Delivered at the All Ireland Society for Higher Education Annual (AISHE) Conference, August 28 – 29, 2008, Maynooth, Ireland.

1. Making it real:
information literacy &
student engagement
28th August 2008
NUI Maynooth
Siobhán Dunne Ursula Byrne
Humanities Librarian Head of Academic Services
DCU Library Humanities & Social Sciences
UCD Library

2. Overview
• Changes in higher education
• Information literacy & achieving learning outcomes
• Case Study 1 – DCU (first years)
• Case Study 2 – UCD (third years)
• Partnership

3. Changes in Education
• Shift toward semesterisation & modularisation
• New approaches to teaching
• Resulting change in the role of libraries & librarians
• Inter-disciplinary approach
• Development of life-long learning skills

4. Why is Information Literacy important?
Is it a named learning outcome or competency in your
module descriptor?
– Slide adapted from presentation by Lorna Dodd, Liaison Librarian, UCD

5. Identify
information need
Use the Identify the
information in an most appropriate
INFORMATION source
ethical way LITERACY
Evaluate the
reliability, Effectively
relevance, retrieve relevant
currency & information
appropriateness
of the
information

6. Example of Programme – DCU
Study and Research Skills
School of Applied Languages & Intercultural Studies
First year undergraduates; Core Module
4 partners:
• Computer Services Department
• Library
• School of Applied Languages & Intercultural Studies
• Teaching and Learning Unit

7. Example of Programme: DCU
School of Applied Languages & Intercultural Studies
Demonstrated need for this module from students
Explicit Learning Outcome:
“The module will contribute to facilitating the transition into a
third level learning environment”

8. Module Aims
• introduce students to technologies and resources that will underpin
their work at university
• enable students to gather, interpret and present information
• introduce students to academic writing skills
• enable students to reflect on their work practice and progress
(assessing one’s work)
• foster group work by identifying common goals and working towards
individual & group aims
• help students become aware of motivating and organisational factors
which affect learning

9. Library component
• 5 x 1 hr
• Diagnostic assessment
• Continuous hands on element
• Discussion and reflection in each session
• Emphasis on collaboration & peer assessment
• Module content posted on VLE
• Timely feedback to guide learning

10. Hands on Session 4
Planning your Search Strategy
Learning Outcome:
Clarify your research topic - using mind mapping
Indentify and locate scholarly & popular
information sources
Locate newspapers & journals – both print/online
Evaluate information found
Module Aims
•enable students to gather, interpret and present information
•enable students to reflect on their work practice and progress
(assessing one’s work)

11. Assessment
• Reflective learning log (30%)
• End of Semester Essay (70%) on the topic of “Academic Writing”
- students required to formulate their own research question
Explicit essay criteria
• Employ and cite, AT LEAST three different sources
• Use a keyword search in the library catalogue.
• Plan your research

12. LETS
DCU Library E-tutorial for Students

13. Overview:
UCD, 2006 -
• Where within a programme are IS skills acquired?
• Approach taken : Information Skills Steering Group
• Sub-Group: T&LIS : Delivery of information skills within
programmes
• Pick n Mix
• Example : School of Economics
• 30 minutes demonstration/lecture; 30 minutes worksheets
• Changes in module from 2006/07; 2007/08
• Year 1: Lectures 1-6 by Academics ; Lectures 7 – 14 by
Library staff
“Equip students with skills necessary to write a
research proposal”
• Year 2 : Lectures 1-9 by Library staff

14. Example of UCD Programme:
School of Economics
3rd year undergraduates
10x 1hour
Laptop trolley – Carter
25 Dell D600 laptops
Compatibility in rooms
Data projector availability
Trolley availability

15. Example of Programme:
School of Economics – 3rd years
• Create a search strategy
• Identify back-round information
• Use relevant print and electronic journals
• Use relevant databases to locate information
• Locate and evaluate relevant web resources
• Alternative sources to consider – Google Scholar, Open
Access publications, e-theses, Gateway sites
• Evaluating information found
• Ethical use of Information
handout

16. School of Economics programme 2007/2008
Library component 30% marks
Workbook = 20% marks
• 9 worksheets*
• Demonstration /lecture + relevant worksheets filled in
• EndNote Library = 10% marks
• Create an EndNote Library - Week 4
• Each EndNote library contains unique references for each project
• Each EndNote library contains at least one of each the following:
– Journal article; Book or book chapter; Newspaper article; Website;
Official document; Reference
• *Worksheet 9 distributed in class

17. Comparison of two years
2006 – 2007 2007 – 2008
53 students registered 39 students registered
Average attendance: Average Attendance:
80% (Plagiarism session 60%) 76% (Plagiarism session 85%)
Worksheets Worksheets
92.5% average mark achieved 81% average mark achieved
EndNote Library – not separately EndNote Library 66% average mark achieved
marked
(100% highest; 0% lowest (5 not submitted))
Assessment strategies:
Assessment strategies:
Attendance/participation – 15%
Worksheets = 20%
Worksheets 40% -
EndNote Bibliography 10%
Detailed Project outline: 45%
Final Project : 70%

18. Evaluation of Programme over 2 years
Evaluation: Year 1 Year 2
68% Response 74.4%
Of those who responded:
Year 1 Year 2
Worksheets 75% helpful 82.8 %
11% too difficult
Use Library more effectively: 94% 89.7%
Apply knowledge to other courses: 75% 89.7%

19. Making it real
Partnership with Academic community
– why embedding IS skills is more successful than the
traditional generic approach
• Appropriate learning experiences - Directly related to
students’ work
• Active “hands on” session
• Evaluation forms
• Communication

20. Student Feedback
Worksheet was good for
developing project topic and
The library sessions … making you read up and find
taught us how to make information about the topic.
the most of the library
and they also taught us
about plagiarism
More on
literature The library session…
reviews explained citing and
referencing and I had
never done this before.
More in-depth analysis of databases would be
helpful and Endnote would be better if
introduced in an earlier class. Happy days, very
helpful for research,
wouldn’t be a bad idea
doing this for 1st years
Really good practical sessions. …. A good coming in to university
mix of demonstration and practice.

21. Academic Staff
“Because the skills
Feedback, 2008 were linked to
credited course
work, the students
The embedding of IS within the were more engaged
Economics module has resulted in
students having “a better
in the process”
understanding of the range of
economic resources available,
and how to cite these resources
correctly”
“They’ll apply what they have learned to
other modules they are taking in
Economics, … and have also gained skills
that’ll be of benefit in the workplace
when they leave [university]”

22. Partnership
• Achieving strategic objectives of
the institution
• Delivering information skills
across Programmes
• Supporting different forms of
teaching
– PBL, Large Group teaching etc

23. Questions?
Contact
Siobhán Dunne: 01 7008327 siobhan.dunne@dcu.ie
Ursula Byrne: 01 7167025 ursula.byrne@ucd.ie