17 th January 2010Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Supporting first year undergraduate students to make smooth transitions to university and apply their reading to practical and current contexts Read to Succeed

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins For librarians, being active in campus activities and committees, building individual relationships as part of academic departmental liaison duties, and heavy involvement in freshman experience or other core courses are all ways to connect with faculty. Inspiration for project Buchanan, L. E., Luck, D. L. & Jones, T. C., 2002, p.162

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Inspiration for project Only when librarians and faculty work in tandem to achieve the common goal (information- literate students) can IL instruction seamlessly merge with, not merely flow beside, course content. Buchanan, L. E., Luck, D. L. & Jones, T. C., 2002, p.164

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Inspiration for project The role of the librarian is changing in the virtual environment. The ability to adapt to changing roles lies in librarians’ willingness to experiment with new ways to accomplish their libraries’ missions. Buchanan, L. E., Luck, D. L. & Jones, T. C. (2002), p.162

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Aims of the project To support students to Experience smooth transitions to higher education Become independent learners Master information literacy competencies within a core module Apply their information literacy skills to their academic and practical development Succeed in the module assessments

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Other aims of the project For colleagues across disciplines to Have an opportunity to collaborate on a module Participate in peer observations Consciously engage in reflective practice to scaffold students’ information literacy development Feel supported

Methodology Action Research Narrative Inquiry  Students’ quick responses each week  Longer accounts from self-selecting students  ALL’s and MT’s accounts 17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Context

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Our Stories

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Project Values People not Policies …ordering people to do better without engaging their hearts and minds cannot succeed. Levin, B., 2010, p.742

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Starting point Is there a problem and, if so, where does it lie? First year undergraduates Schools and FE colleges University tutors’ perceptions/expectations Goen-Salter, 2008

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Project activity Informal assessment - CATs Weekly group discusion on how what was learnt or introduced in class and readings would be useful in their practice

Project Features: Online learning Blog Facebook WebLearn  ILTasksILTasks 17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

Active Learning We supported students to ‘become actively engaged in their learning and the learning and teaching process rather than be passive recipients of knowledge and information.’ Groves & O’Donoghue, 2009, p.147

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Project features: Active learning I’ve always learned from being practical. Ideas come to me when I do things.

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Project results High success rate in module Higher retention rate on course Feedback from students about how more focused reading has enabled them to  Develop their thinking  Be moved  Experience a joy for learning

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Current University Contexts Review of Undergraduate Education Seven Pillars of Pedagogy  Enhanced Student engagement, success and employability Quality of teaching and curriculum development

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins Issues and questions for future research and projects Gender Race Support from another university professional, not the module assessor

Ongoing improvement Continuing with input into Sarah’s module This process is now embedded into the Academic Literacies (Education Studies Hons degree) Scaffolding - this process be continued through to year 2 within a core module culminating in the final Year project. 17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

What worked Some challenges:  Over running classes – short presentation time – better planning  Assessment Positive:  sat in on classes from the start – students used to seeing me as part of the teaching team  available for classroom based tutorials/help 17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

Further strengths of the project Offers students ‘scaffolded’ support over length of programme Is embedded within meaningful and practical contexts Enables multi-disciplinary teams to work together to  Develop their pedagogy  Engage in peer teaching Eases transitions to  University  The workplace

17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins The future and beyond…

References Armstrong, et al quoted by Corrall, S. (2007) ‘Benchmarking Strategic Engagement with Information Literacy in Higher Education: Towards a Working Model’ Information Research, 12(4) paper 328 [Online] Last accessed: 24 February 2010 Buchanan, L.E., Luck, D.L. & Jones, T.C., Integrating Information Literacy into the Virtual University: A Course Model. Library Trends, 51(2), Goen-Salter, S., (2008), Critiquing the Need to Eliminate Remediation: Lessons from San Francisco State. Journal of Basic Writing, 27(2), Groves, M. & O’Donoguhue, J., (2009), Reflections of Students in Their Use of Asynchronous Online Seminars. Educational Technology & Society. 12(3), Paton, Graeme (2010) 'Spoon-fed' teenagers failing to read books. Daily Telegraph, 7 March 2010 [Online] to-read-books.html Last accessed : 16 January th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

Contacts Thank you for the interest you have shown in this project.

Facebook 17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins

WebLearn Tasks 17 th January 2011Denise Adams and Sarah Cousins