The Scottish Information Literacy Project:working with partners to create an information literate Scotland
The Scottish Information Literacy Project: From ICT to Digital Literacy
the importance of information literacy
Christine Irving&
Dr John Crawford
digital literacy in an e-world 2008: The 8th Annual E-Books Conference - Thursday 30th October 2008
Presentation• Scottish Information Literacy Project
– Early beginnings – ICT and the Drumchapel Project– Project objectives – progress to date, partnership and
contacts
• A National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)
• Digital Literacy, Digital Information Literacy, Information Literacy
• Information Literacy in the workplace• What’s next
• Quotes / Final thoughts
ICT / Drumchapel Project
• An exploratory project – initially ICT skills orientated• Community ICT facilities little used - Library and Cybercafés –
implications only now being addressed• School and School Library are main focus for IT use in
deprived areas• Little integration of information literacy into the curriculum• Levels of ICT ‘deprivation’ did not seem to be high• Basic IT skills exist- WP, email, Internet• Pupil evaluation of websites poor• An asylum seeking issue • An information literacy skills agenda emerged
The Scottish Information Literacy Project - objectives• to develop an information literacy framework, linking
primary, secondary and tertiary education to lifelong learning including workplace and adult literacies agendas
• Advocacy on behalf of information literacy for education and the wider community
• Working with information literacy champions both UK and worldwide
• Researching and promoting information literacy in the workplace
• Identifying and working with partners, both in education and the wider community
• Researching the role of information literacy in continuing professional development
• Researching the health literacies agenda
Progress to date
• First draft of Framework produced and piloted• Information literacy in the workplace study • Promoting international contacts• Contacts developed and strengthened with NGOs• Extensive communications programme• Website further developed• Contact established with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce• Initial health literacies contacts made • Creation of an information literacy network • Stimulated unprecedented level of activity in the schools
sector in Scotland
Partnerships and contacts • Schools mainly with librarians• FE/HE • Dept. Educational Foundations, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater• Delegation from Finland• US National Forum for Information Literacy• University of Aalborg?• Workplace – Scottish Government; Glasgow Chamber; CBI Scotland• LTS/SQA
A National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) – draft outline
planning
locating
organising
representing
evaluating
EXPLORE
Schools (P3 - P7)
defining the topic
identification of key words
planning and organising
identification of suitable informationsources
effective searching
evaluating information
understanding ethics andresponsibility of use
understanding how to communicate orshare your findings
CILIP Information LiteracyDefinition
reviewing
Information Handling Skills
SCQF Levels 1 - 7
Secondary Schools & FurtherEducation
recognise a need for information
distinguish ways in which theinformation 'gap' may be addressed
construct strategies for locatinginformation
locate and access information
compare and evaluate informationobtained from different sources
synthesise and build upon existinginformation, contributing to the
creation of new knowledge
SCONUL
SCQF Level 8 - 12
Further Education & HigherEducation
understanding a need
understanding availability
understanding how to find information
understanding the need to evaluateresults
understanding how to work with orexploit results
understanding ethics andresponsibility of use
understanding how to communicate orshare your findings
understand how to manage yourfindings
CILIP Information LiteracyDefinition
Lifelong learning including allinformation using communitities e.g.
community learning and in theworkplace
Information Literacy Framework
A National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) – draft contents
• Back ground information and provenance • Acknowledgements • Information literacy – what it is• Information literacy and lifelong learning• Information literacy education• Use of the Information Literacy framework • The framework levels• Information literacy and assessment• Appendices
Draft Framework Piloting and evaluation survey carried out – good feedback, more work to do - ongoing
Exemplars• Some good examples from partners – primary, secondary, FE, HE, workplace,
transition• More to come – some still being developed. Not as many as hoped - practitioners
tend not to think of their activities as exemplars of good practice
Sharing Practice for schools• Learning and Teaching Scotland
– Adding value to LTS Information Literacy Online Service: Exemplars of good practice http://www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/LTS.html
Key point• Need to link to Curriculum for Excellence
– single coherent curriculum for all young people aged 3-18 in Scotland– provides a framework within which excellent learning and teaching can take place – it is an integral part of the improvement agenda in Scottish education.
Curriculum for Excellence Literacy
Literacy and English Outcomes – Draft experiences and outcomesFebruary 2008
The three lines of development for literacy skills are:
Reading - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for reading, Finding and using information, Understanding, analysing and evaluating
Writing - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for writing, organising and using information, creating texts
Listening and talking - Enjoyment and Choice, Tools for listening and talking, Finding and using information, Understanding, analysing and evaluating, creating texts
Within each of these there are organizers relevant to all curriculum areas.
www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk/Images/literacy_across_the_curriculum_tcm4-470951.pdf
Digital Literacy
The ability to use ICT and the Internet becomes a new form of literacy – “digital literacy”. Digital literacy is fast becoming a prerequisite for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and without it citizens can neither participate fully in society nor acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to live in the 21st century.
European Commission, 2003:1
Digital Literacy
the ability to understand and use information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources when it is presented via computers.
