Presented at IFLA Information Literacy Satellite, Aug 14-15 2014

1. Skills For Success: Bridging the Information Literacy Gap
Between University and Professional Practice
Erich Hartmann. James Joyce's "Bloomsday." Dublin. 1964 http://www.magnumphotos.com/
Siobhán Dunne | @dunnesiobhan | Dublin City University
IFLA World Library and Information Congress 2014

2. • Graduate Attributes
• Embedding information literacy
• Resource Creation
• Professional Practice

3. DCU Library

4. DCU Library

5. Information Literacy – A Graduate Attribute
Students will be encouraged to
develop a high level of information
literacy that encompasses a
sophisticated, considered and critical
approach to sourcing, organising,
evaluating and using information.
“Preparing students for success in life and especially in the workforce now means
equipping them with a set of personal skills to enable them to navigate the challenges of
a globalised society and an increasingly knowledge based workplace”

6. Last year we integrated a new resource into
the advanced feature writing module for final
year journalism students.
It was targeted at providing more advanced
research techniques for the journalists and
some of the practical aspects such as advanced
boolean search techniques proved extremely
useful.
The students benefitted from understanding
how to search library sources on company
databases and many went on to use these in
investigative features.

7. "The DCU Journalism degree offers a great variety of practical and theory
modules, allowing students to choose the subjects they are most
interested in. Before I came to DCU, I thought I had no interest in print
journalism but the experience of newsdays where the class divides into
two teams and carries out the work of a newsroom, producing a radio
news programme or newspaper at the end of each day, has completely
changed my mind. Now I would be glad to work in broadcast or print
media. The 8 week INTRA placement at the end of the final year is
extremely beneficial because students get the opportunity to put all their
journalism skills into practice."
BA Journalism Graduate, 2010
BA Journalism - a practical, hands on degree

8. Source: http://www.starfm.com/tag/office/
Embedding Information Literacy into the JR3 Programme

9. Teaching Online Module – Learning Outcomes
• Evaluate your teaching & identify
opportunities to include technology in
your teaching
• Critique range of e tools & identify how
appropriate they are to your own
competencies
• Reflect on your own experience of
being a learner and how it informs
your teaching
• Develop learning resources to be
incorporated into at least one module
Develop learning resources to
be incorporated into at least
one module

10. A fellow student - a lecturer teaching on the JR3
programme - would be my ‘champion’.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/trees_are/4420379696/

11. Our Learning Resource Plan

12. Literature Review (1)
MacMillan, M., 2009. Watching Learning Happen: Results of a Longitudinal
Study of Journalism Students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 35 (2),
p132 -142.
• Development of an I-SKILLS résumé to prompt journalism students to
reflect on, assess, and describe their information skills
• The results of a five-year study provides insights into what students use
and how that usage evolves, and have implications for information literacy
instruction.
• Using the I-SKILLS résumé , the author watched learning happen in
response to classes, work, and the changing information environment.

13. Literature Review (2)
Field, T., MacMillan, M., 2011. Toward Development of Collaborative,
Comprehensive Information Literacy and Research Skills Program inside the
Journalism Curriculum. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator.
Summer 2011, 66 (2), p176 -186.
1. Determine the extent of information needed
2. Access the required information effectively & efficiently
3. Evaluate information & its sources critically
4. Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base
5. Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
6. Understand the economic, legal & social issues surrounding the use of
information & access & use information ethically & legally.

14. Literature Review (3)
ACRL, 2011. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Journalism
Students and Professionals
• Standard One: PLAN. Identifies needed resources, determines where to find
them and estimate time & financial costs to access information.
• Standard Two: FIND. Begins research using search strategies that are effective
and efficient
• Standard Three: EVALUATE. Appraises information gathered for accuracy,
balance and relevance
• Standard Four: DRAFT & CREATE. Writes the story by integrating the
information gathered
• Standard Five: ETHICAL & LEGAL. Applies professional standards throughout
the research process

15. Resource 1: Portal for content and assignments (created in WordPress)

16. Resource 2: E News Tutorial (created in Articulate Studio)

18. Assignment 5:
Search Strategy

19. “Just to let you know I had the best
feedback with regards to our library
session. They were all extremely positive
and indeed said it should be on offer to
every year and they wished they had it
earlier in their careers here it would have
been so much help. One even asked if
there could be a whole module of it!”
Dr. Jane Suiter,
DCU School of Communications

20. “The embedding of the library's digital literacy
skills within the journalism module allowed
students to put their learning into practice in an
immediately rewarding and practical manner.
In this particular instance, the students were
able to use these skills for their assignments,
but also realised that proper use of the library's
digital resources would be of great use to them
in their later professional lives.
This initiative has transformed the integration of
library training skills into the mainstream of
journalism education”.
Martin Molony
DCU School of Communications

21. Future Directions
“I’ve had an initial think. I was considering dividing the students into beats
(courts, local authority, crime, entertainment, business, editing etc) and
getting them to get real news out there in the community and then publishing
it online somehow with room for podcasts. “
(JR3 Lecturer)
Possible Task
Get students to create a Storify about their specific beat topic. They are often
surprised by how much work is involved in curating social media. “It’s a
journalism skill that needs to be learned. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of social
media comments.”
Source: 4 ways journalism educators are using Storify as a teaching tool
http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/journalism-education/153565/4-ways-journalism-
educators-are-using-storify-as-a-teaching-tool/

22. Professional Themes: Twitter
Citizen Journalism: from content creation to content curation

23. http://www.datajournalismhandbook.org/1.0/en/introduction_0.html#st
hash.VapX7NrH.dpuf
Professional Themes: Data Journalism

24. Thank You!
siobhan.dunne@dcu.ie
@dunnesiobhan