Theme: New challenges for information literacy

 

Surviving the library and the building research skills

Jennifer Hicks, Miami University, Middletown, USA.

How
do you present a library introduction in 20 minutes, while keeping it
instructive, entertaining, and providing students with the opportunity
to actively participate? Our library developed a postapocalyptic
scenario, Libpocalypse, which allows us to cover how different library
resources can be used in the research process. Rather than lecturing
students in our short session with them, we engage them with situations
where they can put library skills to use. The original concept for our
instruction was created for a group of 8th grade students participating
in a program entitled „Day in the Life of a College Student?. The
instruction included four parts covering both online tools and physical
resources. Based on the feedback from this program, we have since
adapted the instruction for our Student Orientation Advising &
Registration (SOAR) sessions. Participation in our short information
literacy introduction is one of many options students can choose during
SOAR, but since our implementation of Libpocalypse we have continued to
see growth in the number of students in our sessions as well as an
increase in their participation.

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Develop teaching and learning with mobile devices?

Moa Hedbrant, SLU University Library, Uppsala, Sweden

Mobile
devices ? you find them in everyone?s hand and the fields of
application are steadily growing. To meet our customers? habits, the SLU
University Library works actively with implementing mobile tools and
apps in our daily work, not least in teaching sessions and other
encounters with students and teachers.

Some examples: We integrate
different apps in our regular teaching, such as Socrative for quizzes,
discussions and monitoring a group. In seminars called Apps for
academics we?ve given students and teachers tips on useful apps to
annotate, read, collaborate etc. Your participation in „teacher lunches?
at different departments engendered lots of curiosity and ideas among
teachers.

All activities generated interest, good discussions and
exchange of experiences. How do I share a presentation from my Prezi
app, how can I access the library?s journals on my tablet, what do I
like with this specific annotating app, how can I organize my life ?

We
have also noted that using mobile devices in learning comes naturally
to most students, but is still unusual at the university and hence comes
as a welcomed and exciting feature. Spring 2016 we plan to continue
implementing relevant tools in our own teaching, and also to give
seminars on specific topics such as present, read/write, collaborate.

The
poster aims to show our activities but more important to encourage
discussion on the topic. What are other conference members? experiences?
How can we use mobile tools to develop teaching and learning?

Keywords: mobile devices ; apps ; mobile tools ; learning

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Information literacy: More than just information literacy courses

Lina
Lindstein (Presenting
author) and Annika Zachrisson, Stockholm University Library, Stockholm,
Sweden

At Stockholm University Library we have changed
perspective on the way we work with Information Literacy (IL). The last
year we have been striving to work with IL in a broader sense and more
as a connected unity .We wanted to include all the parts of IL to better
meet our users´ information needs regardless of when and how they
appear.

We used to work in a team of teaching librarians and our
primary focus the last 15 years have been to develop courses in IL and
information retrieval for students and researchers. The focus has been
to support their academic writing rather than lifelong learning.

Today we are working in different ways to implement IL in addition to the courses that we still offer.

All
meetings with our library users aim to lead to a better understanding
of the concept IL regardless if the contact is by phone, email, chat or
personally at the information desk. All meetings are supposed to be
characterized by a didactic approach.

Continuing and developing
our services, Search Lab (individual drop-in reference consultation),
Book a Librarian (appointed individual guidance) with drop-in-workshops
with different themes we hope to attract more students. During time we
would like to see the boundaries between these services and the
information desk to be dissolved.

Further we would like to
integrate an IL thinking into a discussion forum (KUNDO) where
llibrarians will answer the users? questions with films, interactive
courses or text depending on the context.

Finally we offer all
graduate students appointed private reference consultation as a plan to
support them all the way from the start to publishing their
dissertations.

Whenever and however we meet our users the purpose should be getting them more information literate.

Keywords: information literacy ; customer service ; guidance

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Theme: Assessment of information literacy

 

Practical case of the multiple-choice questions as a part of learning and self-evaluation

Paula Kangasniemi, Lapland University, Finland.

