Teaching Information Literacy Skills

1
Teaching Information Literacy Skills

• Tom Adam,
• University of Western Ontario
• Stephan Beckhoff,
• London Health Sciences Centre

2
Teaching Information Literacy Skills

• Tom Dewey Decimator Adam
• Stephan The Obtuse Kid Beckhoff

3

• A librarian should be more than a keeper of
  books a librarian should be an educatorAll that
  is taught in college amounts to very little but
  if we can send students out self-reliant in their
  investigations, we have accomplished very much

Otis Hall Robinson, Proceedings, American
Library Journal v.1, November 30, 1876
pp.123-124.
4
Question

• Did you ever think of yourself as an educator?

5
Goals

• To enhance your learning materials by applying
  theory and design principles
• To make an informed decision when evaluating
  instructional media
• To conceptualize information literacy
• To consider how information literacy shapes
  instruction

6
Objectives

• Apply fundamental Instructional Design
• Apply adult learning principles
• Compare instructional media
• Highlight design principles for a WWW
  instructional event
• Investigate information literacy standards
• Consider current practices in library instruction
• Consider future trends in library instruction

7
Fundamentals Instructional Design

• Three step process
• Analysis
• Learner
• Environment
• Needs, gap, task analysis
• Design Strategies
• Evaluation
• Formative, summative

8
Fundamentals Instructional Design

• Design Strategies
• Organizational Strategies
• Structures
• Sequencing (ID and Learning theory)
• Delivery Strategies
• Media
• Grouping
• Management Strategies
• Scheduling, resources, etc

9
Instructional Design Theory

• Lesson Level Organizational Strategy
• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion
• Assessment

10
Instructional Design Theory

• Lesson Level Organizational Strategy
• Introduction
• Gaining attention
• Informing the learner of the objective
• Stimulating prior recall
• Body
• Presenting stimulus material
• Providing guidance
• Eliciting performance
• Providing feedback
• Assessing performance
• Conclusion
• Enhancing retention and transfer (summarize)
• Assessment

Nine Events of Instruction - Gagné-Briggs 1983
11
Instructional Design Theory

• Keller ARCS model for motivating instruction
• Attention
• Relevance
• Confidence
• Satisfaction

12
Adult Learning Principles

• Androgogy the art and science of teaching adults
• Arnold et al (1991) state that among adult
  learners, people retain
• 20 of what they hear
• 30 of what they see
• 50 of what they see and hear
• 70 of what they see, hear and say
• 90 of what they see, hear, say and do

13
Adult Learner Characteristics

• Have a variety of work and life experience
• Learning is a means to an end
• Response to life change events
• Highly motivated
• Cover material rapidly

• Appreciate respect
• View learning as a social process
• Fragile self-esteem
• Pre-occupied
• Diminished physical and perceptual capacities

14
Teaching the Adult Learner

• Create an atmosphere of challenge, little threat,
  freedom of choice, respect and warmth
• Set goals, meet needs.
• Get learner involved in establishing and meeting
  needs

15
Learning Cycle

• People cycle through four phases

Concrete Experimentation
Active Experimentation
Reflective Observation
Abstract Conceptualization
Learning Style Inventory D. Kolb, 1999
16
Learning Cycle

• Concrete Experimentation
• Learning by experiencing
• Learns from specific experiences
• Relates to people
• Sensitive to feelings and people

Learning Style Inventory D. Kolb, 1999
17
Learning Cycle

• Active Experimentation
• Learning by doing
• Shows ability to get things done
• Takes risks (What if..?)
• Influences people and events through action

Learning Style Inventory D. Kolb, 1999
18
Learning Cycle

• Abstract Conceptualization
• Learning by thinking
• Logically analyzes ideas
• Systematically plans
• Acts on intellectual understanding of the
  situation (How does it work?)

Learning Style Inventory D. Kolb, 1999
19
Learning Cycle

• Reflective Observation
• Learning by reflecting
• Carefully observes before making judgments
• Views issues from different perspectives
• Looks for the meaning of things (Why?)

