The visits have been amazing with lots of information and critical literacy activities based around some of the CfE learning outcomes and experiences.

I have written them up as postings / case studies for the National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland)

• Questioning – Kilmacolm’s innovative Blooming Blooms approach - children and parents are introduced to the benefits of questioning. Questions were based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and produce in conjunction with the parents linked to familiar fairytales.
• Critical Literacy @ Lasswade Primary School  - the school formed a working group to plan and implement Critical Literacy which is seen as “the way that we interact with and make meaning from different texts” and “involves the reader analysing and engaging with a text”.
• Information Literacy in Junior (Primary) 2 St Margaret’s School, Edinburgh - children working on a research activity finding facts about food and also an evaluation activity evaluating the Picallili Monster they had made from food. Linked to Health and Well Being Curriculum for Excellence Experinces and Outcomes.  

They join the visit I did in December to St Margartet’s School but this time to see Information Literacy in Junior (Primary) 1 .

I am now bringing all this together incorporating it into a CPD Toolkit / Resource Pack and will be presenting at LILAC 2010 (The Librarians Information Literacy Annual Conference) Limerick - Begin at the Beginning: Information Literacy in Primary Schools.

My thanks to the teachers and the schools, the local authority education resource services / library and information services for their assistance.

During my two day visit I also had a meeting with some of the Aberdeenshire Library and Information Service staff – Primary School Librarian and Early Years / Young People in Schools Librarian plus one of Aberdeenshires Literacy Development Officers (Katherine who is an English teacher on secondment). We had an interesting session where I shared information on the information literacy work I’m involved with specifically the LTS Real and Relevant – Information and Critical Literacy Skills for the 21st Century Learner’ (Early and First Level) CPD Toolkit.

Katherine was amazed to hear that Aberdeenshire Library and Information Service is not just about books, they also have objects / educational tools – religious artefacts, puppets, costumes etc that teachers can use for lessons. As a teachers she is probably not alone in thinking that libraries are just about books. She was also not aware that tours of the service have been organised for probationer teachers and that several teachers have requested visits once they heard of the resources available from the probationer teachers. I made a note to myself to remember to include Library and Information Services as a resource for teachers in the Real and Relevant  CPD Toolkit.

I also had an interesting conversation with the network librarian at Meldrum Accademy about transition initiatives (primary 7 – S1) and also about my experience todate of information literacy in the early years specifically regarding my thoughts that information literacy involves all our senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing) plus our memories not just reading of text from books and or the Internet. I think we forget about the power of visual images and how this helps us learn languages, remember / recall past experiences, knowledge etc.

_______________

 Total number of responses received 10

 Questions and replies (number of responses in brackets)

1. Do you produce your own online learning objects to support Information Literacy skills?  – Yes (10)
2. Do you produce them just for computers or for computers and mobile phones? -  Just PCs (6), Just PCS but considering mobile phones (4), 
3. What applications or software do you use to produce your learning objects?  Articulate (1) + (1 – another respondent would like to use this instead of the application they are using) Audacity (1) Basic HTML (2) Camtasia (2) – screen and audio capture Captivate (4) CourseGenie (2) Echo 360 (1) – record lectures eXe (1) Flash (4) - animated learning objects Glomaker (1) Hotpotatos (4) - quizzes INFORMS (4) - real time tutorials Java script (2) Moodle (2) -VLE Sproutbuilder (1) TOIA (1) - quizzes Turning Point (1) Udutu (1) Viewlet builder (2) – screen and audio capture Wimba Create (1) – mini website tutorials Wix (1) Xml (1)
4. Why did you choose the software you are using?  – Cost / It’s Free/ Open access  (4) Staff expertise – e.g. in house developer (2) Easy to use (2) Recommended/ being used by others (3) Suitability for the task (3) Pedagogic ethos (1) Compatible with University network (2) Accessibility (1) Customisable/Flexibility (2)
5. Are there some examples of your learning objects that we could look at available on your website? 

*      Articulate tutorials with Captivate and Informs outputs embedded  http://libraryonline.leedsmet.ac.uk/pages/subject_guides/law/types_of_information/law_reports_and_other_case_info

*      Information Literacy Resource Bank – http://ilrb.cf.ac.uk<http://ilrb.cf.ac.uk/> which contains a variety of IL learning objects 

*      http://www.staffs.ac.uk/ask/

http://www.staffs.ac.uk/refzone

*      Some of our tutorials (many of these are a bit out of date now, so we need to update them) http://www.library.bham.ac.uk/searching/infoskills/Brum.shtml

*      This page should allow you to look at most of our Camtasia films http://www.bath.ac.uk/library/infoskills/libflicks/index.html

*      http://iskillzone.uwe.ac.uk/

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/general/iskillzone/evalBook/book.html

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/general/iskillzone/evaluate/wiki/Wikipedia.swf

http://iskillzone.uwe.ac.uk/FileStore/Constellations/Constellation69/broadcast.swf

http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/general/media/findbook/start.html

        6. Is there any information or advice that you would share with us about creating learning    objects for information literacy using your chosen software?