We
often think of the role of multiple choice only in order to test the
student’s skills. We measure by the questions, whether the student is
able to do the necessary things. I have tested how multiplechoice
questions could be a part of learning, not only assessing, in our
web-based course of information retrieval. Of course one role of
questions is still the assessment, mostly self-evaluation. In web-based
learning there is a need for high-quality mediators. Mediators are
learning promoters who trigger, support, and amplify learning. Mediators
can be human mediators or tool mediators. The tool mediators are for
example tests, tutorial, guides, diaries. The multiple-choice questions
are also learning promoters, which select, interpret and amplify objects
for learning, promote both learning and the self-evaluation of
learners. What do you have to take into account, when you are preparing
multiple-choice questions as mediators, which select, interpret and
amplify objects for learning, which also promote learning? First,
according to my experiences in contact learning I can assess, what the
students have to practice. What are the things, where students have
problems and need more guidance. Usually, we want to measure, that the
students have sufficient abilities to do something. The purpose of the
questions is not to test the skills of the students, but to urge the
student to try some certain searches. The second important thing is the
feedback. It is not important if students answer wrong or right. It is
important that feedback guides students how to do searching. The
feedback can be verbal feedback, a screenshot or a video. The most
essential it is the addition of feedback in all questions during
practice. Questions promote the self-regulation and self-evaluation of
students.

Keywords: web-based learning ; self-evaluation

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Expectations and experiences of information literacy instruction

Saga Pohjola-Ahlin, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden

What
are the expectations of third semester physiotherapy students regarding
information literacy instruction? What do they expect to learn and how
motivated are they? Is there a discrepancy between what the students
expect to learn and the actual experienced learning outcome?

The
main aim of the study is to shed some light on students? motivation to
attend information literacy instruction, how they value the session
afterwards and how they assess their learning outcome.

in the
spring of 2016, third semester undergraduate students (approximately 60
enrolled in the physiotherapy programme at Karolinska Institutet) will
be given 3 sets of questionnaires; before the information literacy
session starts, at the end and two weeks after the session.

This
small scale pilot study is a kind of „students? user experience study?
in a pedagogical setting. By doing this, we hope to gain insight in the
learning experiences of this group of students as a way to evaluate and
improve our teaching to meet student expectations.

Keywords: information literacy instruction ; students

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Theme: Implementation of information literacy into the curriculum

 

Integration of information literacy into the curriculum: Constructive alignment from theory into practice

Claes Dahlqvist (Presenting author) and Stina Larsson, Kristianstad University, Kristianstad, Sweden

Librarian-teacher
cooperation is essential for the integration of information literacy
into course syllabi. Therefore a common theoretical and methodological
platform is needed. As librarians at Kristianstad University we have had
the opportunity to develop such a platform when teaching information
literacy in a basic course for teachers in higher education pedagogy.
Information literacy is taught in context with academic writing,
distance learning and teaching, and development of course syllabi.

Constructive alignment in theory

We
used constructive alignment in designing our part of the course. Biggs´
ideas tell us that assessment tasks (ATs) should be aligned to what is
intended to be learned. Intended learning outcomes (ILOs) specify
teaching/learning activities (TLAs) based on the content of learning.
TLAs should be designed in ways that enable students to construct
knowledge from their own experience. The ILOs for the course are to have
arguments for the role of information literacy in higher education and
ideas of implementing it in TLAs. The content of learning is for example
the concept of information literacy, theoretical perspectives and
constructive alignment for integration in course syllabi. TLAs are
written pre-lecture reflections on the concept of information literacy,
used as a starting point for the 3 h lecture. Learning reflections are
written afterwards. The AT is to revise a syllabus (preferably using
constructive alignment) for a course the teacher is responsible for,
where information literacy must be integrated with the other parts and
topics of the course.

