Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education
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Intellectual Property and the Changing of Information Professional Curricula: a huge necessity
No full textInformation society represents a profound changing in the organization of the society and economy – a new paradigm – but, most of all it is a global phenomenon with potential for transforming social, economical and technical environment and activities performed by information specialists, because social reality is always affected by the infra-structure of available information. In this regard, the theme Intellectual Property has become one of the pillars of the new context of technology development and interchange communication between countries and people everywhere because the objects of intellectual property in all its extension, which are creations of the human mind and intellect, can be seen as pieces of information which can be incorporated in intangible objects at the same time in an unlimited number of copies, at different locations anywhere in the world. And all these objects have specific information inside and are reunited in databases with special characteristics, which have to be understood by the information professional and the knowledge on how to comprehend, handle and recover is a fundamental necessity. And most important is that this professional will have to acquire knowledge in multidisciplinar subjects, as economy, innovation, information technologies, human sciences, ethics and law. − In this context, some studies concerning “network society” (Castells, 2002) “cyberculture” (Lévy 1999), and information literacy of informational professional (Vitorino, 2007) and (Azevedo and Beraquet, 2010) put light on a necessity to review competences in the specific area of graduation because they bring other ways of thinking and implement a strong relation with reality, considering the existence of new informational economies. It is no longer possible for this specialist not to understand a student or teacher request concerning an advise on patent search, the environment of innovation or tendencies on the trademark world or copyright involved in all the media they have in hands, specially when they are virtual. So, this paper will deal with the new characteristics demanded for the information professional, which comprises, at least: a) be pro-active; b) have a comprehensive approach on leadership, finances, communication and technical management, in order to best get, use and organize the information; c) be strongly acquainted with information technologies and how databases are structured and work; d)understand the scientific methods of research and have the capacity to analyze and filter literature in databases; e)have a researcher and planned attitude, because he is going to understand technical and scientific information when dealing with patents, trademarks, utility models, geographical indications and others; e) be a multidisciplinary professional, able to understand the “talk of every man in the vast world”; e) learn how to make “technical” searches in public and private databases in order to help students and teachers in their work; f) understand the legislative complex of laws governing the rights involved in the world of research and intellectual property. These conditions are in line with the diversity encountered as the reality and there is no longer time to comply with curricula not adjusted to it. The proposed paper will present a curricula that could preview 2 or 3 semesters of subjects, performed during the complete course, to accomplish and training future professionals for this context. The discussion with other specialists dealing with intellectual property, education and methodology of distance learning will promote an interchange of visions ant the best approaches to each education entity. It is important to give to this new students a base to promote a high understand and possibility to be included as an integral specialist
Sustainable collaboration: a method to integrate discipline-sensitive information literacy modules at program levels
No full textThe Borås Model, a model on how the library and the university departments can collaborate to facilitate development of information literacy (IL) among students, is the outcome of a project run by the Library and Learning Resources and the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Borås. The model is a top-down-model and the Rector of the University of Borås in early 2009 made a decision that it should be implemented in all programs at the university. Thereby the senior administrators were given the responsibility to promote and facilitate sustainable collaboration between the university departments and the library to develop embedded IL modules through the curriculum. The overall analysis and planning to identify where IL modules should be integrated in a program is a responsibility shared by the director of studies and the teaching librarian. Course coordinators, teachers and the teaching librarian collaborate on writing learning outcomes for the actual IL module, decide the content, assignments and the overall design of the IL module. The implementation of the model is still in it’s cradle. There will surely be