2. Shufti: a definition
• http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/shufti?view=uk
• /shoofti/
• • noun (pl. shuftis) Brit. informal a quick look or
reconnoitre.
• — ORIGIN World War Two military slang: from an
Arabic word meaning ‘try to see’
3. Introduction
• Background: What is ASK?
• Why was ASK developed?
• Our research
• What the students said
• What we did next
• Concluding remarks
4. Background: What is ASK?
• Web-based tool
• Supports first year undergraduates with first
assignment
• Launched October 2006
• June 2007 – Awarded CILIP UC&R Award for
Innovation
• More info see Adams, Pope & Walton, 2008
5. Why was ASK Developed?
• Contribution to SU’s Widening Participation
agenda (See Pope & Walton, 2009)
• IL Statement of Good Practice
• IL Project Group
• Deliverable to support IL at Staffordshire
University
6. Our research
• Methodology
– Wanted users to shape any modifications to ASK
– Qualitative strategy (following Bryman, 2008)
• Focus Group(s) to capture the ‘student voice’
– Inductive – asked students how they go about
planning an essay
• Participants
– Focus group of first year students on humanities and
social sciences awards
7. What the students said
• “I did like background reading at first, wider research to
get the general idea and then funnelled it down into the
essentials that we needed.”
• “What I didn’t know, what I needed to find out and then
how I would assess that to make my own sort of
recommendations from there really and then deciding on
what source of information I was going to use.”
• “I need to start to do some reading before I can actually
put ideas down […] before I can start to put the words
down I need to go away and look at websites and see
what other people say about it.”
8. What we did next
• These quotations demonstrate a visible common theme
in student thinking and approach
– “background reading at first”
– “what I needed to find out and then how I would assess that”
– “I need to start to do some reading before I can actually put
ideas down”
• i.e., doing some background searching and reading to
scope the topic
• This meant that the structure of ASK needed to be
modified to reflect this behaviour
• Section 1 “Where do I start” is expanded to include a
new section called “Having a first look”
9. Having a first look:
sources and keywords
• Use some words in the question to search the Library
Catalogue and Google
• This will help you to do two things
• Find out what information and resources are out there
(enough, not enough or too much information?)
• Help you to decide if there is a smaller aspect of your
topic to concentrate on
10. Having a first look:
scoping and iteration
• You might find that there isn’t enough material to support
the topic you have chosen OR there may be too much
stuff to select from.
• If this happens, either go back to your question and
chose a different set of words to search with or try a
different question. You may need to do this several times
to get a clear picture of what resources are available for
you to use.
• If you aren’t sure about what sort of words to use in a
search you can ask your subject librarian for help.
11. Having a first look:
evaluation
• Simple evaluation criteria.
• Ask yourself three things:
• Is it relevant enough to your topic, in other words is it
bang on or does it just mention your topic in passing?
• Is it reliable, that is, is it published by a reputable
individual or organisation?
• Is it up-to-date, in other words does it reflect current
thinking on your topic?
12. Podcast examples
• Sharon’s wise words
• Roger’s practical plan
• Reminder of ASK URL:
• http://www.staffs.ac.uk/ask
13. Concluding remarks
• We actively seek the student ‘voice’ to drive forward
changes to ASK
• Continue to add new features such as podcasts
• Constant beta now the norm for ASK as it becomes
more of a Web 2.0 tool
• More qualitative data has been gathered and is about to
be analysed – watch this space!
14. References
• Adams, J. Pope, A and Walton, G. (2008). Using Web
2.0 to Enhance the Staffordshire University Assignment
Survival Kit (ASK). In Parker, J. E. and Godwin, P (eds).
Information Literacy Meets Library 2.0. London: Facet
Publishing, pp139-150.
• Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
• Pope, A. & Walton, G. (2009). Information and Media
Literacies: Sharpening our Vision in the Twenty First
Century. In Leaning, M. (ed). Issues in Information and
Media Literacy: Education, Practice and Pedagogy.
Informing Science Press, pp1-29.