Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates

PowerPoint Presentation

Judy ReadingMacquarie University Library

Paul JewellWestern Sydney University LibraryEnterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates

ALIA National ConferenceAdelaide 31st August 2016

Paul Welcome and thanks for the opportunity to share our research on information literacy and employabilityThis research project Judy and I started at the beginning of 2015 and we are very excited to finally share findings with a wider audienceWe wanted to get out into the workplaces of western Sydney and shine a light on current information practice and information environments.By studying employers and new employees in a variety of workplaces we wanted to highlight some of the information skills graduates will need when they leave university.I have been pleasantly surprised by the responses from students and possibilities for future collaborations with school.

Our research questions were:What information skills are of practical value to graduates entering the workforce in GWS and their employers?To what extent do the information literacy skills taught at university transfer to the workplace or need to be adapted?

Judy and I here will cover where we are up to with the project:Judy will talk about methods we used to collect the data and also some of the main studies from the literature reviewWe will then talk about case studies and hear a snippet of raw dataI will then look at some of the major themes and some of the overall outcomes of the study so far1

Information Skills applied toBusiness context?

Judy

My name is Judy Reading and I would like to start by giving you some background on where this project began. I was working at Western Sydney University as Outreach Librarian working with Paul Jewell who is the Business Librarian. We were both part of a Library team which conducted a review of our information literacy practice in 2014. We had done a lot of work on information skills for commencing students described in a recent journal article on the Outreach Program and wanted to turn our attention to the needs of students as they progress through their time at university into the workplace. We realised that while commencing students need skills to equip them to survive in a university environment we didnt really know what they needed for the workplace. Our information literacy audit asked all our subject librarians what information skills were needed for professional practice for graduates from their school? 3. Professional practice: Please describe how information literacy might inform professional practice for graduates from your School. (EG: do professional accreditation organisations expect particular graduate skills or attributes? What specific information resources, skills or tools would you expect our graduates to be using in their professional life?) These are the skills we should be supporting in final capstone units.

This project arose out of consideration of how we would answer that for School of Business coursesIn the WS Business context we also had the new B Bus which gave opportunity to improve collaboration with the School in embedding IL. We could also link to the active interest in the School in Work Informed Learning

This slide shows the Research Skill Development Framework which we think works very well for academic information literacy skill development. Our research and literature review has suggested that IL in the workplace is different, a messier and less linear process than that required for doing an assignment or a university research project.

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Some key research papers

Bruce, CS 1999, 'Workplace experiences of information literacy', International Journal of Information Management, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 33-47Goldstein, S 2014, Transferring information know-how Information literacy at the interface between higher education and employment, https://www.informall.org.uk/employment/transferability/Head, AJ, Hoeck, MV, Eschler, J & Fullerton, S 2013, 'What information competencies matter in todays workplace?', Library and Information Research, vol. 37, no. 114. Inskip, C 2014, Information literacy is for life, not just for a good degree: a literature review. CILIP, London. Lloyd, A 2011, Trapped between a rock and a hard place: what counts as information literacy in the workplace and how is it conceptualised? Library Trends 60/2 277-298Sokoloff, J 2011, 'Information literacy in the workplace: employer expectations', Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-17.

Judy

Of course we started by looking at what we could learn from literature on workplace information literacy. There is a longer reference list in our conference paper but this slide lists a few of the sources we found most interesting.

Inskip suggests in the conclusion of his 2014 literature review that academic IL competencies do not successfully transfer from education to the workplace p. 13 It is through recognising the contextual nature of workplace information practices and through bridging the attendant semantic gap, that library and information professionals may successfully contribute to the development of these practices in a meaningful way

Christine Bruce, famous for her seminal work seven faces of information literacy, links IL to processes such as environmental scanning, information management, R & D concepts that business people can more readily relate to.Lloyd studied ambulance officers, refugees and firefighters in NSW and explored the complexities of acquiring knowledge in the context of developing a professional identity and becoming a fire fighter or ambulance officer.

Goldstein (UK) and Head (US) have both studied the transfer of IL skills into the workforce. Their findings are particularly useful in mapping the specific information challenges in the workplace which can inform more relevant IL support at University. Head discovered that graduates were reported as lacking in skills in engaging with other team members, retrieving information from a range of formats, higher order analysis of information and lack of thoroughness in searching. Goldstein interviewed people representing a range of professions such as engineers, chemists and business. He found that the concept of information literacy was not generally recognised although various aspects of IL were valued in practice. He found significant differences between different work cultures and some professions require sophisticated information competencies and expect that new graduates will be prepared by university study.

Sokoloffs study is very similar to our own in that it surveyed employers of business graduates from James Madison University and identified specific types of information and tools used in the workplace as well as information related activities and research skills.