Digital literacy is fast becoming a prerequisite for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship and without it citizens can neither participate fully in society nor acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to live in the 21st century.Paul Glister, 1997:1-2
Digital Information Literacy? • A review of digital information literacy in 0-16 year olds: evidence, development models,
and recommendations
“What will information sources and access be like for our children in another decade or two and again when they grow into old age? Clearly we are teaching our children to be flexible handlers of information – to enable them to cope with information sources and access technology not yet invented. The why and how of education immediately becomes more important than the here and now. We need to teach them how to find out, not teach them ‘the answers’ …”
Geoff Dubber (2008) SLA Guidelines, Cultivating Curiosity : Information Literacy Skills and the Primary School Library (p.8)
• Digital information literacy or information literacy in a digital world?
Information Literacy in a digital environment
• No need for a new definition for IL in a Web 2.0 world • Key issue is how you understand the concept of
‘information’• Commentators on IL make the assumption that
‘information’ in IL definitions refers to textual information, but that is not necessarily the case. The notes on IL skills which accompany the CILIP definition make it clear that information may be available on paper, digitally, through other media such as broadcast or film or from a colleague or friend
Webber , Sheila. (2008) Educating Web 2.0 LIS students for information literacy in Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 edited by Peter Godwin and Jo Parker (p39)
Information Literacy
"Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner." CILIP (2004) Information Literacy Definition
“Information Literacy was defined as the ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize and effectively create, use and communicate information to address an issue or problem.” Prague Declaration
Information Literacy – Prague Declaration
To date, advancements in information and communicationtechnologies have only increased the divide between theinformation rich and the information poor.
Three elements to improve this situation: 1) ready access to information and communication technologies;2) unrestricted availability of needed information; 3) an information literate citizenry Information literate citizenry is required to mobilize an effectivecivil society and create a competitive workforce.http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13272&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Information literacy in the workplace
• Workplace studies Project objective• Based on 20 interviews with employees mainly in the public
sector in central Scotland• Not a heavily studied area – limited literature• Founded on a review of the pedagogic literature of learning in
the workplace• Interviews arranged with the help of Project partners and
contacts in Adult Literacies, Tribunals Service, Scottish Government Library Services and health libraries
• Lack of private sector contacts• Funded by the British Academy
Conclusions (1) • The traditional ‘library’ view of information as deriving from
electronic and printed sources only is invalid in the workplace and must include people as sources of information
• It is essential to recognize the key role of human relationships in the development of information literacy in the workplace
• The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and qualifications is a fertile area for further investigation and developmental work
• Adult Literacies training is a powerful driver to encourage workplace information literacy
Conclusions (2)• Advanced Internet training extends employees’ information horizons• A skill and qualifications based agenda is an important pre-condition • Most interviewees viewed public libraries as irrelevant for anything
other than recreational purposes• Information literacy training programmes must be highly focused on
the target audience • All organizations have information policies but may be unaware of the
fact • An understanding of what constitutes information literacy is
widespread in the workplace but is often implicit rather than explicit and is based on qualifications, experience, and networking activities
• Organizations which access a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization, will make the best informed decisions
• Contacts should be established with chambers of commerce, skills agencies and other organizations involved in workplace training
• Organizations’ information polices which are largely implicit should be made explicit and should include accessing a wide range of information, of high quality, including sources outwith their organization
• Preliminary skills audits should be carried out within organizations to determine staff information literacy skills and the organization’s information literacy policy
• The viability of developing information literacy training programmes should be further researched
• Information literacy training programmes should initially target sympathetic organizations
• Advanced Internet training programmes should be offered to all workplace employees
• The private sector should be researched further• The provision of information literacy training programmes by public libraries should
be investigated• Developmental work should be undertaken with Adult Literacies agencies • NHS contacts should be expanded to progress the health literacies agenda
Recommendations
Scottish Information Literacy Project - what we want to do next• Restructure the National Information Literacy Framework Scotland in the light
of feedback from piloting in the school and FE/HE sectors• Expand the Framework to extend the lifelong learning/community
engagement component using the data from the workplace/Adult Literacies study currently completing
• Investigate the development of information skills training modules which could be delivered via public libraries, workplace training and Adult Literacies programmes
• Review and develop our existing workplace information literacy skills expertise with chambers of commerce, Adult Literacies partners, etc
• Have more time to publicise and promote our work to the sectors which we are targeting and to disseminate and develop strategic collaborations and partnerships on a national and international basis.
• To develop further strands in media and health literacies • Get information literacy incorporated into Scotland's’ lifelong learning policy
Quotes / final thoughtsGlister identifies critical thinking rather than technical competence as the core skill of digital literacy , and emphasizes the critical evaluation of what is found on the Web, rather than the critical skills required to access it. Allan Martin (2006) A Framework for Digital Literacy
The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science, says the creator of the World Wide Web Pallab Ghosh, Science correspondent, BBC News (2008) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7613201.stm
That's why library and information specialists build / built portals and gateways for their users but a lot of people don't want to use them preferring to using Google as they think Google has all the answers.
Sounds like people want technology to do our thinking for us instead of not believing everything they read but being able to evaluate what they read and become information literate. Christine Irving (2008)
Information Literacy in practice
Pupils from Craigholme School in Glasgow working on their Information Literacy Project (Junior 6)
Contact details Dr. John Crawford, Christine IrvingLibrary Research Officer, Researcher / Project OfficerMilton Street Building Milton Street BuildingMS004, (ground floor) MS005, (ground floor)Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University Cowcaddens Road Cowcaddens RoadGlasgow, G4 0BA Glasgow, G4 0BATel: 0141-273 -1248 Tel: 0141-273 -1249
Email [email protected] Email [email protected]
Project website www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/Project blog http://caledonianblogs.net/information-
literacy/
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