obstacles to overcome along the road as the model unfolds and it will surely take some time for everything to fall into place. But the goal is clear: to design embedded discipline sensitive IL modules to support the students’ development of information literacy, both for their needs as students but equally important to prepare them for their professional career. As a starting point for the implementation of the model the teaching librarians discussed what should be classified as basic knowledge and what should be classified as advanced knowledge in terms of information literacy. The discussions resulted in guidelines for the creation of IL modules with an emphasis of progression throughout the whole programs, but the guidelines are general enough to allow for adaptation to the specific needs of individual programs and the students’ various future professions. What was achieved during this first year reveals that the IL modules must indeed be allowed to differ in number and size as well as in content for the different programs. The presentation will give a few examples that will illustrate how learning outcomes can vary between different programs, and how the university’s learning management systems (LMS) is used for assignments and assessment. Finally it will present some lessons learned
Developing diverse learners’ conceptions of information literacy through different tools and spaces
No full textThe poster will portray three activities that the presenter has used to stimulate students in the Department of Information Studies to develop their ideas about information literacy. Each of the activities encourages learners to construct their own personal understanding of information literacy by considering various conceptions and perspectives (rather than trying to impose a “one size fits all people” view of information literacy). The first two activities were used with a class of 80 taught postgraduate students; a class with students with a variety of first degree subjects and from many countries around the world (e.g. about a third of the class is Chinese). The first activity series made use both of a Virtual Learning Environment, WebCT, and face to face discussion. The presenter used 10 conceptions of information literacy discovered through research (Webber et al., 2005): each conception was set up as a thread on a WebCT discussion board and students were asked to choose (outside class time) the conception they identified with most, by posting to the relevant thread. The most “popular” conception turned out to be information literacy as “Becoming confident, autonomous learners and critical thinkers”. Students provided thoughtful comments, including some which referenced their own cultural/ national backgrounds. In a subsequent class, the “results” were discussed with the class, and students also discussed whether educators and information professionals needed to do anything differently to help people develop the student’s chosen conception of information literacy. − The second activity consisted of a seminar and a poster display. Students were set the task of producing posters that showed “What information literacy means to my future career”, with each group consisting of 3-6 students. In the first week the groups discussed the focus for their posters and drafted ideas. By the next week each group produced an A0 sized poster: these were put up in a display in Sheffield University’s Information Commons. The exhibition was attended by all students, and by Departmental staff and librarians. This was a very lively session, and the posters demonstrated the variety of career aspirations of the students (including library work in various sectors, but also management roles, consultancy, government posts etc.). Students were able to identify aspects of information literacy most important to them. The third activity involves a smaller number of students from the same cohort, using the Virtual World, Second Life. The presenter set up a three dimensional exhibition “What information/literacy means to me” based around quotations from the research study referred to above, and from another study by Shahd Salha (a PhD student researching Syrian school librarians’ conceptions of information literacy). People interact with the exhibition (as avatars), and are then encouraged provide their own quotations [this activity will take place in Spring 2010, but the exhibition is already in place]. In the subsequent roundtable the presenter would prefer to be led by the interests and questions of participants. However her own three questions would be: How have other participants exploited cultural/national differences in their students to gain a richer picture of information literacy? Have other participants used posters in their information literacy teaching? Have others used conceptions of information literacy derived from research in their teaching? References: Webber, S. Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2005) “A comparison of UK academics\u27 conceptions of information literacy in two disciplines: English and Marketing.” Library and Information Research, 30 (93), 4-15
Fagreferentenes rolle under nye rammebetingelser
