The First Year Higher Education experience in information literacy (IL) is pivotal to continued student engagement in development of research skills. At the University of Tasmania a collaborative partnership between the Faculty of Education and the Library has seen the development of an innovative model of information literacy that is scaffolded quite heavily in the first year where support is most needed, thus enhancing first year learning outcomes. The model extends to all degrees offered by the Faculty, spanning an entire degree allowing incremental learning to occur from first year to graduation, and beyond. Students gradually achieve autonomy and become self directed learners.
History
Publication status
Unpublished
Event title
12th Pacific Rim First Year in Higher Education Conference
Event Venue
Brisbane
Date of Event (Start Date)
2009-06-29
Date of Event (End Date)
2009-07-01
Rights statement
Klebansky, A & Fraser, S. The Faculty of Education at the University of Tasmania recognises that a good first year higher education experience in information literacy (IL) is pivotal to continued student engagement in the development of research skills. This has led to a collaborative partnership between the Faculty and the Library implementing an innovative strategy, which addresses the needs of first year students and ensures equity for all students through the delivery of a model which embeds IL into all 2010 programs. Through the use of a toolkit of resources which operates in conjunction with an online tutorial package, the model sequentially develops IL skills, allowing incremental learning to occur. This toolkit can be used to embed IL consistently and cohesively into the curriculum throughout an entire degree and contains templates for a 4 year, a 3 year, and a 2 year degree structure. It is envisaged that this model will ensure that all students enrolling in a program will consistently engage with IL via core units throughout an entire degree, so no student falls through the cracks. The whole model revolves around enabling students to become self directed independent learners with lifelong learning skills. It requires that IL is embedded into one core unit per semester (two semesters per year) without requiring a reallocation of precious lecture and tutorial time. The IL learning outcome which spans both units for that year is articulated in the Unit Outlines and written into unit assessment tasks and their associated rubrics. Every year of a degree focuses on teaching only the IL outcomes for that year. This model puts great emphasis on heavily scaffolding year one, as success in future years relies a great deal on students' acquiring and being competent in the application of IL skills. IL skills are delivered as ‚ÄövÑv=just in time bite sized' modules within the Unit Schedule, and each module ends in a quiz. Working within the online Blackboard (LMS) environment that delivers the unit content, it is possible to fully integrate an IL quiz into the unit assessment. The LMS is able to place a grade for each IL module quiz into the Blackboard gradebook for each student, providing in-built flexibility for assessment of IL skills at various strategic points in the learning process.