Development and delivery of a Science and Engineering information literacy programme at NUI Maynooth. Antonesa
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The document summarizes the development and delivery of an information literacy program at NUI Maynooth. The program was a blended learning module consisting of 5 face-to-face sessions and online activities. 12 graduate students from various departments participated. Student feedback indicated the program improved their research skills and ability to find and manage information. Going forward, the program coordinators aim to expand information literacy instruction to undergraduates and make greater use of blended learning approaches.
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Development and delivery of a Science and Engineering information literacy programme at NUI Maynooth. Antonesa
- 1. Development and Delivery of a Science and Engineering Information Literacy programme at NUI Maynooth Mary Antonesa, Library Claire McAvinia, Quality Promotion Office NUI Maynooth, Ireland
- 2. Overview โข National and local context โข Module details โข Collaboration โข Blended learning โข Cost โข Findings โข Future planning
- 3. Context: Teaching and Learning at NUI Maynooth
- 4. Context: Core Themes of the T&L Strategy Theme 2 - Developing graduate education: The structure of graduate education is being actively developed through the three Faculty-aligned Graduate Schools. NUI Maynooth will continue the process of introducing professional doctorates, facilitate the development of structured doctorates, incorporate generic skills modules into existing programmes, and develop new programmes to reach out to groups outside the University. Theme 3 - Fostering access, fostering lifelong learning: Teaching should foster a desire to learn throughout life, and develop the learnerโs autonomy in order to pursue lifelong learning. Access to learning through technology and assistive technology, the provision of new programmes, and the accreditation of prior learning, are all addressed by this Strategy.
- 5. Module Details 6 month lead in Library as lead drivers Five week delivery period (November โ December 2007) 12 attended from across the Departments of Engineering, Biology, Geography and Psychology Flexible blended learning โ five three-hour-face-to-face hands on classroom session โ Supplemented with online discussion and support via Moodle
- 6. Blended Learning Materials in Moodle Discussion spaces in Moodle Responsive to needs of students - student-centred Using Moodle as part of classroom teaching - blended learning rather than โadding onโ e-learning (Garrison & Kanuka, 2004) Developing studentsโ skills in learning online as well as information literacy
- 7. Module Learning Outcomes This Module had six learning outcomes. These outcomes sit on a framework as defined by the Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy (ANZIIL) Recognise the need for information and determine the nature and extent of the information needed Find information effectively and efficiently Critically evaluate information and the information seeking process Manage information collected or generated Apply prior and new information to construct new concepts or create new understandings Use information while understanding and acknowledging the cultural, ethical, economic, legal and social
- 8. Learning Activities Framework provided the structure Learning activities were open and flexible Tailored to suit individual researchers needs Annotated Bibliography - Each participant had to integrate and customise these learning outcomes to their own subject area by searching, finding, evaluating and referencing material for their own literature review and share their findings with the class
- 16. Costing in time Resource Hours Planning 100 Assistant Librarian Hours Delivery 20 Assistant Librarian Hours (15 f2f & 5 online) Meetings 25 including AL, LT & L Total 145
- 17. What aspects of the teaching do you appreciate most? Posting additional material on Moodleโฆ Approachable and tailored Use many materials, web links and other resources for teaching If we wanted to spend more time on a particular topic we were given that opportunity. learn something useful from each session In my research I am more aware of the quality information resources available to me This course improved my research skills
- 18. What is your general impression of the course? โข I feel that If Iโd taken this course at the start of my PhD it would have saved me a lot of time in terms of literature searches and reviews โข Very useful to help me to find and manage information for the research โข I went into the course thinking โI am already literate in finding infoโ. But I was surprised at how much I have gained โข 2000 hits in Moodle (25 June โ 11 March)
- 19. Findings Blended learning -rigorous model Real value Consistent attendance Faculty Specific IL at UG level Collaboration Smaller class sizes Close the loop Blended learning Class size
- 20. Future plans? โข Undergraduates: โ Other core themes of the Teaching and Learning Strategy โข Developing the use of blended learning to teach information literacy โ Twofold benefit: effective use of resources, effective use of VLE as online learners
- 21. Contact Details Mary Antonesa mary.antonesa@nuim.ie Claire McAvinia claire.mcavinia@nuim.ie
Editor's Notes
- This module represents not only a response to Fourth Level Ireland, but is also a reflection of institutional policy and many areas of teaching and learning development at NUI Maynooth. A new Teaching and Learning Strategy (replacing the previous Charter) was published in March 2007. As part of this, two formally accredited teaching and learning courses were launched, one for lecturers and one for postgraduate tutors and demonstrators. The Teaching and Learning Strategy reflects the broader objectives of the universityโs Strategic Plan, which include attraction and retention of greater numbers of non-traditional students, international students, and graduate students. Clearly the development of information literacy is important for all of those groups. The Teaching and Learning Strategy focuses more clearly on how university goals relate to support for teaching and learning. It identifies core objectives all of which have either a direct or indirect connection with information literacy: โto draw upon the universityโs research strengths to enhance teaching; to promote and enhance postgraduate education; to foster learner autonomy and the empowerment of learners to continue learning throughout their lives; to support the professional development of educators; to diversify methods, and promote innovation, in teaching, learning and assessmentโ.
