Presented at LILAC 2017

1. Students as positive disruptors: Co-developing an
Information and Digital Literacy Festival (Masterclass)
using a participatory action research approach
Vicky Grant - Kate Grigsby - Sophie Carlson - Rosa Sadler
#LILAC17

3. Students as positive disruptors: Co-developing an
Information and Digital Literacy Festival (Masterclass)
using a participatory action research approach
Vicky Grant - Kate Grigsby - Sophie Carlson - Rosa Sadler
#LILAC17

4. Today we will be covering...
● Information and Digital Literacy (IDL)
● Participatory Action Research (PAR) with
Student Associates for Learning and Teaching
(SALTs)
● Co-developing workshops and the Masterclass
● Reflections and implications for practice

6. Student Associates for Learning and Teaching

7. “If the structure does not permit
dialogue then the structure must be
changed”
“The world is always in the process
of becoming”
Paulo Freire

8. Participatory action research
● A methodology for change
● Involves a subjective, inter-subjective and objective
position
● Research with people not just for people
“The active process of integrating and making sense of
various influences and perspectives and of developing
one's own understanding [is] … central”
Peter Reason and Hilary Bradbury.

9. Elka, Library SALT team, 2016-17.
“We become
active creators of
knowledge by
having a blog, not
just users of the
internet”

10. ISR and
workshops

12. ‘Blogging: from concept to communication’ - session
plan

13. Leonie Mills - Thoughts of a Lioness

15. The Masterclass

16. Reflections
‘Co-creating curriculum is an ambiguous
process entailing unpredictable aspects’ -
Bergmark and Westman (2016, p.37)
‘On a very practical level, collaboration
between library staff and students has
had its challenges…’ - Library Skills
Advisor

17. Reflections
-
Structure permitting dialogue - (Freire)
‘I think it would be good next year to
ask students to co-decide on
workshops perhaps by looking at the
queries that come through the Library
helpdesk.’ - Staff member

18. Reflections
Active participation in co-creating
enables transformation (Bergmark
and Westman, 2016)
‘Being a SALT not only has been
satisfying in the sense that it has
been a proactive way to improve
teaching and learning at
university, but I have really
enjoyed the teamwork and
outcomes of our group’ - SALT

19. Reflections
A climate of trust created which allows students to become ‘other’ (a partner in
co-creation) and staff to act as learning facilitators respecting the student
experience (Bergmark and Westman, 2016)
‘Working with the library staff has been absolutely delightful, I was given both
support and responsibility for the workshop we were creating.’ - SALT
‘It was rewarding to be able to contribute to their experience and give
feedback, before seeing the finished product of all their hard work’ - Library
Skills Advisor

20. Reflections
Teachers as facilitators of learning and
feeling out of control (Bergmark and
Westman, 2016)
‘They have pushed us, as Library Skills
Advisors, to cover new territory in our
workshops that we might otherwise have
felt was too far out of our traditional
information literacy comfort zone.’- Library
Skills Advisor

21. Reflections
‘It’s also easy to forget
how intelligent,
imaginative and
confident our students
are and watching the
SALTs carry out their
project reminded me of
this fact.’ - Library Skills
Advisor

22. Implications for practice
● Students can positively disrupt and thereby improve the
work of library skills advisors
● The process of collaboration is both troublesome and
rewarding
● Listening and being willing to make changes is fundamental
to a participatory action research approach

23. References
Bergmark, U. and Westman, S. (2016) Co-creating curriculum in higher education: promoting democratic
values and a multidimensional view on learning, International Journal for Academic Development [online],
21:1, 28-40 [viewed 2 November 2016]. Available from: doi : 10.1080/1360144X.2015.1120734
Cooperrider, D. L., Whitney, D. K. and Stavros, J. M. (2008) Appreciative inquiry handbook : for leaders of
change, 2nd ed., Brunswick: Crown Custom Pub.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of freedom : ethics, democracy and civic courage (Critical perspectives
series). Lanham, Md. ; Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.), New York: Continuum.
Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (2008). The SAGE handbook of action research : Participative inquiry and
practice (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, Calif. ; London: SAGE.