Developing information literate researchers at LSE: the jewels in our crown IVIG Seminar, Prague, 25 th September 2014 Image: ‘Crown ’ by Jason Train, CC BY-NC 2.0 Dr Jane Secker, London School of Economics and Political Science
Dec 04, 2014
Developing information literate researchers at LSE: the jewels in our crown
IVIG Seminar, Prague, 25th September 2014Image: ‘Crown’ by Jason Train, CC BY-NC 2.0
Dr Jane Secker, London School of Economics and Political Science
What IS information literacy and how does it improve the experience of PhD students?
What is the librarian’s role?
Supporting research students at LSE
Today’s talk…….
What IS information literacy? How does it improve the research students experience?
Information literacy is complex
Why does IL matter for PhD students?
Photo by Flickingerbrad licensed under Creative Commons Photo by starmanseries licensed under Creative Commons
A New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) – Jane Secker and Emma Coonan
Understand the needs of undergraduates entering HE over the coming 5 years
Map the current landscape of information literacy
Develop a practical curriculum and supporting resources
Find out more: http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com
Research to develop a new, revolutionary
curriculum for information literacy in a digital
age
Careers Language Centre
Teaching & Learning CentreLanguage Centre
LSE100Departments
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Technology
DepartmentsLSE100
Teaching & Learning Centre
DepartmentsLanguage Centre
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ANCIL in practice
Secker & Coonan (2011)
newcurriculum.wordpress.com/using-ancil/
What is the librarian’s role?
Teacher, guide and collaborator
Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT) Image © Gungahlin Public Library
(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)
Image credit: Gungahlin Public Library(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT) Image © Gungahlin Public Library
(reproduced by permission of Libraries ACT)
WRONG!!
Challenging perceptions ….
“… if the teachers, whether they’re school or university teachers, don’t have the same view of IL that we do, it’s always going to be [about] the skills. And the
skills are fine but anybody can teach the skills; it’s teaching the changing attitude and the different approach that I think
has to come from the teachers.”
(ANCIL Expert Consultation Report, 2011)
Joining up support
Examples of digital and information literacy in practice
Supporting research students at LSE
Supporting research students at LSE Support available from a
range of services and academic departments at LSE
Library and Learning Technology and Innovation (LTI) run termly workshops
MY592: Information Literacy tools for research
PGCert (teaching course) for all research students who teach
Compulsory e-submission of PhD theses in LSE Thesis Online
Image cc from http://www.flickr.com/photos/notkaiho/5716096442/
Digital Literacy workshops
Use the term ‘digital literacy’ for staff and research students
Optional workshops run each term taught by librarians and LTI
Cover using new technologies to support teaching and research Literature searching Using social media (social networking,
social bookmarking, twitter, blogging) Advanced internet searching Keeping up to date Managing your web presence
Hands-on practical sessions Online support in Moodle
Researcher Development programme
Expanding programme of workshops run each term
Focused on PhD students, research staff, post-docs etc.
Topics cover: Copyright for researchers Data Protection and Freedom of
Information issues Creating Poster Presentations Bibliometrics and citation
analysis Taught by Library and LTI staff
MY592: workshop on information literacy
Information and digital literacy non-credit bearing course comprising of six 2 hour workshops
Aimed primarily at new PhD students Builds up skills over course Specialist advice and support from academic
support librarians Taught by LTI / Library staff Supported online in Moodle
The curriculum Week 1: Introduction and
undertaking a literature search Week 2: Using the internet for
your research Week 3: Managing information:
Endnote, Zotero, Mendeley Week 4: Finding theses,
conference papers & specialist research materials
Week 5: Dealing with Data, news, archives and official publications
Week 6: Next steps, sharing your research and building a network
The approach Team teaching, with consistency from week to
week to build up a rapport with students Active learning and opportunities for reflection
throughout the course Tailored to allow students to find literature
relevant to their research topic Pre and post course survey to evaluate
effectiveness Personalised support from academic support
librarians Cross-disciplinary - but have also organised
shorter programmes for specific departments
Feedback and evaluation Regularly collect feedback via course evaluation forms for
workshops Feedback highly positive but only tells us about the people who attend Non-attendance levels relatively high (up to 50% in some cases) Introduce new courses and review programmes each term
LTI now collect data on the impact of training 3 months after workshops
MY592 collect pre and post evaluation data on students’ confidence finding and evaluating sources Feedback is highly popular Compulsory now in some departments and highly recommended by
some supervisors More qualitative students attend Student confidence increases after course but can makes students
more aware of what they didn’t know!
Information literacy and research students Don’t make assumptions about IL levels Gather evidence / survey incoming students One size doesn’t fit all – customise support (1-2-1
Research Consultations) New researchers will always need orientation to
your institution, your systems and procedures Generic sessions provide an opportunity for PhD
students to network, discuss their research, compare their approaches with people outside their department
Researchers may be moving into a different discipline – so rules of the game have changed
The benefits of the informed researcher No one wants un-informed
research or ‘bad science’ Many PhD students go on to
become academics so ensuring they are information literate is vital !
Supporting PhD students leads to teaching opportunities at other levels – “this course was great - can you teach my undergraduates?”
Promotes the positive association with librarians - PhD students can become our greatest advocates
The Jewels in our Crown Universities and society need high quality
research, informed by evidence, therefore we need researchers who can cope with huge amounts of data and information, to find the hidden ‘gems’, make new links, develop new theories and create new knowledge.
Further ReadingBell, Maria, Moon, Darren and Secker, Jane (2012) Undergraduate support at LSE: the ANCIL report. The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/48058/ Secker, Jane (2012) Digital literacy support for researchers: the personalised approach. In: Priestner, Andy and Tilley, Elizabeth, (eds.) Personalising Library Services in Higher Education: the Boutique Approach. Ashgate, Farnham, UK, pp. 107-125. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/45810/ Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2012) Rethinking Information Literacy: a practical framework for learning. Facet Publishing: London. Secker, Jane and Coonan, Emma (2011) A new curriculum for information literacy: curriculum and supporting documents. Arcadia Programme, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/37679/ Secker, Jane and Macrae-Gibson, Rowena (2011) Evaluating MI512: an information literacy course for PhD students. Library Review, 60 (2). pp. 96-107. Available at: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/32975/