Embedding information skills in courses
Learners have the best opportunity to develop information skills or competencies through ongoing sequenced interaction with relevant curriculum, programs and learning activities. This principle is strongly supported by University teaching and learning values within the Course Quality Framework, which encourages a whole-of-course approach and embedding graduate attributes within the curriculum.
Embedding information skills within the curriculum is a central aspect of the Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework, which has been endorsed by many Australian higher education institutions and the TAFE sector, and adopted as a framework for enhancing student learning. It is also strongly supported by the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education developed by the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Key characteristics of embedded information skills
- Information skills are an integral part of the course and not a set of abilities that can be developed in isolation from the academic curriculum
- Students have “ongoing interaction and reflection with information” within units and across year levels, throughout their course
- Students skills develop progressively from first year and throughout subsequent years of the course
Planning courses with embedded information skills
Your liaison librarian is a specialist librarian who can work with course teams during the planning process for a new or revised course, unit or assignment. They can provide input into the:
- formulation of information skills learning outcomes appropriate to students’ year levels
- development of learning activities that are integrated into the curriculum to enhance students’ information competencies
- creation of instructional material that could be linked to, or created in, DSO or other course materials to assist students to access and use appropriate information resources for their assignments and research
- design of assessment tasks that will measure student performance
- review the results of assessment tasks to monitor the achievement of learning outcomes
- guide decisions about the sequencing of information literacy learning tasks throughout the curriculum to build skills progressively
Models of course embedded information skills
Seven Pillars of Information Literacy has been developed by SCONUL. The Seven Pillars is a well known model which addresses “the idea of progression in higher education embodied in the development of the curriculum through first-year undergraduate up to postgraduate and research-level scholarship.”
Seven Faces of Information Literacy in Higher Education website summarises the various faces of information literacy described by Christine Bruce that “are drawn from the experience of higher educators in two Australian universities. They provide a picture of information literacy that is very different from the lists of skills and attributes that are usually found in literature on the subject.”
Course embedded information skills at Deakin
The Library has developed a matrix (or rubric) to assist course teams to embed information skills into curriculum.
The matrix presents an illustration of the progressive development of key information capabilities that are based on the Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy Framework and work done by the Association of College and Research Libraries.
- Information skills progression matrix.
(Word document current at August 2009)
This generic matrix can be contextualised within a discipline or course, as shown in the Deakin case studies listed below.
Evidence Based Medicine
During the inaugural year of the School of Medicine BMBS in 2007, a core set of information literacy and Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) skills sessions were delivered to the year 1 students. However a gap in continuing skills was identified through years 2 to 4, so a progressive information fluency program was developed that maps across the entire 4 year curriculum. This map is matched to standards for information fluency that are accepted in general and medical academic curriculum. The content includes both clinical and social sciences approaches to the literature, ensuring a broad understanding of the spectrum of information. The aim is to position students to be confidently EBM literate when they study off campus during their clinical school years 3 and 4, and to be able to continue building their critical thinking, research and lifelong learning skills. The map has been accepted in principle by the School of Medicine Teaching & Learning Committee.
The contextualised information fluency matrix is available pps. 18-22 of the following paper:
Weaver, J and Bates, C.2009 "Positioning medical students’ information fluency through the curriculum and beyond" . Paper presented at Positioning the Profession: the Tenth International Congress on Medical Librarianship, Brisbane 2009.
For further information, please contact:
David Kramer, Associate Head of School (T&L), School of Medicine, Deakin University
Fiona Russell, Medical Librarian, Deakin University Library
