Information literacy at University of

Rwanda and BTH

Information literacy at University of

Rwanda and BTH

Information literacy - teaching in practice

What is the task ahead during these two days?• Lectures by Kent about the

background and initiative to integrate Information Literacy (IL) into the curricula at BTH.

• The CDIO initiative• Learning objectives explained

Continued • The (global) problem of IL

integration.• Learning objectives as a way to

describe learning content• Learning objectives as a tool for

assessment and examination

Continued • Recommendations for the

teaching of IL• The learning objectives of IL

training explained• Teaching examples of IL training

(perhaps)

The training• Presentation - Kent• Group work - you• Discussions – you and me• Individual work or collaborative –

longer process as preparation for follow up in March

Objective • The overall goal with this

workshop is to produce a program for IL training at department level. This program could e.g. be communicated with a brochure describing the IL training program.

Exercises • The exercises will take form of

group discussions. These discussions could preferably be summarized in written form. The names of the group members should also be attached. An oral summary after the exercise will also be done.

Part IIIL in our setting

• Rwandan problems of integration of IL training is not a local problem –it’s global

• Libraries seem often to be parted from subject specific teaching

• Old fashion teaching methods support this partition

Continued • PBL (problem based learning)

force students to use the library information sources

• The Faculty of health at BTH use this methods. They also demand them to work evidence based and use scientific material

Hindering factors • Academic pride – don´t come here and think

you are anything• Don´t know what services there are and

possible to expect from the library• Don´t know what a librarian do, can do and

know• Has an old fashion view of the library• Doesn´t want to disturb• Doesn´t come in mind• Work overload

IL training at BTH• 3700 full time students, coming

down to 2700 within 3 years• 8 librarians with 10- 25 years of

experience• Continues cut downs of staff due

to government policies

Continued • Priorities according to what we see

as important – teaching IL priority number 1

• All librarians have a teaching duty• Total amount of teaching was 2012

1407 hours, which equals a mean of 10% of a librarians year work

Continued • My personal teaching amount is

about 20%• The trend has been an increased

teaching volume year by year• Not unreasonable to think that the

teaching volume could be 25% of a librarians year work

Thoughts about the future

• IL more integrated into the curricula as a generic skill

• Librarians working together with academic staff or as such

• Librarians more subject oriented• Double diplomas?

Exercise I• Form three groups and discuss: • What IL training do you do at your

department?• Who performs it?• What are the plans for the future?• What are the obstacles and

problems

Part III: The integration of IL at BTH

• Emphasis on generic skills at BTH and Sweden/Europe (methods for learning, writing, reading, communicating and IL

• A CDIO (conceive, design, implement, operate) process started to develop these skills within engineering

IL at BTH• Quite often ad hoc and

intermittent• Disruptions – dependent on

agreements with benevolent teachers

• Standing alone – not always knit into the subject

• Not systematic with clear learning objectives and examinations

What did we do• Studied examples from other

universities and especially the Borås model and the Southeast IL model

• Started to formulate the criteria's for IL and teaching examples

• Contacted the BTH Board of Education and presented a plan for IL training

Continued • Received a commission from BTH

Quality Assurance Council to review the IL training and generic skills together with educational program directors. And suggest actions.

• The review is not concluded at this date

Legislation • Higher Education Act. 1 chapter 8§

states that: the students, in their field of study, are requested to develop an ability to "seek and evaluate scientific knowledge " and "follow the knowledge development."

Degree objectives• For Bachelor degree: the student

should know to " demonstrate the ability to search, collect, evaluate and critically interpret relevant information in an approach to a problem."

Interpretation • The legislation compels the

universities to integrate IL into the curricula as we interpret it

• The responsibility lies on the university management and departments

• IL not only a matter for the library

Academic implication• The generic skills and IL must be

written into course plans and accordingly examined

• The library can offer support and training in IL as a way to reach the objectives. But is not responsible

Excise II• Discuss what your strategy could

be to convince the university management that IL training is necessary for the quality of the students results

• Are there comparable legislation in Rwanda – find out

The proposal to Board of Education at BTH

• Summary: Students need to become information literate, a general ability that should be a mandatory part of the education.• Information literacy (IL) is best learned in integration with other subject specific teaching.• The library offers tailored program instructions that can be developed together with the program coordinator at the Departments

Scope • The aim should be that all

program students will receive training in IL. Also students taking independent courses should be subject to the same teaching whenever relevant.

Subject extension• Teaching should be integrated with the subject

studies. For student motivation, it is important that teaching is perceived as relevant and related to the subject studies. This means that it is the course content and requirements governing the content and goals of education in information literacy. Teaching that is integrated with subject studies will also support the topic learning.

