Identifying the information Literacy

needs of your diverse users

Sheila Webber

Information School

University of Sheffield

October 2010

Presented at the Libraries for Nursing study day, York, UK; 5 October 2010

Information: ambulancemen

Lloyd, A. (2009) “Informing

practice: information

experiences of ambulance

officers in training and on-

road practice.” Journal of

Documentation, 65 (3),

396-419

• training manuals

• books,

• written rules

• protocols

•Colleagues

•Trainers

Bodies/ people/ environment

• Sound

• Speech

• Touch

• Appearance

• MovementPatientsTe

xt

“you don’t really know what’s happening until you get your hands on the patient and can see breathing, feel a pulse, what’s the blood pressure, are they pale?” (p409)

Integration of the “external” evidence

base into practice

“An information literate person has a deep awareness,

connection, and fluency with the information environment.

Information literate people are engaged, enabled, enriched

and embodied by social, procedural and physical information

that constitutes an information universe. Information literacy

is a way of knowing that universe."

Lloyd (2004: 223)

International IL Logo:

http://www.infolitglobal.info/

Sheila Webber, 2010

Most groups are diverse

• You have some things in common, but also

differences

• I make some assumptions from institution, job title,

your name, the fact that you signed up for this day

… these assumptions could be wrong

Sheila Webber, 2010

Pictures taken by

Sheila Webber, on

the UEL island in

Second Life

Options in meeting diverse needs

• Who (takes action)?– You

– The learners

– Others

• Where?– Their workplace

– Their home

– (Anywhere else they are…)

– Your workplace/training venue

• When?– Before

– During

– After

– Continuously

– Synchronous or asynchronous

• How?– Web

– Virtual chat/ world

– Print

– Face to face

In marketing terms: creating a customer relationship: but not worth it for all customers, and some customers don’t want a relationship

Sheila Webber, 2010

Example … “before”Educator

e.g. Observation (Looking at student profiles, activity, past work;

Googling people)

Posing questions; Engaging in discussion online;

Setting tasks; Changing plans in the light of what is discovered.

Learner

e.g. Responding to requests for information about themselves;

Completing a diagnostic; Formulating questions;

Creating a portfolio of examples from practice;

Following through an online tutorial.

Others

e.g. Nurse educators providing you with information;

Computing centre or development unit supporting computing or writing

skills; Academic facilitating exercises you have jointly agreed on;

Peer support for the learner f2f or online.Sheila Webber, 2010

What and why?

• What is essential, and part of, the learning?

• What is a necessary tool/skill to support learning, but not actually the goal of the learning?

• What are your motivations and their motivations?

• What is their:– Disposition to learn?

– Attitude towards the “academic” part of their learning and to technology?

– How does it fit with their professional identity?

Sheila Webber, 2010

Example: 4 types of international student

• Kari Smith’s (2010) research

• Distance learning students (Objectives: adventure, language, wider horizons, new perspectives)

• Students from abroad choosing to study in another country (want degree/profession not attainable in their own country

• Immigrant population (want integration into society)

• Minority groups (want degree/profession)

• Different needs, expectations, motivations and behaviour as regards language, content, national & educational culture, aspirations for study etc.

Sheila Webber, 2010

Some issues preventing lifelong IL learning

in nursing

• Learner knowledge, skills and attitudes– Knowledge and skill levels in

searching

– Knowledge about sources

– Levels of self confidence

• Organisational issues– Degree of emphasis placed on

research based clinical practice

– Access to technology

– Attitude to change

– Library and information provision

• Curriculum design& pedagogic approach– Should not be short isolated

experience, which “Does not prepare nurses for the challenges of research, problem solving and continuous learning”

– Should be in the context of nursing curricula “structured so that inquiry is the norm, problem solving is the focus and development of critical thinking is natural and ongoing” (not talks and textbooks)

Barnard, Nash and O’Brien (2005)

Sheila Webber, 2010

Figure 1 Diversity and Learning Framework for effectively recognizing and responding to diversity issues

Language

Religion and

spirituality

Sexual

Orientation

Age

Gender

Culture

Abilities

Other

Socio-

economic

status

Awareness of

issues

Reflection

Skill

setsAction

Knowledge

baseStudent

Learning

Encounter

Closely adapted from: Johnston and Mohide (2008)

Age cohort e.g.

boomer

Sheila Webber, 2010

Openness to diversity

Exercise 1

• What types of diversity have you encountered?

• Take a few minutes to jot them down

• I will write them up: if there are very many we can

identify the most frequent/ problematic

Exercise 2

• One “type” of diversity per flip chart sheet

• You circulate round the sheets: note any strategies you have used, or problems encountered

• Share them at the end (writing up the sheets, if there are a lot)

Sheila Webber, 2010

Sheila Webber

s.webber@shef.ac.uk

http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/

References

• Barnard, A., Nash, R. and O’Brien, M. (2005) “Information Literacy: developing lifelong skills through nurse education.” Journal of nursing education, 44 (11), 505-510.

• Lloyd, A. (2009) “Informing practice: information experiences of ambulance officers in training and on-road practice.” Journal of documentation, 65(3), 396-419

• Lloyd, A. (2004) “Working (in)formation: conceptualizing information literacy in the workplace.” In: Danaher, P.A. et al (eds.) Lifelong learning: whose responsibility and what is your contribution? Refereed papers from the 3rd International Lifelong Learning Conference, Yeppoon, Australia: 13-16 June 2004. pp.218-224. Rockhampton: CQU.

• Johnston, C. and Mohide, A.A. (2009) “Addressing diversity in clinical nursing education: support for preceptors.” Nurse education in practice, 9(5), 340–347

• Smith, K. (2010) “Challenges posed by diversity: looking at language and assessment”. In Creating Knowledge VI, Bergen, Wednesday 8 September 2010. http://creatingknowledge.blip.tv/file/4124394/ [Video]

Sheila Webber, 2010

Additional items

• SCONUL (2008) Library services for international students. London: SCONUL.

http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/access/papers/international_students.pdf

• Sovic, S. (2008) Lost in Transition? The International Students’ Experience Project.

London: University of the Arts. http://www.arts.ac.uk/docs/ISEP_-

_Public_Report.pdf

• Student Diversity and Academic Writing project. (2008) International Students,

Academic Writing & Plagiarism. London School of Economics and Lancaster

University Management School. http://www.sdaw.info/index.htm

• University of Sheffield. (2008) Study Skills for Students with Dyslexia. Sheffield:

UoS. http://dyslexstudyskills.group.shef.ac.uk/

Sheila Webber, 2010