No full textEt universitetsbibliotek skal være en vesentlig støtte for og bidragsyter til universitetets aktiviteter innen forskning, publisering, undervisning, læring og formidling. I dag står vi overfor en rekke utfordringer som ikke minst berører fagreferentenes arbeid: Hvordan påvirkes fagreferentenes oppgaver og rolle av en stadig økende mengde av fritt tilgjengelig informasjon, søkemotorenes dominans, lave budsjetter, endret brukeratferd og nye brukerforventninger, flere tverrfaglige forskningsområder, krav til kvalitet (NOKUT), globalisering av digital informasjon, endrete samarbeidsmåter for forskere og i biblioteket, økt betydning av nasjonalt og internasjonalt samarbeid (resource sharing), Open Access publisering, e-Science o.l.?Ved Universitetsbiblioteket i Trondheim har en gruppe arbeidet med innspill til bibliotekdirektøren vedrørende fagreferentenes rolle og oppgaver under endrete rammebetingelser. Gruppen har bestått av Rune Brandshaug, Hege Charlotte Faber, Almuth Gastinger og Tove Knutsen. Gruppen har vurdert satsningsområder for fagreferentenes arbeid, kompetansebehov for framtidig rekruttering og intern opplæring samt organisatoriske og ledelsesmessige krav som må på plass for å få satsningene til å lykkes.Foredraget beskriver resultatet av gruppens arbeid, dvs. prioriterte satsningsområder og fremtidig kompetansebehov. Dessuten skisseres fordeler og ulemper ved ulike modeller for organisering av fagreferentoppgaver samt organisering av fagreferentene i biblioteket
The three domains of value: Why IL practitioners must take a holistic approach
No full textMany definitions of IL focus on the subjective value of information - the learner expected to be the initiator, agent and evaluator of an information search. However, we must also judge information against the objective domain: without it, we risk what Damian Thompson has called ‘counterknowledge’, the spread of unscientific worldviews like conspiracy theories, pseudohistory and so on. There is also the intersubjective domain, the field of laws, morals, economics and community standards. Without this domain we may collapse into relativism. But the subjective domain remains valuable, as otherwise we would suffer from ‘groupthink’, becoming merely the instrument of organisations and ‘the system’. All three domains of value are thus essential if the informational resources on which we draw are to be sustainable, healthy and open, and if we are to respond to the challenges posed by diversity and highlighted by this conference. Why, then, is so little IL teaching thinking about its subject in this way? I suggest the answers lie in how governments and other influential educational stakeholders conceive of their ‘product’. Not every educational stakeholder wants to see the kind of critical, creative thinkers which holistic IL is oriented to producing. Addressing this paradox is a significant policy challenge facing IL as it matures in the 21st century
Challenges posed by diversity in Academic institutions as they implement Information Literacy: the experiences of Makerere University Library in Uganda
No full textOver the years, academic libraries have been conducting information literacy (IL) programmes for their users. This paper shares Makerere University Library\u27s experience in implementing IL programmes at Makerere University and other academic institutions of learning in Uganda. The findings of this paper are based on the IL sessions\u27 evaluation forms, together with the authors\u27 experiences as instructors. A sample of one thousand (1000) participants\u27 evaluation feedback forms was used in assessing the IL sessions conducted by Makerere University Library in two years (2008-2009). The evaluation focused on the duration and relevancy of training, nature of content, its organization; the instructors, new skills participants gained and how they hoped to pass them to others. Initial findings indicate that IL sessions are highly regarded with repeated recommendations for increased duration and frequency of information literacy sessions in different universities. The various challenges posed by diversity are explained as follows: Difference in age groups arise because admissions to the various universities cater for direct entrants from high school and mature age entrants\u27. Students also come from different social backgrounds that dictate the standard of schools they attend i.e.; urban schools where education standards are high and skills such as using computers are imparted visa-a-vis the rural schools where such skills are not imparted. To the IL instructor, this implies conducting the training with patience and extending the time allocated for each session in order to impart the basic ICT skills prior to imparting the IL skills. Internationalization on the other hand is not a very big challenge because the proportion of foreign students is small and their ICT skills are moderate. Gender aspects and the diverse disciplines of research in the Ugandan universities also pose challenges when conducting IL sessions in that the groups handled at a time are normally composed of participants from different disciplines. The paper then addresses the possible strategies to these challenges and makes recommendations focused on improving the IL programmes conducted in academic institutions in Uganda
Undervisning i informasjonskompetanse: Hva gjør vi og hva synes studentene?
