Pla nn ing & Administering I L Programs

Planning & Administering IL Programs Prof. Dr. Serap Kurbanoğlu

Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right windSeneca

Getting started • Don’t reinvent the wheel: • Identify the IL model that works best foryour institution • Adaptinformation literacy standards and practices • Design a program based on thestandards and experiences • Work on a strategic plan • Identify and focus on library responsibilities toward IL and develop library instruction programs accordingly • Ensure to teach the research process and its concepts, and do more than introducing electronic tools and technology • Be prepared for challenges & be aware of planning pitfalls UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Key planning issues • Plan your Information literacy program in concert with overall strategic library planning • Make sure that your plan is tied to library and institutional development plans • Review past performance and try to understand reasons for past failures • Identify opportunities • Determine learners’ needs and preferences • Understand the impact of IL training on existing operations and staff function UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Potential challenges & planning pitfalls • Obstacles such as limited facilities, financial and human resources • Inability to get management and/or faculty involved • Lack of clear objectives • Assumptions • The status problems • Resistance towards change • Obstacles in communication (different vocabularies) • Student motivation (students don’t want to do anything extra) • Perfectionism UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Planning • Statement of purpose • Action • Environmental scan • Opportunities and challenges • Resources • Budget • Administrative and instutional support UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Planning • Integration with the curriculum • Collaboration and partnership • Pedagogy • Outreach and promotion • Evaluation • Characteristics of the learner • Mode of instruction UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Mission statement • Mission statement describes the overall purpose of the program and may reflect the values and priorities • Write a mission statement for your IL program • Make sure that the mission statement • includes a definition of information literacy; • is consistent with the “Information Literacy Standards”; • corresponds with the mission statements of the institution; • clearly reflects the contributions of and expected benefits to institutional community; • appears in appropriate institutional documents; • is reviewed periodically and, if necessary, revised UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Goals & Actions • Goals are the qualitative and quantitative statements of what the organization wishes to achieve over a measurable future • State the goal or goals to achieve and make them specific • Make sure that goals for your information literacy program: • are consistent with the mission and goals of the institution; • are consistent with the mission statement of the IL program; • apply to all learners, regardless of delivery system or location; • reflect the desired outcomes of preparing students for lifelong learning; • are evaluated and reviewed periodically • List all actions required to achieve each goal • Write actions in the order they need to be completed UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Enviromental scan • Scan both internal and external environment • SWOT/TOWS analysis can be used • Environmental scan • Detecs social, economic, and political trends that may affect organization’s future • Detects trends and events important to your plan • Detecs institutional factors that can help or limit the program • Provides early warning of changing external conditions • Defines potential threats and opportunitiesimplied by external factors • Promotes a future orientation in the thinking of management and staff • Enables to understand current and potential changes to determine organizational strategies UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Internal & external factors • Internal = Strengths and Weaknesses • Evaluate the weaknesses and strenghts in terms of human, economic and physical resources available in the library for the IL program • External = Opportunities and Threats • Anticipate and address current and future opportunities and challenges UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

