During a training session on creative partnerships, Fiona Forsythe explained that she had been asked to write down her key research question. She shared several versions she had come up with that explored how creative learning and information literacy skills relate. She then invited other attendees to write their own research questions on luggage tags to share. The questions touched on topics like improving information literacy instruction, how students seek information, and how to better teach and encourage information literacy skills.

1. “You’re good at finding things out.”
Developing questioning skills: Creative Partnerships in North East
England.
Fiona Forsythe, Fionn Consultancy Services,
fionn@forsythe.demon.co.uk
During this session, Fiona explained that she had recently been asked at a
Creative Partnerships training day what her burning research question was.
Fiona had written:
How does Creative Partnerships influence information literacy in an
academic setting?
Since then, she has played with a few different wordings:
Does creative learning create opportunities for information literacy
training?
or
Can information handling skills deepen a students use of enquiry
based learning?
or perhaps the question that she is most comfortable with:
In exploring the enquiry, do we forget how to find out?
Fiona invited the delegates who had attended her session to undertake the
same exercise - to write their burning research question on a luggage label
and tie it onto a small tree:
Here are the questions from the luggage labels – a quick snap shot of the
thinking/interest areas of some of the delegates. Perhaps there are ideas here
for future conference themes; perhaps the questions will just get you thinking!
What would be a more exciting, engaging name than ‘Information
Literacy’?

2. How do children’s cognitive and affective characteristics impact on
their information seeking strategies?
What Information Literacy skills are being taught to students from our
schools who feed into our college?
How can I persuade student doing Phds (including myself) to
transcend the basic premise that if hey use Google creatively they’ll
find what they need?
Why staff and students – some find new information exciting others do
not?
Do we have mistaken assumptions about where our students are and
what they need?
How could working in a group or team (participants) aid Information
Literacy – rather than working alone when attempting to source
information?
How can you infuse an information literacy session with the same
degree of enthusiasm and passion as a subject leader in a way that
inspires curiosity and a wish to learn?
Do students feel that they need information and library resources to do
well within their courses, assignments, questioning?
Does conversation improve learning?
How do I encourage active learning amongst students?
What would happen if I reversed the process? (students asked
questions, rather than I gave answers?)
How can we develop an information literacy thread which starts in
infant school and continues right through to HE and beyond?
I wonder why school librarians are not allowed to be involved in
teaching information literacy?
Do students actually need what we think they need?
How can we encourage students (in particular trainee teachers) to
appreciate the value of information literacy?