Learning Style Inventory D. Kolb, 1999
20
Instructional Media

• Print
• Internet/CBT
• Instructor

21
Instructional Media Print

• Interactive, asynchronous
• Cheap to reproduce
• High production value
• Limited versatility stand alone or supplement
• Easy to edit/update
• 50 100 hrs of effort for 1 hr of academic media

22
Instructional Media CBT/WWW

• Highly interactive, asynchronous
• Unlimited reproduction (web)
• High production value
• Versatile can accommodate many learning styles
• End-user needs equipment
• Expensive to produce 200 300 hrs for one hour
  of academic media

23
Instructional Media Instructor led

• Highly interactive
• Accommodate different learning modes almost
  instantaneously
• Needs extensive resource management and planning
• Cheap to produce 3 10 hours for 1 hour of
  academic media (i.e. lecture)
• Extremely expensive to produce the content expert

24
Designing for WWW Principles

• Know your audience
• Test your content
• Learn and use design principles for WWW
• Ensure design continuity
• Keep navigation simple
• Apply learning and ID principles to your teaching
  materials and teaching style

25
Web Page Design Principles

• Text
• White space - Hyperlinks
• Graphics and graphic highlighting
• Colours
• Scrolling
• Animation
• Blend delivery solutions

26
(No Transcript)
27
Question

• Which is betterPrint, Internet/CBT or Instructor?

28
How did you learn the library?
What did you do?
How did you feel?
What were you thinking?
29
Information Explosion

• Bombarded daily with information
• Electronic journals digital libraries
• Connecting Canadians
• SchoolNet, LibraryNet

30
Coping with it

• Computer proficiency skills
• Technological competence
• Information literacy
• Common to all learning environments
• All levels of education and beyond
• Engage critically with content
• Extend investigations

31
Information Literacy

• ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards
  for Higher Education (2000)
• http//www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/standard
  sguidelines.htm
• CAUL Information Literacy Standards (2001)
• http//www.caul.edu.au/caul-doc/publications.html

32
Information Literacy at Western

• equip students with the power to achieve
  straight As!

A
A
ccess
ssess
A
A
ssimilate
pply
33

• recognize the need for information
• identify potential sources
• question formation
• develop effective search strategies
• navigate resources

34

• critically evaluate information sources
• content
• context
• informed decisions
• re-examine refine searching strategies

35

• incorporate into knowledge base
• classify, store, manipulate, manage
• relate to how information generally is generated
  and stored
• organize for practical application or purpose

36

• use new information in critical thinking and
  problem solving
• share information, create new knowledge
• ethical, legal, socio-economic implications
• responsible stewards

37
DANGER!
DANGER!
DANGER!

• Static set of skills mastered once

Information Literacy Standards must dynamically
respond to the ever- changing information
environment.
38
Where Does It Happen?

• anywhere and everywhere
• at the desk one-on-one assistance
• integrated, assignment-based
• course specific one-off sessions
• demonstrations of specific tools
• self-directed tutorials
• embedded in the curriculum

39
About Western Libraries
Seven locations across campus

• Collection of 7,500,000
• Digital Library 100,000 e-resources

40
Where we were in 1998

• Upper Level and Graduate focus
• Tool based teaching
• Renovating Weldon
• First year Programmes?
• Field of Dreams

41
Our Plan

• Look at what we needed to offer
• Strategize a methodology
• Develop an instruction model
• Just do it!

42
Methodology

• Develop an instructional model
• facilitate standardized delivery of information
  concepts and skills
• Promote the service
• proactive, systematic
• Deliver the instruction sessions
• effective presentations
• Evaluate
• enhancement and improvement

43
Instructional Model

• address core information skills, tools and Weldon
  collections
• information literacy searching skills
• Library catalogue and key databases
• concretely link to course objectives
• interactively engage participants
• foster a level of comfort
• utilize current technologies
• presentation software
• hands-on approach (where possible)

44
Marketing and Liaison

• concentration on 020 level
• build on existing network
• new faculty sessions, EDO, Residence Dons,
  Peer/Mentors
• individual mailings
• Pre-session meetings
• clarify expectations and detail schedules
• Post-mortems
• evaluate and adjust

45
Politics 020

• Faculty liaison
• Pre session meetings
• Lecture
• Tutorials
• Exam Questions
• Post Session evaluation and prep

46
Instruction Sessions
47
So Whats Next?

• Teaching Support Centre
• Virtual Assistance
• Ask Us Now

48
Ask A Question link
49
ASK US NOW chat reference