So there are a lot of interesting comparative studies but we wanted to contribute some original research which would be relevant to our own specific context the business environment we were preparing our Western Sydney University students for.

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Our research questions: What information skills are of practical value to graduates entering the workforce in GWS and their employers?

To what extent do the information literacy skills taught at university transfer to the workplace or need to be adapted?

JudyThese are the key questions we were seeking to answer in our research.

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Research methodology: Exploratory qualitative study

Interviews with 12 recent graduates and 12 supervisors

Interviews: semi-structured conversations following a question script

Ethics approval from Western Sydney University: H11278

Thematic analysis of transcripts assisted by academics Melissa Donald and Louise Kippist

Judy

Research methodology

An exploratory qualitative study based on interviews with 24 individuals. 12 of them with experience of supervising recent graduates within the workplace and 12 working graduates

Interviews were conducted by the principle researchers (actually all but one by Paul). They took the form of semi-structured conversations prompted by specific questions. Interviews were recorded and transcribed.

Ethics approval from Western Sydney University: H11278

Thematic analysis of transcripts assisted by academics Melissa Donald and Louise Kippist

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Interview questions:

1. Please summarise the work of your business2. What information skills would be relevant to graduates working in your workplace?- What activities.. what resources or tools .. what skills needed .. give an example of use of information to solve workplace issue.. what do you use to manage information how do you assess quality of information how important are ethical issues?3. What do you understand by information literacy?4. How important is the University graduate attribute of information literacy for graduates working in your business?5. Do you consider information skills when recruiting?6. Do you find graduates are well prepared in terms of information skills?7. What are the most important skills for graduates?8. Are university graduates well prepared in terms of broader skills and knowledge?9. What else could Western Sydney University do to prepare graduates to work in your business?

JudyThese are the Interview questions which were designed to help us understand the business environment better.

We wanted to open a window into the daily working lives of our graduates to find out what sort of tools they were using and what sort of tasks they were expected to use research and information skills for.

All this information would be used in a very practical way to help us make the information literacy support we offered at university more relevant to their needs.

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Enterprise and Acumen

Windows into the workplace:Case studies

Employers

Graduates

Judy

This photo and others later in the presentation were taken by Paul as he was out and about doing the interviews in Sydney.

We feel it is appropriate to use these pictures as they are symbolic of what we were doing with the project getting out of the Library and engaging with our users and trying to understand their needs.

This approach might actually be beneficial to any subject librarian who does not have direct professional experience of working in the field they are supporting whether nursing, engineering, business or any other.

First can we give an overview of some of the interviews a glimpse into the working environment of our graduates and their employers.

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Graduate A: Financial planner

9/16/2016SECTION TITLE GOTHAM NARROW BOLD 7PTPAGE 8

Enterprise and Acumen:

Case Studies from the New Digital Coalface

Graduate A: works in an organisation which supports financial planners, providing information which informs the advice they give clients.

The advice usually relates to interpretation of legislation and government policy, for example looking at how government bodies such as the Australian Tax Office would expect individuals to apply the rules. He uses what he termed primary sources that is legislation, regulations and rules, but also uses research papers or other trade press articles which provide further discussion of an issue. His Business contexts include superannuation law, tax law, estate planning, social security and aged care. The sources he uses are almost completely online although there are a few hard copy sources relating to legislation and discussion of legislation e.g. sources published by CCH or Reuters. They also use Austlii (the online legal database maintained by UTS and UNSW). In accessing sources he will often just use Google to search on a key term knowing that the sources he needs will usually come up at the top of a search. Client confidentiality was a key ethical consideration in his business context.

Hopefully you can see how this detail can inform relevant resource guides or assignments for students seeking to work in this field and will also help Paul understand the context as he talks to academics.

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Graduate B: Communications officer9/16/2016SECTION TITLE GOTHAM NARROW BOLD 7PTPAGE 9



Graduate B works in a peak regional body which represents not for profit and non-governmental organisations.

Her role is Communications Officer which she relates to stakeholder engagement and strategy. Social media plays a big role in her job.She specialises in digital communications which includes management of website content, e-commerce, email marketing and digital campaigns. She develops and distributes external communications such as media releases, statements, social media and public relations. She is often looking for contacts for professional industry people and uses websites and LinkedIn. As an example of research in the workplace she described redeveloping the website. She used Google analytics to review how traffic moved through the website and will also use it to see the effect of any changes. She also uses link trackers like Bitly. And RSS feed generators particularly Feedly which collects information from all over the internet including Twitter and Instagram.

Her context is quite different from our first interviewee and raises some interesting Questions: eg Should Libraries broaden their concept of information skills to skills such as developing an online profile and managing social media?