SWOT Analysis UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

TOWS Analysis UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Resources • Identify what is required to implement the program; • Describe the human resources required for each action; • Describe the physical requirements for each action (e.g. classroom, office space, furniture, equipment, etc.); • Address, with clear priorities, human, technological and financial resources, current and projected UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Human Resources • Build up your team • Employ, develop, or have access to sufficient personnel with appropriate education, experience, and expertise • Identify and assign leadership and responsibilities within the team UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Human Resources Make sure that the staff • develop experience in teaching, assessment of student learning, and curriculum development; • develop expertise to develop, coordinate, implement, maintain, and evaluate IL programs; • use instructional design processes; • promote, market, manage, and coordinate diverse instruction activities; • collect and interpret data to evaluate and update instruction programs; • integrate and apply instructional technologies into learning activities; • produce instructional materials; • employ a collaborative approach to working with others; • actively engaged in continual professional development and training; • respond to changing technologies, environments, and communities; UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Budget • Tie your plan to library and institutional budgeting cycles • Estimate yourbudget • Be flexible in estimating costs • Determine how much funding the program needs UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Administrative and institutional support • No information literacy program can be developed and sustained unless it has a strong base of support • Support for a successful instruction program has many interdependent facets • The level of support necessary will depend on • the scope of the program • the size of the program • its connection with other institutional units UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Administrative and institutional support Convince the administration within your institution: • that IL is a learning issue not a library issue and that faculty must also be responsible for students acquiring IL abilities; • to assign information literacy leadership and responsibilities; • to plant IL in the institution’s mission, strategic plan, and policies; • to provide funding to establish and ensure ongoing support for teaching facilities and resources, staffing, professional development opportunities for librarians, faculty, staff, and administrators; • to recognize and encourage collaboration among instutional community (faculty, librarians, and other staff) and among institutional units; • to communicate support for the program; • to reward achievement and participation in the information literacy program within the institution’s system. UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Integration into the curriculum • Ensure that IL is incorporated into the curriculum; • Use institutional decision making mechanisms to ensure institution-wide integration into academic programs; • Identify the scope (i.e., depth and complexity) of competencies to be acquired on a disciplinary level as well as at the course level; • Sequence and integrate competencies throughout a student’s academic career, progressing in sophistication; • Specify programs and courses charged with implementation; • Merge the IL concepts with the course contents UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Collaboration & partnership • Collaborate with faculty, librarians, other program staff and administrators; • Establish formal and informal mechanisms for communication and ongoing dialogue across the institutional community; • Collaborate at all stages (planning, implementation, assessment of student learning, and evaluation and refinement of the program); • Center your collaboration efforts around enhanced student learning and the development of lifelong learning skills; • Work with faculty to develop curriculum, syllabi, and assignments that focus on the research; • Collaborate with faculty to incorporate information literacy concepts and disciplinary content; • Collaborate with faculty to identify opportunities for achieving information literacy outcomes through course content and other learning experiences; UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Developing partnership • Focusing faculty attention on information literacy and creating a partnership can present challenges • Faculty have many competing interests • Most faculty feel that they have established a partnership with librarians • It is not at the top of the faculty’s agenda • Strategies in Developing Partnership • Identifying the partners • Creating awareness of the issue of information literacy • Avoiding partnership pitfalls UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Identifying the partners Determine the partners on the target • Academic senate • Faculty engaged with center on teaching and learning • Part-time faculty members • Academic administrators • Department chairs • Individual professors who may be doing work that would benefit from an IL program UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Creating awareness • Support can only come when faculty are aware of what IL is, why it is important, and what problem it is solving • Creating awareness in the minds of faculty is not a one-time event • Faculty awareness of IL can be raised in the following ways • Make a powerful link between critical thinking and IL • Talk about IL as a lifelong skill • Talk about how IL helps students with their current academic endeavors • Talk about IL as one of the essential skills of student academic life • Provide data about the current level of student IL skills UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Avoiding partnership pitfalls • It is imperative that librarians respect faculty authority over the curriculum • IL literacy program should be introduced as an enterprise-wide solution to an enterprise-wide problem • IL program should have goals that are agreed on by the faculty and the librarians • Avoid giving the message of exclusiveness to faculty • Librarians should be mindful of the compactness of the curriculum • Do not exhaust the faculty by inundating them with a full array of IL standards • When introducing an IL literacy program choose the time wisely • Be prepared to define IL UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Pedagogy Make effective use of instructional pedagogies • support diverse approaches to teaching; • make effective use of instructional technologies and media resources; • foster critical thinking and reflection; • support multiple learning styles; • support student-centered learning; • determine learning outcomes; • assess progress against learning outcomes; • build the program on students’ existing knowledge; • link information literacy to ongoing