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How to Pla n and Develop I nformation Literacy Program mes in Schools. Prof. Dr. Serap Kurbanoglu Hacettepe University Department of Information Management.
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How toPlan andDevelopInformationLiteracyProgrammes in Schools Prof. Dr. Serap Kurbanoglu Hacettepe University Department of Information Management
Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right windSeneca
Getting started • Don’t reinvent the wheel: • Identify the IL model that works best foryour institution • Adaptinformation literacy standards and practices • Design a programme based on thestandards and experiences • Work on a strategic plan • Identify and focus on library responsibilities toward IL and develop library instruction programs accordingly • Ensure to teach the research process and its concepts, and do more than introducing electronic tools and technology • Be prepared for challenges & be aware of planning pitfalls June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Key planning issues • Plan your Information literacy program in concert with overall strategic library planning • Make sure that your plan is tied to library and institutional development plans • Review past performance and try to understand reasons for past failures • Identify opportunities • Determine learners’ needs and preferences • Understand the impact of IL training on existing operations and staff function June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Potential challenges & planning pitfalls • Obstacles such as limited facilities, financial and human resources • Inability to get management and/or teachers involved • Lack of clear objectives • Assumptions • The status problems • Resistance towards change • Obstacles in communication (different vocabularies) • Student motivation (students don’t want to do anything extra) • Perfectionism June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Planning • Statement of purpose • Action • Environmental scan • Opportunities and challenges • Resources • Budget • Administrative and instutional support June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Planning • Integration with the curriculum • Collaboration and partnership • Pedagogy • Outreach and promotion • Evaluation • Characteristics of the learner • Mode of instruction June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Mission statement • Mission statement describes the overall purpose of the program and may reflect the values and priorities • Write a mission statement for your IL program • Make sure that the mission statement • includes a definition of information literacy • is consistent with the “Information Literacy Standards” • corresponds with the mission statements of the institution • clearly reflects the contributions of and expected benefits to institutional community • appears in appropriate institutional documents • is reviewed periodically and, if necessary, revised June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Goals & Actions • Goals are the qualitative and quantitative statements of what the organization wishes to achieve over a measurable future • State the goal(s) to achieve and make them specific • Make sure that goals for your information literacy program: • are consistent with the mission and goals of the institution • are consistent with the mission statement of the IL program • apply to all learners, regardless of delivery system or location • reflect the desired outcomes of preparing students for lifelong learning • are evaluated and reviewed periodically • List all actions required to achieve each goal • Write actions in the order they need to be completed June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Enviromental scan • Scan both internal and external environment • SWOT/TOWS analysis can be used • Environmental scan • Detecs social, economic, and political trends that may affect organization’s future • Detects trends and events important to your plan • Detecs institutional factors that can help or limit the program • Provides early warning of changing external conditions • Defines potential threats and opportunitiesimplied by external factors • Promotes a future orientation in the thinking of management and staff • Enables to understand current and potential changes to determine organizational strategies June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Internal & external factors • Internal = Strengths and Weaknesses • Evaluate the weaknesses and strenghts in terms of human, economic and physical resources available in the library for the IL program • External = Opportunities and Threats • Anticipate and address current and future opportunities and challenges June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
SWOT Analysis June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
TOWS Analysis June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Resources • Identify what is required to implement the program • Describe the human resources required for each action • Describe the physical requirements for each action (e.g. classroom, office space, furniture, equipment, etc.) • Address, with clear priorities, human, technological and financial resources, current and projected June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Human Resources • Build up your team • Employ, develop, or have access to sufficient personnel with appropriate education, experience, and expertise • Identify and assign leadership and responsibilities within the team June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Human Resources Make sure that the staff • develop experience in teaching, assessment of student learning, and curriculum development • develop expertise to develop, coordinate, implement, maintain, and evaluate IL programs • use instructional design processes • promote, market, manage, and coordinate diverse instruction activities • collect and interpret data to evaluate and update instruction programs • integrate and apply instructional technologies into learning activities • produce instructional materials • employ a collaborative approach to working with others • actively engaged in continual professional development and training • respond to changing technologies, environments, and communities June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Budget • Tie your plan to library and institutional budgeting cycles • Estimate yourbudget. Determine how much funding the program needs • Be flexible in estimating costs June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Administrative and institutional support • No information literacy program can be developed and sustained unless it has a strong base of support • Support for a successful instruction program has many interdependent facets • The level of support necessary will depend on • the scope of the program • the size of the program • its connection with other institutional units June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Administrative and institutional support Convince the administration within your institution: • that IL is a learning issue not a library issue and that teachers must also be responsible for students acquiring IL abilities • to assign information literacy leadership and responsibilities • to plant IL in the institution’s mission, strategic plan, and policies • to provide funding to establish and ensure ongoing support for teaching facilities and resources, staffing, professional development opportunities for librarians, faculty, staff, and administrators • to recognize and encourage collaboration among instutional community (teachers, librarians, and other staff) • to communicate support for the program • to reward achievement and participation in the information literacy program within the institution’s system. June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Integration into the curriculum • Ensure that IL is incorporated into the curriculum • Use institutional decision making mechanisms to ensure institution-wide integration into programmes • Identify the scope (i.e., depth and complexity) of competencies to be acquired on a disciplinary level as well as at the course level • Sequence and integrate competencies throughout a student’s school career, progressing in sophistication • Specify programs and courses charged with implementation • Merge the IL concepts with the course contents June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Collaboration & partnership • Collaborate with teachers, librarians, other program staff and administrators • Establish formal and informal mechanisms for communication and ongoing dialogue across the institutional community • Collaborate at all stages (planning, implementation, assessment of student learning, and evaluation and refinement of the program) • Center your collaboration efforts around enhanced student learning and the development of lifelong learning skills • Work with teachers to develop curriculum, syllabi, and assignments that focus on the research • Collaborate with teachers to incorporate information literacy concepts and disciplinary content • Collaborate with teachers to identify opportunities for achieving information literacy outcomes through course content and other learning experiences June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Developing partnership • Focusing teachers’ attention on information literacy and creating a partnership can present challenges • Teachers have many competing interests • Most teachers feel that they have established a partnership with librarians • It is not at the top of their agenda • Strategies in Developing Partnership • Identifying the partners • Creating awareness of the issue of information literacy • Avoiding partnership pitfalls June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Creating awareness • Support can only come when teachers are aware of what IL is, why it is important, and what problem it is solving • Creating awareness in the minds of teachers is not a one-time event • Teachers’ awareness of IL can be raised in the following ways • Make a powerful link between critical thinking and IL • Talk about IL as a lifelong learning skill • Talk about how IL helps students with their current academic endeavors • Talk about IL as one of the essential skills of student academic life • Provide data about the current level of student IL skills June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Avoiding partnership pitfalls • It is imperative that librarians respect teachers’ authority over the curriculum • IL program should be introduced as an enterprise-wide solution to an enterprise-wide problem • IL program should have goals that are agreed on by the teachers and the librarians • Avoid giving the message of exclusiveness to teachers • Be mindful of the compactness of the curriculum • Do not exhaust teachers by inundating them with a full array of IL standards • When introducing an IL program choose the time wisely • Be prepared to define IL June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Pedagogy Make effective use of instructional pedagogies • support diverse approaches to teaching • make effective use of instructional technologies and media resources • foster critical thinking and reflection • support multiple learning styles • support student-centered learning • determine learning outcomes • assess progress against learning outcomes • build the program on students’ existing knowledge • link information literacy to ongoing coursework and real-life experiences appropriate to program and course level June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Outreach & promotion Outreach / promotional activities for an IL program are the responsibility of all members of the institution, not simply the librarians • Emphasize the importance of IL and communicate a clear message defining and describing the program and its value to targeted audiences; • Gauge the method most appropriate to theinstitution; • Timing is crucial for successful promotion.Be well informed and involved with the work of the instution; • Provide targeted marketing and publicity to stakeholders; • Target a wide variety of groups; • Use a variety of outreach channels and media, both formal and informal; • Offer IL workshops and programs for teachers and staff June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Promoting strategies • Make contact with key members of the staff • Take advantage of available opportunities. Make links, where appropriate, to information literacy when attendingmeetings • Try to integrate an IL session into existing staff training programme • Offer to train teachers in an aspect of IL, e.g. the use of a particular database and