DESIGNING AND DELIVERING AN INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRAMME TO

SECOND LEVEL STUDENTS:

AN NUI MAYNOOTH EXPERIENCE

ELAINE BEAN

LEARNING, TEACHING AND RESEARCH DEVELOPMENTTHE LIBRARY

NUI MAYNOOTH

BACKGROUND

• First year students at third level education face significant challenges in adapting to a new information environment

• Designed an information literacy programme a number of years ago to be used in our local school

• Aimed at 2nd year and 5th year

• 1 double class

• Once-off training

IN THE PAST …

• Delivered by two members of staff

• Content needed more than one session, however, teachers were not in a position to give up class time

TO DESIGN A NEW PROGRAMME

• What were others doing?• What time of year suits us best?• What school should we approach?• What contact has NUI Maynooth already made

with schools – could we tie in with that?

WHAT ARE OTHERS DOING?

• Universities are getting involved with schools

• Discussed at recent conference – schools coming into the Library

• One Library gave all participants a reader ticket to their library

HOW WE DID IT?

• Fortunate to have a person on work experience during the summer

• Looked at what others were doing• Designed a working outline including content for each

session and a proposal to present to a school• Our programme was designed to go out to the school to

deliver the programme• Designed and delivered by two members of staff

• One was a Senior Library Assistant who co-ordinates the library training team and has been delivering training sessions for over ten years. The other a qualified librarian and second level teacher who has been delivering training sessions both as a Subject Librarian and as a member of the library training team

OUR PROPOSAL

The proposed NUI Maynooth transition year Information Literacy programme is intended to be delivered to transition year students by NUI Maynooth library staff in a classroom setting over a five week time period possibly commencing in October 2012. Closely aligned with the objectives of NUI Maynooth library’s strategic goals “to contribute to social, economic and cultural development at local, regional, national and international level by providing an inclusive library and information service” and “to further develop the library’s role in learning and teaching to support a quality teaching environment and learning experience”, the programme aims to expose transition year students to the skills and techniques of information literacy to support them in their future transition to university or the world of work. As such the programme goals include preparing transition year students for experiences with information use beyond the classroom, towards continuing education, self-development and lifelong learning.

MOVING FORWARD

• Met with Assistant Registrar of NUI Maynooth to discuss – really valuable meeting• Tips

• Gave details of schools in the surrounding area• Alerted us to think about where there was more than

one school in the area – how/should you select one?• Approaching a school

• Look to meet with the Principal

AGREED ON A SCHOOLWHAT’S NEXT?

• Meet the principal and deputy principals

• Discuss the proposal

• Why we felt in a position to offer it• Explained about LIST (our Library & Information Skills Programme),

the feedback, the numbers

• Background on the two people delivering the session

PRIOR TO MEETING THE SCHOOL

• Well prepared – knew what we needed to ensure we delivered a beneficial programme

• Know what was happening elsewhere

• Detailed lesson plans

OVERVIEW OF PROGRAMME

• Session One: Preparing for your Assignment

• Session Two: Accessing Resources & Social Media

• Session Three: Evaluation of Resources

• Session Four: Using Information

• Session Five: Visit NUI Maynooth Library

WHAT WORKED WHEN DELIVERING THE SESSIONS?

• Lots of involvement• Group and individual work• Brave move?• Didn’t know the class• Didn’t know if they would engage• Really surprised at their participation

ENGAGING WITH GAMES/HANDS ON

Searching v

Researching

EXPLAINING TOPICS

• Boolean Logic – stand up if you have brown hair, stay up if you have brown hair and blue eyes, stay standing if you have brown hair, blue eyes and not wearing a watch• They could visually see searches change as the search options

changed

• Avoiding Plagiarism – find current topics or music they can relate to, have to look it up themselves and tell you why – discuss in class

• Trusting what they find – White house website, look it up for themselves – CRAP checklist, Currency, Reliability, Accuracy, Purpose

EVALUATING LEARNING

• Who wants to be Information Literate?• Brought prizes

Information Literate

THE UNEXPECTED

• Three classes of transition years• Had to deliver to all (each session required 3 double classes

delivered 3 times)

• Changed content between classes

• Amend content of following sessions the more familiar we became with the students

THE UNEXPECTED

• Each class was different – keeping to timing was challenging

• Teachers asked if they could come and sit in on classes – found the content excellent and would help with class projects

THE FEEDBACK

Very positive feedback from teachers and students – as the programme progressed, teachers asked to sit in on sessions and said they would use relevant components in their project work

Tour of NUI Maynooth Library and campus very positively receivedHighlighted the University’s role in civic engagement and our role in recruiting students and student retention.

Quotes from participants: Very informative and gave me great tips to help with school work. I thought I knew everything about the internet, but I don't so everything was new, thanks. I learned new ways of researching today which I will use in the future. Can't wait to go to the Library

Quote from teacher:The course provided very good active learning techniques that students could take away and apply directly to their own learning. Karen Maye

VISIT TO THE LIBRARY

• Very excited

• Opportunity to put some of the props in context

• For some they had never been inside a library

Please feel free to contact me should you require further information. Thank you!