coursework and real-life experiences appropriate to program and course level UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Outreach & promotion Outreach / promotional activities for an IL program are the responsibility of all members of the institution, not simply the librarians • Emphasize the importance of IL and communicate a clear message defining and describing the program and its value to targeted audiences; • Gauge the method most appropriate to theinstitution; • Timing is crucial for successful promotion.Be well informed and involved with the work of the instution; • Provide targeted marketing and publicity to stakeholders; • Target a wide variety of groups; • Use a variety of outreach channels and media, both formal and informal; • Offer IL workshops and programs for faculty and staff UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Promoting strategies • Make contact with key members of the staff • Take advantage of available opportunities. Make links, where appropriate, to information literacy when attendingmeetings • Try to integrate an IL session into existing staff training programme • Offer to train lecturers in an aspect of IL, e.g. the use of a particular database and its new features, and then use this as a selling point • Offer to deliver a session in partnership with an academic, e.g. in a session on plagiarism and referencing • Invite staff to IL events • Tie-in discussions on IL with other school priorities such as combating plagiarism • Prepare a formal paper for the management • Bring appropriate sections of official reports by educational and library bodies to the attention of the institutional community UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Promoting to students • When IL sessions are embedded in curricula, students have a strong impetus to attend • Otherwise, some well targeted publicity will be needed • In order to maximise attendance: • Get involved in registration week events and highlight the importance of the IL sessions students will be attending • If held in registration week, ensure that the library orientation session is included in the student’s registration week timetable • Advertise training sessions on Blackboard or the School intranet • Create a promotional flyer to post in student pigeon holes and on school notice boards • Use the orientation session as a promotion opportunity to advertise further events tailored to the particular needs of the student group UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Evaluation • Systematic ongoing process that should gather data regarding the progress of instruction program toward meeting its goals and objectives • Influences decisions, guides allocation of resources, helps to decide what to emphasize in the classroom • It is not an end in itself; it is a way to get answers to important questions that have to do with educating students effectively UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Evaluation • Prepare an evaluation plan which addresses multiple measures (needs assessment, participant reaction, learning outcomes, teaching effectiveness, and overall effectiveness of instruction program) • Articulate the evaluation criteria in planning documents • Use multiple methods for assessment/evaluation • Address specific learning outcomes • Focuse on student performance, knowledge acquisition, and attitude appraisal • Assess both process and product • Develop assessment instruments • Coordinate with faculty to explore and implement performance-based assesment methods • Use assessment data in the revision and improvement of the program • Periodicaly review the assessment/evaluation methods UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Characteristics of the learners • Keeping the prospective users in mind is essential in the development of instructional programs • Characteristics of next generation learners: • They were born during the computer age and grew up in a technological world • They are a much more technically sophisticated generation than previous generations • The visual image is the primary means of communication • Multimedia – music, graphics, and video – is the preferred learning and entertainment experience for many of them • They have native ability to multitask • They can handle the nonlinear approach (they are interactive and experiential, and learning occurs through trial and error) • They are computer literate, but are not information literate. UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Modes of instruction Instruction takes place in many ways, these may include, but are not limited to, providing: • Course-integrated instruction • Drop-in workshops • Handouts and guides (print & electronic) • Web based instruction • Stand alone courses • Credit / non-credit • Requested / elective • Subject specific instruction • Tours • Video presentations UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Identification of modes of instruction • The modes selected should be consistent with the content and goals of IL instruction • Where appropriate, more than one mode of instruction should be used based on knowledge of the wide variety of learning styles of individuals and groups • When possible, instruction should employ active learning strategies and techniques that require learners to develop critical thinking skills in concert with IL skills UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Exercise • Make groups of seven • List all relevant knowledge, skills and personal characteristics needed to develop effective IL instruction programs • By matching the items on your list with professions construct an IL program planning team UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

References • ACRL. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm • ACRL. (2003). Characteristics of programs of information literacy that illustrate best practices: a guideline. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/characteristics.cfm • ACRL. (2003). Guidelines for instruction programs in academic libraries. http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/ALA_print_layout_1_192693_192693.cfm • Gaunt, J & et al. (2007). Handbook for information literacy teaching. Cardiff: Cardiff University. • Iannuzzi, P. (1997). Assessing libraries in support of campus missions: the information literacy imperative. American Association of Higher Education Conference on Assessment and Quality. • Keiser, B. E. (2008). Designing information literacy training programmes and action plans. UNESCO IFAP Workshop, May 30-June 1. Montego Bay, Jamaica. • Lau, J. (2004). International guidelines on information literacy. IFLA. • Rockman, I. F. (2004). Integrating information literacy into the higher education curriculum: practical models for transformation. San Francisco: John Wiley. • Snavely, L. (2001). Information literacy standards for higher education: an international perspective. 67th IFLA Council and General Conference, August 16-25. UNESCO Training the Trainers in Information Literacy Workshop, September 3-5, Ankara-Turkey

Serap Kurbanoğlu serap@hacettepe.edu.tr

Pla nn ing & Administering I L Programs