The Learner Experience

The Scottish Information Literacy Project: working with partners to create an information literate Scotland The Project and the ‘Learner experience’ Dr John Crawford & Christine Irving JISC RSW SW Conference Weston – Super - Mare 2009 16 -17 th June 2009

But who are the learners and what is their experience ?
Craigholme School Pupils, Glasgow 2008

Where it all began Drumchapel Project 2003
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/transitional agenda emerged

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 and media literacies agenda

Previously on the Scottish Information Literacy Project …………….
2003 – The Drumchapel Project – where it all began
2004 – The ‘one year’ Information Literacy, the Link between Secondary and Tertiary Education Project launched
2005-8 - the first draft of the National Information Literacy Framework Scotland completed, piloted and evaluated
Contact and work with Learning and Teaching Scotland and learndirectscotland
Extensive network of partners and contacts from school, FE/HE, workplace, lifelong learning, Adult literacies + overseas
Website developed and more recently blog + PR activities
Initial health and media literacy contacts

Current key objectives (Esmee Fairbairn Foundation funded)
Further develop the Framework to extend the early years, workplace, wider access and lifelong learning components to make it a genuine lifelong learning policy documents
Research and progress the information literacy in the employability/workplace agenda

Information literacy in the workplace study Dec.2007- Jan.2008 – key findings
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
The public enterprise with its emphasis on skills and qualifications is a fertile area for further investigation and developmental work
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
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

Which led to meetings with:
Glasgow Chamber of Commerce – couple of meetings. Agreed to progress by sending out a questionnaire devised by us to all Glasgow Chamber of Commerce members about their information skills training needs. Article written for their magazine
CBI Scotland – one meeting to identify companies who might want to incorporate IL training into their CPD programmes but no takers
Scottish Trades Union Congress – presentation to Everyday Skills Committee of STUC (composed of TU learning representatives) – well received
Skills Development Scotland (Careers Division – old Careers Scotland) – meetings led to identification of IL as a career choice, progression, CPD and employability skill. Joint symposium with SDS 27 th March
Employability and Skills Division, Lifelong Learning Directorate – meeting which validated our strategy of targeting employers’ and skills organisation

Some outcomes
Public library services – contacts with three services including Inverclyde Libraries who are currently running employability training courses (10 weeks). IL has been incorporated in the courses at our suggestion. (Basic skills courses run by public libraries have IT/Internet training from which IL training can be developed)
Aberdeen Business School – secured £400,000 + EU funding to run ‘bite sized courses’ for local SMEs (up to 12 modules). 20 businesses and 70 learners so far – hope for 175. Exchanged information and role of IL – employers’ don’t know what training they need (RGU finding)
Royal Society of Arts - Opening Minds Curriculum running in 200 schools in England – includes an IL component – Managing information – also strong focus on skills acquisition in education and the workplace
Scottish Government Information Service – have set up advanced Internet searching skills courses for staff; developed an information strategy for the Scottish Government. Now on Scottish Government website – Education and Training (Information Literacies) – a first? www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/skills-strategy/progress/sg/supportingindividuals/InformationLiteracies/Q/forceupdate/on

And more recently
Information literacy case studies/exemplars of good practice in secondary schools completed www.ltscotland.org.uk/informationliteracy/sharingpractice/index.asp
Funding obtained from Learning and Teaching Scotland to develop learning materials and CPD materials for teachers aimed at Primaries 1-3 (5-7) - See Digital Britain report (2009), p.64
Fruitful working relationships established with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce; Scottish Trades Union Congress; Learning and Teaching Scotland; Skills Development Scotland; public libraries; Royal Society of Arts; Scottish Government Information Service
Study on the workplace and its consequences
Joint Open Space event with Skills Development Scotland
Post Open Space meeting
Internal focus

Skills utilisation ?
'Skills utilisation is about ensuring the most effective application of skills in the workplace to maximise performance through the interplay of a number of key agents (e.g. employers, employees, learning providers and the state) and the use of a range of HR, management and working practices. Effective skills utilisation seeks to match the use of skills to business demands/needs.' (p.2)
Skills utilisation literature review , a report by CFE for the Education Analytical Services, Lifelong Learning Research, Scottish Government (Executive summary and full text available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/12/15114643/0 )