Constructive alignment in practice

Using
constructive alignment has taught us that this model serves well as the
foundation of the theoretical and methodological platform for
librarian-teacher cooperation when integrating information literacy in
course syllabi. It contains all important aspects of the integration of
information literacy in course syllabi and reflects the constructivist
and sociocultural theories.

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Teacher and librarian collaboration: Integration and just-in-time education, using timelines

Camilla Soderquist, SLU University Library, Alnarp, Sweden

The
SLU University Library has a long term goal that everyone studying at
the university should have access to the competence of the library
staff. In collaboration with teachers, deans, department heads and
faculties we try to plan when and how the library will participate in
education to ensure undergraduate & graduate students, and
researcher´s performance regarding information literacy, as well as
preparing them for future careers.

After reviewing our teaching in
2013 we realized that we meet some students too rarely to be able to
contribute to progression, and that we often got scheduled randomly. On
several occasions, our mandate was not clear, neither for us or the
students, and we realized we had to improve these conditions.

We
invited all head of department at each faculty for a discussion of the
students? need and the content to be taught. During this dialogue we
also discussed shared goals and visions, and finally how to enter at the
right time, i.e. just-in-time, to make our participation meaningful.

Through
this collaboration, we achieved most of our goals, but it was still
difficult to plan for when we would be involved in teaching. The library
staff then created visual timelines, to easily and transparently show
our current participation in the courses, how much and when. Once the
timelines were created, we re-invited the department heads to assess the
timelines with us, and could more easily clarify certain shortcomings.

The
aim of the poster is to show examples of how visual timelines can
facilitate cooperation, and how they can be implemented and integrated
when there is a need, through shared responsibility and dialogue.

Keywords: information literacy ; dialogue ; timelines

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Smart tools for academic information seeking

Eeva Koponen (Presenting author) and Tiia Puputti, Jyväskylä University,
University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Systematic information seeking is
an essential part of academic work. Research and information seeking go
hand in hand, and both need planning. In the academic world you can
hardly avoid the research plan, but you probably won?t hear that much
about the information seeking plan. The information seeking plan guides
you through the research process from the first sparks of an idea to the
last dot in the bibliography from the point of view of the often
invisible process of systematic information seeking.

Systematic
Information Seeking Framework designed in the Jyväskylä University
Library has its roots in Carol Kuhlthau’s Guided Inquiry Design Process.
Our model, designed for more contextual adjustability, is presented in
our Library Tutorial, an open (self)-study material.

The process
starts with „Defining the topic and finding search terms?. This stage
requires extensive reading about the subject matter, understanding the
basic differences between everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge
and distinguishing information resources for different kinds of needs.

Analysis
of concepts and understanding of their contextuality are at the core of
scientific knowledge. With the information seeking plan and a mind map
one can work on the search terms, discover connections and construct
search statements for different resources and the search strategies they
require.

Only the second section is about „Finding sources?,
which students often understand as the starting point for systematic
information seeking. Knowledge of the publication cultures in different
disciplines guide the information seeker to the different types of
sources needed.

Finally „Citing and managing references?. One of
the most essential skills in all academic work is the appropriate use of
scientific sources, citing and managing references correctly. As
academic dishonesty hurts the whole community, academic fraud, e.g.
plagiarism, is taken very seriously. Sufficient skills in seeking and
managing information are the keys in avoiding it.

Keywords: information seeking plan

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Theme: Information literacy and writing centres

 

Exploring the student?s needs from a holistic view on the write- and search process

Markus
Svensson (Presenting author), Lotta Gustafsson, Ida Henriksson, and Christina Lindsten, Linnaeus
University, Växjö, Sweden

Introduction: The library and
writing center at Linnaeus University support students in developing
information literacy and academic language competence. Coming from a
holistic approach on the write- and search process, this study examines
the needs of the students with the aim of creating an integrated
pedagogical support. What kind of challenges do students face when
writing academic texts and searching for scholarly information in higher
education?

Method: Student statements from a web based
booking form for write and search tutoring has been gathered, analyzed
and categorized to establish a thematic framework. The needs expressed
by the students have been compared with how the librarians and text
tutors have perceived the needs during the tutoring sessions.