*      Keep text short and simple where possible, enable interactivity wherever possible, get colleagues to test afterwards.

*      Be aware of the need to maintain LOs which are up-to-date and relevant, plus the need to train or have staff  with skill set required to use software.

*      Currently we have concentrated on specific IL skills for certain subject areas where student numbers made IL teaching nearly impossible, however we are starting a project just now on developing an assessed stand alone IL tutorial based on our Little Book of Information Skills. This will again utilize Articulate instead of web pages as we prefer the interactive nature and free navigation this software offers us. The software does not require any formal IT skills, and we currently just have two people working very few hours on our output. As with most things you can spend as long or not creating your tutorials, but most people know how to use PowerPoint so can easily transfer work into a more interactive openly navigable output.

*      We feel that the key to a successful learning object is to keep it fairly bite-size, try to keep the content as generic as possible and keep branding to a minimum.  This helps to ensure its suitability to a wide range of teaching and learning scenarios.

*      Some quick and dirty advice would be to avoid creating a scroll of death, interminable pages of text students and staff simply won’t read. Contextualise any skills development.   Incorporate self assessment and possible peer review evaluation – wiki or live chat 

*      CourseGenie was very basic, which was good, because it was quick to learn how to use it, but unfortunately means it is not very sophisticated.  For example, if you wanted to put photos on, it was almost impossible to line them up to where you would like them.  There has been very little use of this learning object by the students – I think we might have had more usage if the program had been more interactive.

*      Ask your students/ users what they need first (not what they want) before doing anything and assume nothing. Make sure that any text you use is in plain English. Use a balance of textual/ visual/ animation/movie media (ASK is still too text heavy). What ever time you put aside for development multiply by 3! Keep it simple.

*      Regarding eXe: I would undertake basic training and talk to IT about it’s limitations (we wasted a lot of time trying to solve technical issues ourselves). We’ve had problems when trying to play videos on our SunRay PCs (the servers which support these PCs haven’t got the right media player application), which only became apparent when we were well into the project.

*      What we have learnt so far though, is that we don’t have enough time to spend on this at the moment and that we need some training on the software and on the pedagogical implications of what the software can do.

Issue 105 contains a number of invited contribution papers (from the projects partners so) is focused on current information literacy initiatives in Scotland especially in the schools sector. 

Libraries R 4 Learning: supporting the Curriculum for Excellence in Aberdeenshire - Sue Cromar

Collecting case studies / exemplars of good practice to enrich The National Information Literacy Framework (Scotland) - Christine Irving

The future is skills - Ian McCracken

Congratulations to both Sue and Ian for their informative and interesting articles – keep up the good work.

Library and Information Research is published by the Library and Information Research Group. It publishes both refereed and non-refereed submissions. It is particularly keen to encourage

• new writers
• reporting of research (including informal or in-house research) by practitioners

So if this is you – why not contact them, they are very helpful and provide a template to aid your writing.

• ‘it is necessary to start literacy programmes from a very early age’ (p13)
• ‘good CPD is an essential element of any successful programme, as it develops teachers’ skills, puts the teacher in charge and so helps build the necessary commitment at school level’. (p13)
• moving beyond basic literacy - “the need to move children beyond a basic level of literacy in order that they can fully engage with modern society and the workplace” (p14-15)

As indicated earlier, the Commission agreed from the outset that literacy is a continuum that extends beyond basic literacy skills. Different levels of literacy are needed; for example, for undertaking a modern apprenticeship, for most jobs (SCQF level 5) and for Further and Higher Education. In this age of information overload via the Internet, it is important that all youngsters are equipped with analytical skills so that they can understand not just the information that is provided but also its validity. Did the author of the information have a vested interest in persuading the reader of a particular version of the truth? Literacy is also not the sole responsibility of local authorities and schools. Literacy should go beyond the remit of formal education and become embedded across society in order to ensure continuous development. Partnership working, involving the public, private and voluntary sectors, is key if poor literacy across society is to be challenged. (p14 – 15).

• ‘If young people are to develop these higher-order intellectual skills, it is crucial that they are explicitly taught’.

Young people should be made aware at the outset what skills they are going to acquire and why they are important. At the conclusion of any unit of work, they should be reminded of what they have learned and be made aware of its application. This element of metacognition is a crucial part of sound learning at any level. It is no less significant when dealing with learning at an advanced level. (p16)

Govan High School (project partner) is actively doing this with their co-ordinated system of skills, called “Future Skills” see posting about Ian McCracken, Learning Resources Manager, Govan High School presentation at the 2009 Project Open Meeting .  

It is important that the skill is seen as being of widespread application. The ability to use knowledge, understanding and skills in areas other than the one in which they were acquired is essential. In some highly specialised areas of learning, skills may be needed for very specific purposes and have few applications in other contexts. The higher-order skills, like analysis and critical thinking, which are associated with advanced literacy, are not like this; they have everyday significance in much the same way as basic decoding. They are the transferable skills of the 21^st century. (p16)

Within the recommendations are the following which we would certainly endorse and support:

• A national strategy should set priorities for assisting children to move beyond basic literacy by improving standards of comprehension and higher-order literacy skills. This strategy should be informed by research and by good practice.
• Progress of local schemes should be carefully monitored and good practice shared in a systematic process of continuous improvement and professional development.
• Raising levels of higher-order literacy-related skills should be a priority objective within the Curriculum for Excellence development programme. (p18)

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has opened the second stage of a consultation looking at specific amendments to UK copyright legislation, as identified by Andrew Gowers in his review of Intellectual Property.  