its new features, and then use this as a selling point • Offer to deliver a session in partnership with a teacher, e.g. in a session on plagiarism and referencing • Invite staff to IL events • Tie-in discussions on IL with other school priorities such as combating plagiarism • Prepare a formal paper for the management • Bring appropriate sections of official reports by educational and library bodies to the attention of the institutional community June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Promoting to students • When IL sessions are embedded in curricula, students have a strong impetus to attend • Otherwise, some well targeted publicity will be needed • In order to maximise attendance: • Get involved in starting the academic year events and highlight the importance of the IL sessions students will be attending • Ensure that the library orientation session is included in the starting the academic year events • Advertise training sessions on Blackboard or the school intranet • Create a promotional flyer to distribute students and display on school notice boards • Use the orientation session as a promotion opportunity to advertise further events tailored to the particular needs of the student group June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Evaluation • Systematic ongoing process that should gather data regarding the progress of instruction program toward meeting its goals and objectives • Influences decisions, guides allocation of resources, helps to decide what to emphasize in the classroom • It is not an end in itself; it is a way to get answers to important questions that have to do with educating students effectively June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Evaluation • Prepare an evaluation plan which addresses multiple measures (needs assessment, participant reaction, learning outcomes, teaching effectiveness, and overall effectiveness of instruction program) • Articulate the evaluation criteria in planning documents • Use multiple methods for assessment/evaluation • Address specific learning outcomes • Focuse on student performance, knowledge acquisition, and attitude appraisal • Assess both process and product • Develop assessment instruments • Coordinate with faculty to explore and implement performance-based assesment methods • Use assessment data in the revision and improvement of the program • Periodicaly review the assessment/evaluation methods June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Characteristics of the learners • Keeping the prospective users in mind is essential in the development of instructional programs • Characteristics of next generation learners: • They were born during the computer age and grew up in a technological world • They are a much more technically sophisticated generation than previous generations • The visual image is the primary means of communication • Multimedia – music, graphics, and video – is the preferred learning and entertainment experience for many of them • They have native ability to multitask • They can handle the nonlinear approach (they are interactive and experiential, and learning occurs through trial and error) • They are computer literate, but are not information literate. June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Modes of instruction Instruction takes place in many ways, these may include, but are not limited to, providing: • Course-integrated instruction • Drop-in workshops • Handouts and guides (print & electronic) • Web based instruction • Stand alone courses • Credit / non-credit • Requested / elective • Subject specific instruction • Tours • Video presentations June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Identification of modes of instruction • The modes selected should be consistent with the content and goals of IL instruction • Where appropriate, more than one mode of instruction should be used based on knowledge of the wide variety of learning styles of individuals and groups • When possible, instruction should employ active learning strategies and techniques that require learners to develop critical thinking skills in concert with IL skills June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
An example of best practice June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
http://old.oslis.org/index.php June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
OSLIS – Elementary June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
OSLIS – Elementary http://old.oslis.org/elementary/tutorials/elementaryGeneral.htm June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
OSLIS – Middle & High School June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
OSLIS – Middle & High School http://old.oslis.org/secondary/tutorials/MidHighGeneral.htm June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
OSLIS – Teachers & Librarians June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Public domain June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
References • ACRL. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm • ACRL. (2003). Characteristics of programs of information literacy that illustrate best practices: a guideline. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/characteristics.cfm • ACRL. (2003). Guidelines for instruction programs in academic libraries. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/ALA_print_layout_1_192693_192693.cfm • Gaunt, J & et al. (2007). Handbook for information literacy teaching. Cardiff: Cardiff University. • Iannuzzi, P. (1997). Assessing libraries in support of campus missions: the information literacy imperative. American Association of Higher Education Conference on Assessment and Quality. • Keiser, B. E. (2008). Designing information literacy training programmes and action plans. UNESCO IFAP Workshop, May 30-June 1. Montego Bay, Jamaica. • Lau, J. (2004). International guidelines on information literacy. IFLA. • Rockman, I. F. (2004). Integrating information literacy into the higher education curriculum: practical models for transformation. San Francisco: John Wiley. • Snavely, L. (2001). Information literacy standards for higher education: an international perspective. 67th IFLA Council and General Conference, August 16-25. June 2010, Empatic, Krakow - Poland
Thanks Prof. Dr. Serap Kurbanoglu serap@hacettepe.edu.tr Hacettepe University Department of Information Management