Brief overview of New Curriculum for IL

Jane Secker & Emma CoonanWolfson College, Cambridge

A New Curriculum for Information Literacy

Front cover image: ‘Tulip staircase at the Queens House, Greenwich’ by mcginnly

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcginnly/2197675676/(licensed under Creative Commons)

What was I doing in Cambridge?Arcadia Fellow based at Wolfson

CollegeArcadia was money given to

Cambridge University Library by an anonymous donor to explore the future of academic libraries

20 Arcadia Fellows over last 3 years – most are based in Cambridge by some from outside

Most fellows work on research projects on their own for 10 weeks

I was lucky enough to be paired up with Emma Coonan

The researchDeveloping a new curriculum

for information literacyTo understand and meet the

needs of undergraduates entering HE over the coming 5 years

Academic advisor: Professor John Naughton

Office in Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies (CARET)

Our research methodModified Delphi

approach (used in forecasting the future)

Literature reviewDeveloping a curriculum

plus various supporting resources

Preliminary findings presented at workshop and revisions made in light of feedback

Key curriculum attributes

Grounded in a view of IL as fundamental to the ongoing development of the individual – social as well as academic

“Information literacy empowers people in all walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create information effectively to achieve their personal, social, occupational and educational goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world and promotes social inclusion in all nations.”

UNESCO (2005) Alexandria Proclamation

The Information Literacy landscape

Theoretical BackgroundInformation literacy (IL) needed to be

rehabilitated as a termIL has become invisible – why?IL is so much more than skills – it underpins

learning but librarians spend too much time focusing on functional / technological skills

IL is about becoming a discerning scholar so must be taught within the subject discipline

IL is not the preserve or saviour of the library

Our key curriculum attributes

Holistic: supporting the whole research processModular: ongoing ‘building blocks’Embedded: subject-contextualFlexible: not tied to a specific staff roleActive and assessed (including peer assessment)

Transitional : Transferable : Transformational

What our experts said…

Modular, flexibleholistic, embedded,Relevant to students

Format and structure of the curriculum

Online / face to faceActive learning: discussion

and reflectionTraining > Teaching

Teaching style and method of delivery

Who teaches? When?

And don’t forget….

Use of auditsMeaningful assessment

Learning outcomes

How to market IL to different audiences

Assessment

Marketing / hooks

Aligning the curriculum content to discipline specific knowledge, skills and behaviour

Technology in the curriculum

No need to teach specific tools and software as curriculum needs to evolve but …

Assumptions around technologyOwnership or access to computersOwnership or access to mobile technologyGoogle generation assumptionGreater use of cloud computingGreat use of social media - combating the filter bubble

10 Curriculum themes Transition from school

to higher education Becoming an

independent learner Developing academic

literacies Mapping and

evaluating the information landscape

Resource discovery in your discipline

Managing information Ethical dimension of

information Presenting and

communicating knowledge

Synthesising information and creating new knowledge

Social dimension of information literacy

Using the curriculumEach theme has multiple levelsTranslated themes > learning outcomes > example

activities > example assessmentClasses can be designed to incorporate multiple

themes at the same levelClasses and activities should be active, reflective,

relevant to student needYou could use it to audit your own training provision

Find out more ...

Visit our wiki (http://ccfil.pbworks.com) and the project website

Download the Executive summaryIf you’re interested in why its designed the way it is –

read the Expert Report and Theoretical backgroundIf you’re interested in implementation, download the

Curriculum and supporting documents

But seriously what was I doing?

Cheers!