- This slide cites two of the four core themes of the Teaching and Learning Strategy, and show you the context for the development of the Information Literacy skills module. Namely, the three Faculty-aligned Graduate Schools and the incorporation of generic skills modules into existing graduate programmes. The third theme makes reference to fostering lifelong learning, and again reflects the desire to foster real autonomy amongst our learners. By this we do not only mean being able to learn independently, but to be able to analyse and critically reflect on learning both within and outwith teaching events. The role of technology is also picked up in this theme, and we were deliberately trying to make a link here between learning autonomously and using technology effectively.
- We are located in different areas of the university - one of us in the Library, and the other in the Quality Promotion Office, which also co-ordinates teaching and learning developments. However, the Teaching and Learning Strategy and the development of initiatives in relation to information literacy have marked a strong intersection between our areas of work. It is not only helpful to us both to collaborate, but, we argue that in this area it is essential and has led to a much richer learning experience for students as well as greatly improving what people at the โcentreโ know about information literacy and the real issues for students in this area. [MARY - thatโs a bit off the top of the head, please feel free to re-write!] As a Learning Technologist, my role is focused strongly on dialogue with people who wish to build in an online dimension to a course they may be teaching. Oliver (2002) talks about this from a Communities of Practice perspective: he suggests that learning technologists work across boundaries with other communities all the time. In doing so, they learn the terminology, practices and โrulesโ of other communities. However, this is a two-way process: people in the disciplinary community also generally come new to e-learning and are learning about that terminology, the technologies involved and the ways students use technology in their learning. In using the Moodle virtual learning environment, the new course could be supported through the provision of resources for students and means of communicating and working on the course when they were not all in the same location. Our collaboration might be characterised as somewhat typical in terms of the use of an environment like Moodle for a new course: course lecturer and learning technologist work together to bring this about. Often the collaboration ends at that point, when the course is designed and delivered, and the lecturer carries on with minimal support after that point. However, we might suggest that there were a number of differences to our traditional experiences here, and these are important to share with you if you are planning similar courses. As this was a new course, we continued to work together throughout its delivery. We taught some of the course components together, and rather than completing and finishing a process of course delivery, our collaboration has allowed additional elements to be included in the course. The ongoing collaboration has allowed us to work on a number of related developments. These include wider discussions about the use of referencing and citation software in the university, and further sessions for staff and students in EndNote Web.
- Collaboration in supporting staff and students in the use of EndNote Web has arisen from our experiences with the Information Literacy module, and again has proved very beneficial for both departments. We introduced the plagiarism prevention software Turnitin as an e-learning project in 2006. We decided to mainstream this following a pilot and evaluation in 2007. Although Turnitin has been generally welcomed by departments at NUI Maynooth, evaluation data from the pilot suggested a number of areas of concern for staff and students. We have introduced Turnitin from a strongly educative standpoint: we have encouraged students to use it independently of formally assessed work to develop their own understandings of referencing and citation. We have also encouraged staff to discuss (where time allows) the feedback that Turnitin gives students, since it can usefully highlight lack of understanding of referencing and citation. However, without any other means of supporting students we felt it was not sufficient. Bibliographic or referencing software would offer one means of increasing that support. At the same time as we were mainstreaming Turnitin, EndNote Web was made available through our institutional subscription to the Web of Science. There were wider discussions in the university about possibly purchasing a site licence for EndNote in the longer term, but this software was immediately available and it meant that we could begin to work with staff and students straight away.