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9/16/2016SECTION TITLE GOTHAM NARROW BOLD 7PTPAGE 10Enterprise and Acumen:


Employer BNot for profit service providerIn a competitive environment Information skills means informed decisions

Employer / Supervisor B works for the communications and marketing section of a not-for-profit provider of disability support

They are currently impacted by changes in government legislation around welfare funding (the NDIS) and find themselves in a much more competitive environment than previously which has influenced their research needs.

They have to be smarter, for example they would now carefully research the number of potential clients in an area when considering a new office whereas in the past they might have been less concerned about the economic viability aspect of providing services

She told us that in a competitive environment information skills means informed decisions10




Employer A:Managing DirectorInformation is a critical factor and inability to do market research or a business forecast is a real limiting factor on the business.

Judy

Now I would like to play you an extract from our interview with Employer A. He will describe his business context and what research typically would look like there. He also gives some insight into the importance of information skills in order for a business to survive and thrive.

Employer / Supervisor A was a managing director for a large multinational company supplying carpentry materials to tradespeople. More recently he is been a director in a firm which provides business advice to medium and small businesses experiencing adversity. This involves being up to date with specific business contexts relevant to helping a business recover from a position of vulnerability.

Employer A suggested that research was very important to ensuring businesses stay open to new ideas and remain competitive: Information is a critical factor and inability to do market research or a business forecast is a real limiting factor on the business.

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How relevant is the term Information Literacy in the 21st century workplace?

Judy

We asked what our interviewees understand by the phrase information literacy and found that many had not heard of the term. Those that had had heard it at University.

This is similar to the findings of other studies which suggest in the business workplace information literacy is not a particularly useful term.

This project can help us develop a shared understanding and vocabulary with our clients. In our interviews we deliberately used phrases like research skills

Our interviewees had some very interesting and perceptive insights into what information or research skills meant for them 12


Window into the workplace

evaluating information is key in a business setting as it forms your credibility and reliability

Graduate B

Paul

Graduate B suggested it was important to know how and where to access information and that evaluating information is key in a business setting as it forms your credibility and reliability at work when you make observations and recommendations to senior staff.

She suggested you can use information to solve problems and information skills promote independence as a student and employee. Information finding also strengthens how organisations conduct themselves and encourages that culture of ok we need to check our sources, we need to find that information, we need to be up to date on things

She suggests that finding information is relatively easy but what is more important is how it is used and applied in business.

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Window into the workplace

Graduate C:

information skills are a foundation for a professional future

Paul

Graduate C (who has been working in a large government agency for the last 6 years) associates information literacy with challenging the status quo at work and suggests that if you want to stir things up you need to have the evidence and relevant information to back your opinion up.

He suggests that information skills can enable you to come up with new left field ideas and potentially enact change in a business. He felt information skills were a foundation for a professional future although they were not really relevant to his current work context because it is so controlled.

He said the reason I came to university was to question things and Im not really a sheep.

Information skills can enable new ideas and enact change in business which nicely reinforces the power of info skills for innovation

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Information skills are important in our knowledge-based industry and library resources are a goldmine

Graduate Interview (Financial Planner)

With the digital explosion we need to know how to filter

Graduate Interview (start up entrepreneur)

Paul

Understanding of IL by graduates

Graduate A: Our graduate interview shows how his work area and industry has become very knowledge intensive its a pure knowledge based industry if I look at - not just my role but the roles of virtually everyone in my division, my team or division - it is a knowledge and a skills based work which is something that the whole economy in my view is trended toGraduate D: Information FiltersThe 21st century has been described sometimes as the information age. With the new technology and social media vast amounts of online content is being produced by more and more people.Our graduate highlights just how important it is being able to have good information skill level and being able to filter vast amounts of informationthat digital explosion of there is too much informationso now you need to know how to filter through that it's it is the way that information is shared and hosted so it's a given that you need to know how to do it and how to research and how to filter it efficiently

Graduate A: Library LifesaverOur graduate reminded us just how useful the library is for building your career. He was impressed by University library resources and felt that there was an onus on students to be themselves proactive and go through the door opened for them and explore for themselves. When I did go in and use the various journal search functions I was blown away by the depth of the content far out ... there is just information on everything and anything from any university in the whole world and I can be sitting here at 10.30 at night or 10.30 in the morning with a coffee and just reading it. He also recognised the value of the library resources: It doesnt come cheap a goldmine15

Key Flavours:Employers

Electronic Collage or Information Mural

Synthesising Information

Social Information Sources

Business News and Business Acumen

Paul

Here we have some of the big themes from our 12 employers from mix of big organisations (KPMG, Deloitte), SMEs (Talent 2 recruitment) and not for profit (Norcott, Western Sydney Connection)

One employer mentioned the electronic collage - the collection of lots of snippets of info from google. Our students or graduates are good at going into Google and collecting lots of relevant information for business project. Not necessarily good at applying to specific project. Need for less collage and more critical use of info

Quite a few employers spoke of the need to support skills in synthesising and applying information to business and industry contexts. Eg Norcott Changes in NDIS means staff need to be to be more competitive collecting dataExcellent point re awareness of Business environment and synthesise information

Social information or sharing knowledge with colleagues is important for gathering information for business tasks and professional development. Here there are opportunities to assist students with information skills around social media and digital literacy or digital citizenship. Not just about employability but also learners for life.