No full textUBT (Universitetsbiblioteket i Tromsø) har de senere årene hatt økt fokus på undervisning. Våre kurs er fordelt på to områder: Det ene er tradisjonell brukeropplæring, med øvelser i bruk av Bibsys og databaser, samt annen praktisk bibliotekopplæring. Det andre er kurs i informasjonskompetanse. Dette er som oftest rene forelesninger med en mer teoretisk innfallsvinkel. Jeg ønsker å presentere sistnevnte kurskategori og våre erfaringer fra denne undervisningen, med utgangspunkt i kursene vi gir for førstesemesterstudentene innen humaniora. Min presentasjon vil ha to hovedfokus: a) Hvordan er kursene våre bygd opp og b) Hva forteller studentevalueringen av kursene oss?I løpet av to forelesninger søker vi å gi studentene en introduksjon til temaer som vi mener inngår i det å være informasjonskompetent. Dette inkluderer for eksempel informasjonssøking, studieteknikk, referanser og riktig kildebruk. Vi prøver å gjøre forelesningene så relevante som mulig ved å bruke eksempler fra humanistiske fag. Vi bruker også humor som et virkemiddel til å holde på studentenes oppmerksomhet. I tillegg til disse fire timene med teori, avsluttes kurset med to timer praktiske øvelser på et datarom.Vi benytter oss av studentevaluering på alle kurs. Responsen fra studentene er svært positiv, og oppmøteprosenten er god. En av hovedårsakene til at vi har lykkes med disse kursene er vårt nære samarbeid med faglærerne. Bibliotekets representant er med i arbeidsgruppa for ex.fac. (humanistiske fag), og er også involvert i avviklingen av studentenes arbeidskrav (en muntlig presentasjon av ett av ex.fac.emnene). Vi opplever dermed at vårt kurs er godt integrert i den øvrige undervisninga
Elektronisk sikring?
No full textEtter et utall fagreferentkonferanser med pusjing av elektroniske tidsskrifter og bøker, er det på tide at noen tar opp spørsmålet om sikkerheten1: Sikkerhet for at innholdet i elektroniske tidsskrifter og bøker i det hele tatt fins, og ikke bare blir borte en dag. Sikkerhet for at innholdet ikke blir forandret, slik at det brukerne får lese, er ekte.Det som truer innholdets eksistens, er dels ytre forhold, dels indre, datatekniske forhold. Ytre farer er alt, fra forhold som truer uansett medium: vann, brann, naturkatastrofer, vold og sabotasje, til datatekniske forhold: På den ene sida holdbarheten. (Ingen kjente lagringsmedier holder på innholdet lenger enn i forholdsvis få år.) På den andre sida format- og programproblemer. (Noe kan skje med forlag/agent, eller de kan kutte tilgangen - med overlegg eller av vanvare.) Det som truer innholdets kvalitet, er først og fremst målretta forsøk på endring: forskningsfusk, historieforfalskning eller “vanlig” kri¬minalitet. Dette er realiteter en må regne med. Går det an for Amazon å “tilbakekalle” hele verk, slik det skjedde med Orwells romaner sist sommer, lar det seg naturligvis godt gjøre å forandre innholdet. Her fins det historiske forbilder, som Bolsjaja Sovetskaja Entsiklopedija. I elektronisk form blir slikt bare lettere, også fordi elektroniske tids¬skrifter lagres utenfor biblioteket og i utlandet.Hva kan en gjøre? I tillegg til å gjøre det samme som med trykt materiale (mange eksemplar som lagres spredt osv.), må innholdet i elektroniske tidsskrifter og bøker migreres: En må (stadig) overføre innholdet ikke bare fra ett medium til et annet, men fra en programvare til en annen og fra en maskin til en annen når det blir nødvendig. Hvis ikke blir innholdet ødelagt. Trykt materiale kan “bare” lagres, men skal det ha noen mening å si at en lagrer noe digitalt, forplikter en seg til å migrere innholdet med regelmessige (ulike) mellomrom, alt etter hvordan program- og maskinvare kommer til å utvikle seg - i all framtid. Digitalisering er i virkeligheten begynnelsen på en prosess. Den krever en stabil institusjon som kan stå for utførelsen, og det er igjen et økonomisk spørsmål. Det skal ikke mer til enn en ny regjering ved neste stortingsvalg før alt digitalisert innhold er i fare…Hva må gjøres? Elektroniske ressurser må vi ha. Men en kan ikke bare abonnere på tilgang til noe som er et sted en overhodet ikke har kontroll over. En må kjøpe materialet, og kopiere det i et passende antall for oppbevaring på flere trygge steder. Og migrere. Men en bør også sikre seg med å oppbevare innholdet i trykt form noen steder. Det gjør det også prinsipielt umulig å gjøre endringer i innholdet. Ikke engang innlagte/skjulte elektroniske triks vil nytte. Og da er det mest praktisk fortsatt å kjøpe trykte tidsskrifter og bøker – i tillegg til de elektroniske utgavene. Bare på den måten kan vi virkelig sikre og få kontroll over våre egne samlinger og investeringer – til bruk for studenter og forskere i all overskuelig framtid. 