The role of the framework in the workplace and skills development
Framework skills and competencies ( CILIP definition)
starting place
used as advocacy tool in discussions re skills strategy / skills needs
link to work related learning
needs to be interpreted to meet the needs of different
sectors , professions
organisations, departments, sections
employers, employees, learners
environments, resources (in all different formats and mediums), experiences
recognition of the nature of information literacy

The Nature of Information Literacy Product Change in behaviour Change in understanding Process Personal development Social participation Skills Attitudes Values Means End A way of being An unappreciated way of being NHS Scotland 2008

The Framework
Draft pdf further developed as a Weblog
static pages (background information, different sectors, levels etc.)
interactive through postings (current activities, developments etc.)
National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)
Still to be further developed
workplace case studies needed, SME’s, large organisations (public and private), different professions

What we have learned
Different groups of people constantly reinterpret IL in the light of their own qualifications, training, experience and needs
IL is a key career choice, progression, CPD, employability and workplace skill
IL is not recognised in any government skills document produced since 2005 which recognises IL as an independent skill. It is rolled up with IT – but Digital Britain is an encouraging sign
Target skills and employers’/employee organisations
IL skills training in the workplace is feasible but must be carefully planned and targeted
The public library can offer IL training, developed from IT training but again it but must be carefully planned and targeted. Public librarians must be involved in IL skills development
Need to think cross sectorally - Govan High School’s ‘Future Skills’ framework of about 70 skills in association with local employers and involving the pupils. Includes IL. Blane (2008)
Findings of workplace study have been validated

Who are (or should be) the learners?
School children – Primary 1 onwards (nursery?) – and what about parents?
Teachers - a CPD issue
University students – for course and workplace
Academics – an embedding and collaborative issue?
Learners in and for the workplace
Decision makers in the workplace
Those learning employability skills
Lifelong learners
Anyone concerned with promoting the skills agenda
But - apparently different groups of learners can be the same people and their experience may be different in different circumstances

And what is (or should be) the experience
Do we know what the need is and are we matching it to demand
Pockets of good practice in all sectors with HE in the lead
Information recognised within a wider skills context e.g. Govan Future Skills Framework
Active support from Government(s) and skills agencies
IL skills embedded and taught within organisations
Public libraries running IL courses
Helpful reports to support action – Digital Britain www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/digital_britain_interimreportjan09.pdf ; Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/documents/heweb2.aspx

Some further information
Crawford, John and Irving (2008) Going beyond the ‘library’: the current work of the Scottish Information Literacy Project. Library and information research, (32) 102, pp . 29-37 http://www.lirg.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/article/view/89
Crawford, John and Irving (2009) Information literacy in the workplace: a qualitative exploratory study, JOLIS , (41 )pp. 29-38 http://lis.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/41/1/29?etoc
McDonald, Natalie and Keenan, Peter (2009) The ‘stuff beyond Google: information literacy in a corporate setting . http://www.information-online.com.au/sb_clients/iog/bin/iog_programme_you_may_be_right_C1.cfm?vm_key=8EDF7462-D5A6-FFAA-AB89D511D74817DA
Crawford, John et al, (2008) Use of information in the Scottish Government, Library & information update, Dec., pp. 48-49
Interview with Philip Pothen, formerly of JISC, 28.11.08 about the work of the Project http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2009/02/podcast71johncrawfordchristineirving.aspx

Contact details
Dr. John Crawford, Christine Irving
Library Research Officer, Researcher / Project Officer
Milton Street Building Milton Street Building
MS004, (ground floor) MS005, (ground floor)
Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow, G4 0BA Glasgow, G4 0BA
Tel: 0141-273 -1248 Tel: 0141-273 -1249
Email [email_address] Email [email_address]
Project website www.caledonian.ac.uk/ils/
Project blog http://caledonianblogs.net/information-literacy/

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The Learner Experience

by cirving on Jun 18, 2009

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The Learner Experience — Presentation Transcript