It is important that universities, schools and libraries have the tools to equip the students of today with the skills they need to complete their studies. 

The proposed changes will better reflect the needs of the modern education system by allowing the use of sound recordings, films and broadcasts which are not currently covered by the exceptions. 

The main proposals include: Educational Exceptions , Research and Private Study Exception, Archiving and Preservation Exception.

The consultation and its proposals are now available. Stakeholders are invited to consider the details of the proposed legislative changes and respond by 31 March 2010.

Have a look at the rest of the information on the LTS website plus engage with the consultation.

Monday 29th March 2010

3pm – 3.45pm Begin at the beginning – Information Literacy in primary schools  - Christine Irving

4.25pm – 5.10pm  Employability and information literacy: a review of a training programme - John Crawford

Tuesday 30th March 2010

12.10 – 12.40 Developing an information literacy community of practice in Scotland - Lesley Thomson (the program has Thomson with an p)

12.45 – Scottish Government information literacy in the work place – measuring impact -Morag Higgison and Jenny Foreman

Will need to have a look and see who else is presenting plus presentations of interest.

Article from the New York Times reporting on research sponsored by Google and developed by the University of Maryland and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, “aimed at discerning the differences between how children and adults search and identify the barriers children face when trying to retrieve information.” Lesley Thomson

A very interesting article and not just relevant to understanding how children search. In our experience re: training in the Scottish Government, sometimes adults don’t always understand the ‘multi step question’ as described in the article.

As for the ‘Wonder Wheel’ (see below) also mentioned, we have recently requested that our IT services enable this feature to be available in our training rooms so that we can demonstrate it. At present we are unable to view the ’Wonder Wheel’ from our desktops because Active X isn’t facilitated. Fingers crossed we’ll be able to use it at least in the training rooms in the near future.

“In May, Google introduced Wonder Wheel, a graphical search tool aimed at making browsing easier. (To find it, click on “show options” on a page of search results; it appears halfway down the left column.) For a search on “apple,” the wheel shows prongs pointing to “apple fruit” or “apple store locator” in the left panel.” Jenny Foreman

As they say it is an interesting article and there comments in relation to their experience of adults within the Scottish Government are interesting and useful. I did a search on Google for information literacy and had a look at Google’s Wonder Wheel (see link below) which was great it’s like a mind map of results. I also liked the options available for viewing your results:

• All results: Images; Videos; News; Blogs; Updates; Books; Forums 
• Any time: Latest; Past 24 hours; Past week; Past year; Specific date range
• Standard view: Related searches; Wonder wheel; Timeline
• Standard results: Images from the page; Fewer shopping sites; More shopping sites; Page previews; Translated search

LILAC 2010 would like to remind all interested that the closing date for nominations for the Information Literacy Practitioner of the Year 2010 (A Joint CSG IL, CONUL and LAI Award)  is fast approaching (31st January 2010)! 

We welcome nominations from all sectors. Individuals or groups may self nominate or may be nominated by a colleague. The award is open to all working within the UK or Ireland.

The closing date for nominations is the 31st January 2010.

LILAC 2010 is taking place in Limerick from the 29th – 31st March. Further information can be found at: www.lilacconference.com/dw/awards/index.html

Finding and using information: Early Level

I listen or watch for useful or interesting information and I use this to make choices to learn new things. LIT 0.04a 

The children aged 5 years old listened to a chapter (chapter 4 I think) from a book about an owl finding out about night and darkness.

The book - The owl who was affraid of the dark

They had to listened for a specific piece of information which they then had to remember. Questions were asked to ensure that they had heard and remembered it. Later on in the day they were each given a worksheet and had to draw a picture to represent what the chapter was all about. The teacher then went round each of them and asked them to complete a sentence with information they had heard. Some repeated the information exactly others put it into their own words. Whatever the child said the teacher transcribed it onto their worksheet.

Other examples of activities included:

• selecting books in groups to find information about a particular night animal that the group had chosen i.e. a fox, badger, bat.

With the help of the teacher reading the text the children decided on the 4 most important facts about the animal. Later each group told the rest of the class what they had found.

• art of the week where they had to look at a picture of a piece of art Rodin’s Thinker and say what they thought it was about. It was amazing to see then looking at it, thinking about it and then giving their thoughts.

I could go on but will end there. My thanks to Mrs Lisa Bonar and her class at St Margaret’s School in Edinburgh for allowing me into their world. Discussions regrading the sort of things that would be useful to teachers regarding their own information literacy was also covered. It has certainly helped my thinking for the work ahead of me and I look forward to using this knowledge along with other experiences of Primary 2 and 3 to come in the new year.

This is my last blog of the year so Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.