1 Jeg skal ikke si noe om hva som er mest praktisk i daglig bruk, skjerm eller papir. Jeg skal heller ikke snakke bedriftsøkonomi: Sparer en egentlig noe ved å gå over fra papir til elektronikk? Og jeg skal ikke si noe om forholdet mellom “samme” innholdet i elektroniske og tilsvarende trykte tekster der de fins
Teaching and learning in higher education in regard to information literacy and diversity
No full textBill Johnston will review selected current thinking on the nature of learning environments in higher education and identify how this work can be applied to course (re)design and curriculum renewal in universities. He will outline his thinking on curriculum renewal as a means of developing the Information Literate University (ILU) as a key node of lifelong learning in complex and diverse societies
Writing learning cases for an information literacy tutorial
No full textThe research and writing processes are often hidden mysteries to our students. A key point in the online tutorial Search and Write (Søk and Skriv) has been to supply our students with tools to handle these processes. Learning cases embedded in the tutorial allow us to demonstrate a variety of working techniques and to better cater for a diverse student population. The tutorial can be used as an independent resource for students and as a teaching aid for both library sessions on information literacy and for faculty-led sessions on academic writing. Our tutorial is available in Norwegian and in English and thereby the tutorial can be used with both local and international students. An online tutorial is aimed at all students and therefore the information literacy content is of a general kind. The pedagogical foundation for the Search and Write tutorial is in contextual learning. Adding context to our general content has been important to us and we decided to develop learning cases for this purpose. In our online tutorial we have developed three sample student blogs, Kuhlthau’s information search process functions as a template in structuring the students’ stories. The blogs are learning cases, developed with the intent of illustrating various aspects of academic writing tasks. The blog stories are idealized and touch upon many of the known stumbling stones for student writers. Contextualising the search and write process like this let us explore the diversity of student assignments and from various fields of study. When our real-life students use Search and Write they may use their own research question as a point of departure. They can read the blog stories and relate these stories to their own experiences. They can use the How to brainstorm-tips provided in Sofie’s blog. Christian’s use of tutors, library staff and his writing group can provide guidance on who to ask for help. For students writing literature reviews Oda’s systematic approach to searching can be helpful. Good writers have the tacit knowledge that feedback and re-writes are necessities of text productions. The tutorial help make some of the tacit knowledge in writing visible to the students. Our sample blogs are pedagogical text, written with the intention of providing information and understanding of the research and writing processes for the students. The blog stories can be used as interventions in the interaction between student and library staff. As the blogs are structured along the stages of Kuhlthau’s information search process it aids the library staff in choosing an appropriate interventions strategy from her Zones of intervention. A further possibility is to consider our sample blogs as templates for creating learning cases related to the student population and learning needs at one’s own library. Writing learning cases are one way in which teaching librarians can explore the new learning landscape