Results: Students
most frequently ask for help to find relevant scholarly literature and
support in language and structure of their academic writing. There are
common areas, such as reference management and the demands of scholarly
status, where both text tutors and librarians give pedagogical support,
but from different perspectives. The study also reveals that there
appears to be diverse expectations on the tutoring among students,
librarians and text tutors which raises the question: Is the main
purpose of tutoring to help solve the task or develop academic literacy?

Conclusion: Through
our findings we see a possibility to further develop an integrated
support for the students. Text tutors and librarians can collaborate in
order to adapt the interwoven nature of the write- and search process.
We have also gained insights into differences in the approach to
tutoring between students, text tutors and librarians. A continued
collaboration will enrich our pedagogical approach and tutoring skills:
we have a lot to learn from each other.

Keywords: write- and search process ; collaboration ; tutoring

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A late night at the university library: Supporting students in the final phases of essay and thesis writing

Charlotte Janson, Karolinska Institutet Universitetsbiblioteket, Stockholm, Sweden 

This
poster outlines a strategy for both efficient use of library resources
towards the end of semesters ? when the library is filled with students
stressed about essays and theses ? and at the same time for caterings to
students? needs. For the past three semesters, the Karolinska
Institutet University Library has arranged „a late evening at the
library,? with a special program designed to help students. Our goal is
that the students should be able to finish their work during the
evening. We seek to provide an opportunity for focused work with access
to the resources that the students are asking for: drop-in consultations
and mini lectures with writing tutors and librarians. To help the
students stay focused and energized, the student health center offers
advice on how to end procrastination, an instructor from the campus gym
leads mini-exercise breaks, and complimentary snacks are offered. The
event was inspired by the international „long night against
procrastination?, which started in Germany 2010.

The late night at
the library makes for a new way of reaching students and catering to
their needs in a time-efficient manner. Although these evenings require
some preparation, we are able to reach many students. In addition,
students have the opportunity to get iterative support during their
working process, allowing for highly efficient and stimulating work.
Student response has been positive, and many students have used the
opportunity to work intensely and make use of the support offered ? and
some of them have also managed to finish their work during the evening!

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How to make parallel publishing an established practice in the academic publication process: A description of a process in Laurea University
of Applied Sciences, Finland

Anna Laakkonen (Presenting author), Tarja Laakkonen, Minna Marjamaa and Noora Montonen, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Espoo, Finland

The aim of this
poster is to describe a publication process which supports researchers,
encourages parallel publishing and results into an established practice
in Laurea UAS, Finland. The poster depicts a new parallel publishing
process with researchers and library collaborating in Laurea. Parallel
publishing means that beside journals papers are published also in open
access repositories. Several funding agencies, including the European
Union, recommend Open Access publishing.

Parallel publishing is
currently under discussion in Finnish universities and processes are
being developed. At the moment parallel publishing isn?t as efficient as
it could be. The time consuming licensing process and depositing work
should often be done by researchers. They might find the process
complicated and might not be aware of the benefits of parallel
publishing. Due to these challenges many researchers have not placed
their work into the institutional repositories.

Laurea has created
a procedure, which obliges the researchers to parallel publishing and
supports the researcher by shifting the licensing and depositing work to
the library. The process has the following steps: after writing the
researcher asks possible co-writers for permission to parallel
publishing, then fills out a simple electronic form with basic
information, and lastly sends the final draft version of the article to
the library. Next the library verifies the bibliographical information
and checks the permissions to parallel publishing. When the permission
is granted, library deposits the final draft to the Open Repository
Theseus (Open Repository of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences).

This
process leads to a growing number of parallel published articles which
benefits both the researcher and organization. The process is a prime
mover in the national level as it makes parallel publishing obligatory
part of the academic publishing process in Laurea. Most importantly, it
promotes Open Access and thus brings the article easily accessible for
anyone.