Access to business news sources and the development of students business acumen, need to stay immersed in real world business newsA number of employers mentioned that newer employees do not read business news such as Fin Review. Do not realise no business works in isolation. Lots of political economic social factors impacting their orgThis is where library has had a real outcome from research( with help of clever friends in digital) placed biz section of conversation as trial onto management subject page.

Other professional skills such as communication, teamwork, professional etiquette, social media

Employers have emphasised the need to create learners who will career progress. Less on the employ and more on the ability. 1 Need to develop to be critical and reflective learners

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So few of them read the daily press and the business journals, developing their business acumen. Employer Interview (Accounting Firm)

What happens in the real world or social information in the workplace as an information source and cultural and social aspects of informal conversation Employer Interview (Accounting Firm)



Paul

Here are a few nice quotes from our employers highlighting firstly the relationship between business news and business acumen

Second one focuses on the recurring concept of social information or peers for knowledge gathering and for purposeful information gathering17

Key Flavours:Graduates

Knowledge Economy

Social Information Sources

Contextualising Information

Paul

Knowledge EconomyMany graduates recognised they worked in a knowledge economy or acknowledged they work in a company/industry where the flow of information was a big part every day in the workplaceA lot of our graduates recognised that there needs to be skills around filtering information, validating properly. Filter is a common theme.when you do a Google search, theres 65 million results that show up. You need to have the ability to filter through that and find whats good for you and whats validated, you know, what you can validate.

Social InformationImportance of peers as a network of information and important source of information

Information ContextImportant to know why we are learning this at university or what is the context. For example one of our graduates who has to collect social media analytics data said she didnt realise how important it was when she was doing the business statistics unit 2 years previous. Only realised in the workplace why she was learning about that and this is same for information skills if we as librarians can enthuse our students about the ral world purpose of learning these skills may improve engagement

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Library Outcomes:

West Project

Blended Learning

Case Studies

Experiential Learning(WSU Learning Futures Plan)

Paul

We are keen to have some practical outcomes: Delivered presentation to west project studentsinternship business project and wanted provide

This research project has informed how business discipline librarians can teach Information Literacy to students. New blended learning initiatives on synthesising information have included interactive worksheets as part of a flipped classroom approach.

We have already began compiling some case studies of our graduates and employers (possibly later in an iBook format) to share with students and to incorporate in 3rd year IL sessions on workplace information environment

Securing success strategies are based on student centred agenda. Our evidence can tap into supporting this approach.New WSU learning futures plan highlights learning environments and learning experiences in the digital age. E.g. exemplify experiential integrated learning, through a range of industry/community/research work integrated learning, and integrated internship experiences. Armed with our case studies of what our graduates are experiencing around information in the workplace and sharing this with students will support strategies and student centred learning

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Bigger Picture:

LeximancerThemes and Concepts

Paul

In this presentation we have showcased some of the themes from a select number of our interviews. Only very recently we had the remainder of our interviews transcribed and last week we trialled loaded some of this data into leximancer which is a software to analyse qualitative datasets and provide themes and connections.These diagrams show some of these initial findings for our graduates and we see people as an information sources is highly rankedNeeds to be investigated furtherthis will be shortly explored for deeper connections and manipulated eg take out P1sHopefully this will inform our findings better as we develop a journal article in the near future

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Conclusions:

Praxis in the Information Jungle

Hugh Tobin Flickr http://flickrhivemind.net/User/hugh%20tobin/Interesting

Judy

Pic source: Hugh Tobin Flickr http://flickrhivemind.net/User/hugh%20tobin/Interesting

Praxis in the Information Jungle. Praxis means the practical application of theory and this is important to us - Getting practical outcomes from our investigationPlan was always to mix theory and evidence from interviews to come up with creative ways to improve our IL delivery and be more relevant to our students.The project has inspired us with a number of practical applications of what we have found to give one example we might collaborate with the careers service on support for job hunting students by showing them how to research potential employers or how to improve their own social media profile.21


Contacts

Discussion

How can we apply what we have learnt to supporting students?

Contacts; [email protected]@mq.edu.au

Judy

So we finish by challenging you to consider how you might apply what we have learnt to improving support for students or from a similar project in your field

We would be very happy to answer any questions or discuss our project further our emails are on this slide.

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Extra slide23

Education

Enterprise and Acumen: Real World Information Skills and Employability for Business Graduates