Presented at LILAC 2016

1. from University?
hashtag for today is
#lilac16
What happens after graduating from university?
Alison J. Head, Ph.D., Project Information Literacy, University of Washington iSchool
21 March 2016 | LILAC, Monday, 16:15 – 17:00 p.m. | Parallel Session #3
University College Dublin | Dublin, Ireland

2. Spring
2014
n = 63
Fall
2014
n = 1651
Spring
2015
n = 63
Initial
interviews
Follow-up
interviews
Report
released
January
2016
Findings from PIL’s two-year
U.S. information literacy study
Online
survey
Qualitative Quantitative Qualitative 10 solutions
Public
dataset

3. Lifelong learning:
Improving skills, acquiring additional knowledge
3. Community
1. Personal life
2. Workplace

4. 10 U.S. colleges and universities
Belmont University (TN)
Ohio State University (OH)
Phoenix College (AZ)
University of Redlands (CA)
Trinity University (TX)
University of Central Florida (FL)
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (NV)
University of North Carolina at Charlotte (NC)
University of Texas, Austin (TX)
University of Washington (WA)

5. 3
research
takeaways

6. #1 Graduates were surprised to find
real life requires constant learning.

7. Communit
y
13%
Workplace
30%
Personal life
57%
Where learning needs occur in “real life”
2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 graduates between 2007-2012 | 10 campuses

8. Personal life Workplace Community
How-to info 75%
Hobbies 70%
Money mngt. 69%
Purchases 63%
Interpersonal* 44%
Career dev. 69%
Computers 57%
Interpersonal* 56%
Mobile devices 32%
Social contacts 25%
Civic action 25%
Volunteering 24%
Interpersonal* 16%
Social contacts 14%
Working w/kids 13%
2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 (check all that apply, 28 categories)
#1 need = interpersonal communication

9. #2 Graduates used Google search – but
they turned to people almost as much.

10. Personal life Workplace Community
Search engines 88%
Friends 79%
Social networks 79%
Family 77%
Public libraries 45%
Co-workers 84%
Search engines 83%
Boss 79%
Books 51%
Conferences 49%
Search engines 38%
Social networks 26%
Friends 24%
News sources 23%
Family 15%
2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 (check all that apply, 16 categories)
#1 source = search engines

11. 79%
51%
21%
18%
14%
12%
10%
9%
7%
5%
3%
3%
2%
1%
1%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
YouTube
Pinterest
Duolingo
Khan Academy
Coursera
Stack Overflow
Codecademy
Google Helpouts
lynda
edX
Udemy
CrashCourse
Udacity
Academic Earth
ALISON
Beyond Google, what’s the destination?
2015 Lifelong Learning Survey, | n = 1651 graduates

12. Social search > model of “shared utility”
Usefulness Interactivity
Shared
Utility

13. Fundamental shift in information seeking
2016 Lifelong Learning Report, p. 57.

14. 2015 Lifelong Learning Survey, (“strongly agree” + “somewhat agree” ) | n = 1651 graduates
Still challenged – even in the digital age
29%
50%
50%
62%
70%
73%
88%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Finding understandable information
Lacking access to library databases
Lacking access to professors or lectures
Staying motivated to keep learning
Staying on top of everything
Finding affordable sources
Finding time for continued learning

15. #3 In most cases, but not all,
critical thinking skills
were transferable from college.

16. A critical thinking index
1. Questioning
2. Searching
3. Interpreting
Asking + staying motivated to keep learning
Formulating strategy + using multiple sources+ re-researching
Sorting + extracting + “close” reading + evaluating credibility
2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 (check all that apply, 14 categories)
4. Applying
5. Metacognition
Drawing conclusions + communicating + presenting results
Ability to learn anything + teach someone else

17. InterpretingQuestioning Searching Applying
27% 72% 76% 76%
Were these critical thinking skills
developed during university?
2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , (Index from Likert Scale, 1 – 5 points from agree to disagree )
Asking questions until a topic is understood
Staying motivated to keep learning
Meta-
cognition
74%

18. Major mattered
3.14
Questioning
n = mean scores on critical thinking index
3.14
3.43 Physical & life sciences
3.36 Business Administration
3.34 Occupational training
3.32 Education
3.31 Arts & Humanities
3.24 Architecture & Engineering
3.14 Computer Science

19. Stepping back:
How can we better prepare today’s
graduates as lifelong learners?

20. Recommendations:
Information literacy interventions
Higher Education
Include strategies for finding guidance and expertise
after graduation + integrate social side of research
Public Libraries
Design libraries as “gathering places” for informal and
formal learning + embed learning across community
K – 12 Curriculum
Leverage success of teaching evaluation skills early
on and enhance as students’ learning continues

21. What happens after graduating from university?
hashtag for today is
#lilac16
Thank you
Alison J. Head, Ph.D., Project Information Literacy, University of Washington iSchool
21 March 2016 | LILAC, Monday, 16:15 – 17:00 p.m. | Parallel Session #3