals bodies and individual public authorities can do far better in terms of how they track requests for information and theappeals that flow from these":
UNESCO. (2019). Powering sustainable development with access to information: highlights from the 2019 UNESCO monitoring and reporting of SDG indicator 16.10.2. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000369160
"As the custodian agency for SDG Indicator 16.10.2 (access to information), UNESCO has developed a methodology to help measure and report on what has been done to implement right to information (RTI) rules. This consists of two surveys which public authorities or researchers can fill out. The first one (SURVEY 1), which concerns central oversight or support bodies for the right to information, focuses on what has been done at the central level. This includes issues such as what bodies have been established, how many appeals have been lodged and what has happened with them, public awareness-raising efforts, and records management standards. The second one (SURVEY 2), to be completed by selected public authorities, looks into what these entities have done to implement the law, including appointing information officers, helping requesters make requests, receiving and processing requests, and disseminating information proactively."

Recording of: Transformational Media and Information Literacy learning for adult citizens: “this street is full of heroes” #GlobalMILweek

A recording is available of the webinar in which I (Sheila Webber, Information School, University of Sheffield) was presenting a talk, Transformational Media and Information Literacy learning for adult citizens: “this street is full of heroes”, coauthored with Bill Johnston, Honorary Research Fellow, Strathclyde University, on 29th October 2019. The session was chaired by my colleague Dr Pamela McKinney, and it was part of the Information School's celebration of Global Media and Information Literacy Week. I was outlining use of theories from adult education and information science to address the challenge of engaging adult citizens critically and transformationally with media and Information Literacy. As the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) concept matures, it is important to expand the MIL focus to the majority of the population who are not in formal education. The title quotation is from a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah (transformed to street art in Sheffield) which inspires us to think of each citizen as a potential MIL hero.
The slides are here: https://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/transformational-media-and-information-literacy-learning-for-adult-citizens-this-street-is-full-of-heroes
The link to the webinar recording is here: https://eu-lti.bbcollab.com/recording/0284c699a3784b1a9da5a632291dc8d8
Here is the embedded webinar recording (31 minutes)

Call for Lightning Round Talks: Promoting Libraries to Non-Traditional students

There's a deadline of 1st Nov 2019 for the call for Lightning Round Talks on Promoting Libraries to Non-Traditional students, for a meeting to be held in New York, USA, on 21 November 2019. It is organised by the ACRL (National) Library Marketing & Outreach Interest Group (LMOIG) as a "Greater NYC Meetup". "How do you promote your library to non-traditional students? How do you engage and target students who may not fit the profile of a typical undergraduate student? How do you promote libraries to students who may be parents or grandparents, who take courses 100% online, and who may work full time while studying ? We are seeking brief, lightning round talks (10-15 mins) on how you promote your libraries to non-traditional students. Share your successes and failures, best tips, and what you've learned! We want to learn from you!" the proposal form is at https://form.jotform.com/92827382986172 and the meeting will be held at Berkeley College, Manhattan Campus.

Artificial Intelligence Edubox #GlobalMILweek

Flemish news broadcaster VRT Nws has produced an English-language version of its Artificial Intelligence Edubox. This consists of a two files, one with slides presenting issues and evidence about the use of AI in aspects of life and media, with discussion questions and activity outlines, and the other the "cards" for a Human vs Zombie game. As you might expect, the material is professionally produced and all or sections of it could be used to stimulate discussion. You can find the material her in Dutch: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2019/09/17/artificiele-intelligentie/ and here in English: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/10/23/vrt-news-launches-artificial-intelligence-edubox-in-english/ (you click in the blue rectangle near the top of the page, to download). The previous Eduboxes are here https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/rubrieken/edubox/ (I think only in Dutch) onfake news, data in the press, and democracy.

Recording and slides on IL definitions and the development of digital literacy #GlobalMILweek #Maddieisonline

There are slides and a video available from the event at Robert Gordon University, Scotland, organised for Global Media and Information Literacy week on 24th October. The two contributors were Jacqueline Geekie (Public Libraries Representative on the CILIP Information Literacy Group committee) talking on The IL Definition: what CILIP and the Information Literacy Group did next… and Dr Konstantina Martzoukou (Senior Lecturer, Robert Gordon University) talked about MADDIE IS ONLINE Some reflections for the development of digital literacy. The slides are here https://www.slideshare.net/martzoukou/cilip-ilg-talk-unesco-mil-week-24th-october-2019 and the video is at https://youtu.be/ocB_4pPKxR8 (and embedded below, 44 minutes)

Recording of webinar on Information Literacy of tracked data in three communities #GlobalMILweek

The recording of Thursday's 30 minute webinar by Dr Pamela McKinney on Information Literacy of tracked data in three communities: parkrunners, people with type 2 diabetes, people with Irritable Bowel Syndrome is available. You can access it here via Blackboard Collaborate, and it is also embedded below).

The start of #GlobalMILweek

Today was the first day of Global Media and Information Literacy Week. The Twitter stream is here. In the Information School, University of Sheffield the celebrations consisted of a webinar delivered by my colleague Dr Pam McKinney (I will be posting a link to the recording tomorrow) and a discussion on Global MIL week in the 3D virtual world, Second Life, in the Virtual World Educators Roundtable (VWER), an international weekly meeting for which I am lead coordinator (see the photo of the meeting).
I had asked people to share resources relevant to Global MIL week at VWER and these included items suggested by Dr Valerie Hill:
- Media Literacy Now (USA) "The mission of Media Literacy Now is to drive policy change in every state and at the national level to ensure all K-12 students receive comprehensive media literacy education and skills, now and in the future." includes resources, news stories etc. https://medialiteracynow.org/
- Digital Citizenship Museum. This is in the 3D virtual world Kitely, with exhibits from an international range of contributors: you need a special (free) browser to access Kitely. "CVL’s Digital Citizenship Museum in Kitely is an immersive educational experience that raises awareness of digital citizenship to the virtual world community as a whole. In addition to exhibit buildings, the Museum also has space for invited presentation and community networking." More information is on the website at https://communityvirtuallibrary.org/digital-citizenship-museum/
- Val Hill's own slides on Fake News. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QWetutMbAvbSzp-fVlQzJJM-MGPGQ4r4vUuMF2mOywY

PRIMO site of the month: Reading Scholarly Articles

The latest PRIMO (Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online) Site of the Month is a course called Reading Scholarly Articles, created by Amanda Nichols Hess & Joanna Thielen of Oakland University, USA. "Reading Scholarly Articles is a three-lesson, freestanding e-learning course that students can enroll in to learn more about effectively understanding peer-reviewed articles." To access it in guest mode, use the Guest Username: sourcesgt and Guest Password: libsrc. PRIMO https://research.library.oakland.edu/sp/subjects/tutorial.php?faq_id=281
Photo by Sheila webber: sweet chestnuts, Greenwich Park, October 2019