Pump em up uni of derby teachmeet

Pump ‘em up: a research led approach to library induction

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Heanor Gate Science College

© Viktor Rosenfield used under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licencewww.flickr.com

Year 1 inductions

Student Academic Honesty

Learning to learn

Evaluating & Discriminating

Search Strategies

Boolean Logic

Year 2 Inductions

Student

‘advanced’ Google

Searching

Learning to learn

Due dates

Intro to Dewey

Navigating a book

The perception gap

Basic/Functional Information Skills

Higher Level Information Skills

Digital Native

Uncritical

Google Generation

Google dependent

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (11th January 2008). JISC.

How far have we come in 8 years?

• [students’] apparent facility with computers disguises some worrying problems

• …speed of web searching means that little time is spent evaluating information either for relevance, accuracy or authority

• [students’] exhibit a strong preference for natural language searching rather than analysing which key words might be more effective

Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (11th January 2008). JISC.

How far have we come in 8 years?

• …young people find it difficult to access the relevance of the materials presented and often print off pages with no more than a perfunctory glance at them

Are these still the behaviours of today’s students?

Participatory/Anecdotal Evidence

August 2011– What we found

Information Seeking Behaviours:

• Daunted by full texts• Lacked strategies to navigate and evaluate texts• “Everything’s on Google”• Lacked understanding of their own behaviours and how they could be

improved• Unwilling to ask for help• Shallow, iterative approach to web searching

Study Skills/Learning to Learn sessions

Approaches

• Assembly style mass instruction

• Chalk and talk sessions in small groups

• Interactive sessions delivered in LRC

• Tutorial activities written by LRC staff but delivered by tutors

• Self directed learning

The big idea:An attempt at designing a research led study skills programme

When I search for information I only use Google

• Discuss the filter bubble problem in relation to academic research

• Look at Boolean searching

• Effectively searching databases

• Webquests and Internet treasure hunts

Gamifying Study Skills

Achievement Generator http://x360ag.com/

Gamifying Study Skills

Zerg Rush!

I’m confident that I find the best available information when I search online

• Anatomy of a URL

• Databases vs search engines

• Books v Scholar

• Print resources – authority

I know which words most search engines ignore

• Stop words

• Keywords

• Reliance on natural language strings – noise?

I know the difference between the ‘open’ and ‘hidden’ web

• What search engines don’t index

• BL Catalogue/COPAC

I only use electronic resources to find information

• Is everything available digitally?

• Is it all searchable?

I know when information is biased

Perceived authority

~ in .ac.uk and .edu

I understand what plagiarism is

• Whole school gathering (assembly)

• Academic honesty and referencing sessions on demand

• Always available referencing clinics

• Support for Zotero and Word functions. Future support for Ref Me

Our Experience

What We Did

Involving tutors

• INSET training on electronic resources and study skills

• Banned photocopy boxes and other ‘short cut’ secondary sources

• ‘Just in time’ study skills sessions for coursework, projects and EPQ

Our Experience

What We Did

Training Students

• Study Skills/Learning to Learn sessions

• Self help tools – leaflets and guidance

• Screencasts

• Assessment questionnaires and activities

Study Skills/Learning to Learn sessions

• Interactive sessions delivered in LRC

Carl Cross

LRC Manager

Tamworth Sixth Form

Self directed learning

Screencasts

Leaflets and guidance

Future developments

• Too late by the time we get to them – needs to start in primary school

• Tutorial staff still not confident in many areas – training and support

• Consistency – Harvard? APA? Chicago? – mirrors university experience

Questions?

ccross@heanorgate.derbyshire.sch.uk

Twitter: carldjcross