Right time• It´s of great importance that the teaching of IL

occurs when it is most relevant with regards to the subject studies. It is usually when students have a task that requires information retrieval, for instance when associated with project work or thesis writing. It is also important that the training is not done too early or too late in the work process.

Progression • Teaching should be done incrementally during

the education time and closely follow the progression of the courses and the knowledge development of the student. Progression in IL teaching means that the teaching content and objectives vary during training sessions and is tightly connected to the progression within the subject studies.

Objectives in Education and Curriculum

• Expected learning outcomes for IL should be included in the curricula documents whenever the need for these skills is present. This is to ensure that the skills actually are developed during the education. This also favors the continuity in the cooperation between the library and the program education

Example of course plan• Scientific methods

Examination • It´s of vital importance that the

expected learning outcomes of IL are examined. The design of the course content and the tasks the students are obligated to fulfill, largely determine what the student learn and accordingly make them more motivated. It is desirable that the examination of these skills is integrated into the courses

Exercise III• Discuss the relevance of these

recommendations. Is there anything you would add or that you find questionable? Could the recommendations be applicable to Rwandan conditions?

Five goals for IL• The overall expected learning

outcome is that students should have developed the ability to search, evaluate and use information for effective independent learning in both studies and in working life.

Students are expected to:

• 1. justify the choice of relevant information sources to meet various information needs, and to assess the reliability of different sources2. formulate queries, construct a search strategy, master various search tools and reflect on the outcomes of information retrieval3. know the different ways of acquisition and access to both paper and electronic documents4. be able to use information in accordance with the copyright rules5. discuss and actively participate in the scientific information flow

Goal 1 - to justify the choice of relevant information sources to meet

various information needs, and to assess the reliability of different

sources.• - know the different types of publications that are important

in their own field of science - regarding features , reliability, underlying examination (e.g. peer reviewing) and timing of publication- is familiar with and can identify the difference between primary and secondary sources and know when it is appropriate to use one or the other. (Important to take into account the views in different topics )- knows how different types of information is used in the research process – for systematic literature search , as background information, for theory and method development etc.- can interpret the information about documents which are given in databases , catalogs and bibliographies- know the importance of citation level within their subject area- has a critical approach towards sources

Goal 2 - to formulate queries, construct a search strategy, master

various search tools and reflect on the outcomes of information retrieval

• - Can assess where it is appropriate to seek information for a particular task (databases, library catalogues , the web, contacts etc.)- Able to formulate queries based on the research questions that they are working with, by picking out information-bearing words and be able to find alternative keywords, both controlled vocabulary and uncontrolled keywords and keywords of their own.- Have knowledge about where and in what form the information is published, both scientific and non-scientific.- Have knowledge about different search strategies and know at what stage of the search process a search strategy is suitable.- Is familiar with and know how to use their keywords with search tools such as Boolean operators , truncation, masking , and know that search tools are used differently within different databases.- Can determine the outcome if a search is reasonable and revise it based on the outcome

Goal 3 - know the different ways of acquisition and access to both paper

and electronic documents• - Examines the scope of the information retrieval

systems, content and organization.- Selects effective methods to get the information needed from the information retrieval systems.- Uses various search systems to get information in different forms.- Uses various classification systems to locate documents within the library- Uses electronic or personal services that are available to gain access to the information needed (e.g. interlibrary loans, research units, public information sources , experts and practitioners).

Goal 4 - be able to use information in accordance with the copyright rules

• - Understand what copyright and proper use of copyrighted material implicates.- Comply with legislation, institutional praxis and good custom regarding the use of information sources e.g. obtaining, storing and disseminating text, data, images and sounds in a lawful manner.- Understand what plagiarism is and not presenting the work of others as their own without reference to the information sources used and with the use of an appropriate reference style.

Goal 5 - discuss and actively participate in the scientific

information flow• - Know how research is conducted with communication of

ideas and results , publications, conferencing systems, the peer-review process and Open Access Publishing.- Know the quality criteria’s of published research and rankings of scientific journals.- Know how and where a work of their own could be published. - Know what literature- and systematic reviews are and the contexts in which these methods are used.- To assess the characteristics of scientific publishing in contrast to popular science information- Know how systematic surveillance of the scientific information is managed

To do before the follow up in Kigali, March

2014• See document from me Karlskrona

2013-11-25, for details• Find out about a subject area

within a department• Write a suggestion of a teaching

program• Integrate learning objectives

Final

Murakoze chani