Abigail Howe, Huntingdonshire Regional College presentation at Xerte Showcase May 2012

1. Xerte at HRC
Our college’s journey
Abigail Howe Head of the LRC
Ken McKerral Curriculum Manager for
Business Technology
Scott Clark Internet and Media
Technology Foundation Degree
Student

2. Beginnings
Summer term 2011 – Head of LRC introduced to
Xerte at ACER/JISC Learning Resource
Manager’s Forum.
Summer 2011 – Head of the
LRC created Xerte tutorials
for Information Skills.

3. Information Literacy
CILIP definition:
“Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to
find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner.”
(CILIP 2003)
In FE this means:
• How to search the internet effectively
• Evaluate sources such as websites for academic value (bias,
credibility etc)
• Awareness of plagiarism and how to avoid it through referencing and
bibliographies
I firmly believe this is a Functional Skill that is needed in life – this is not just for
academic purposes.

4. Information Skills - Difficult to Deliver
• Timing in year – context.
• Staff to deliver it – traditionally qualified
librarians.
• Must be generic but engaging to varied subject
areas.
• Range of ability in FE.
• Not that interesting!

5. Biggest problem: Learner perception of
ability is much higher than actual ability.
CIBER Google Generation Research

6. Delivery
September – November 2011 – Delivered
Info Skills Sessions.
Evaluating websites
Bibliographies, referencing and
plagiarism

7. Reflections and Improvements
November 2011 – LRC Staff and Student feedback.
Plan to improve the sessions for September 2012.
December 2011 – Business Technology
required work placements for learners.
January 2012- May 2012 - Work placement.
Working initially from specific instructions,
then just given content.

8. Scott’s work
• Improved existing sessions to spec
• Improved interactions
• Created new session on journals

9. Impact of placement
• Head of LRC time!
• Reflections – work sheets
• Better sessions - Differentiation

10. Information Skills Sessions

11. “
Created a real work experience
opportunity:
• Adapting an existing product
• Working to briefs – some of which were
looser and some were tighter
• Learning about Copyright and e-learning.
• Working for a demanding client!

12. Benefits of Xerte for Info Skills
For the learner
• Resource that learners can go back to - unlike presentation from
Librarian.
• Engages learners this is a dull subject!
For the college
• Staff utilisation – para-professional can deliver.

13. Future plans 2012-13
• LRC delivering an e-safety qualification –
looking at using Xerte for this.
• Better sessions for each academic year –
keep reflecting, iterating and improving.
• Continue with work placement.

14. Bibliography
• CIBER 2009 (Online) Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the
Future. Available from: http://www.bl.uk/news/pdf/googlegen.pdf (accessed
3 April 2009).
• CILIP 2003 (Online) Information Literacy: Definition. Available from:
http://www.cilip.org.uk/get-involved/advocacy/information-
literacy/pages/definition.aspx (accessed 13th April 2012).
• Rowlands, I et.al. (2008), The Google Generation: the Information
Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, Aslib Proceedings, 60(4),
pp290-310

15. Any questions?
Abigail Howe
Head of the LRC
01480 379175
abigail-howe@huntingdon.ac.uk
?