A new report from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) attempts to measure the effectiveness of various information literacy (IL) initiatives.

The study involved 500 undergraduate students at Georgian College and tested four different models for IL, including providing specific information literacy courses, embedding information literacy into existing curriculum, online tutorials and non-mandatory tutorials. As they state on the announcement,

The study calls for institutions to adopt information literacy strategies that focus on teaching styles, delivery models, human resource requirements, outcome measurements and defining the benefits to student, institution and employer. Many faculty suggested more time be allotted to skill development as well as additional resources including online tutorials.

As may be expected, students’ comfort, accuracy and ability to utilize information literacy skills increased over their two years of study. While the overall results showed no single method of delivery to be particularly advantageous, the students who had information literacy training embedded in their course curriculum did show significantly higher ability to accurately cite source material.

The full report is available in PDF format (about 70 pages), as are the appendices.

A colleague mentioned that librarians at Dalhousie U. have been working towards a Library Council, including interim terms of reference. You can visit all their documents on Dalhousie U’s institutional repository.

I stumbled on this interesting document from McGill University, called “Tips for Engaging Students in Learning: Alternatives to Lecture”. The table of contents seems promising:

Ground Rules
Wait Time
Give Me Five
Provide Positive Reinforcement
The Rule of Ten and Two
Think, Pair, Share
Snowballing
The 60 Second Buzz
60-60, 30-30
Something I Have Learned and Something I Can Use
Free Write
The One Minute Paper
Group Activities
Preview the Topic
Begin the Class with a Check- in
Finding a Partner
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
Values Line
How to Kill Your Students with PowerPoint
Make a Commercial What is Bothering You Today?

Attendance Exercise
Self-esteem Exercise

The Association of College & Research Libraries has just released an updated bersion of its Characteristics of programs of information literacy that illustrate best practices: A guideline.

A colleague of mine told me about Eric Mazur‘s Peer Instruction (PI) technique, recently presented at Dawson College in Montréal.

Professor Mazur teaches physics at Harvard and is also keenly interested in the effectiveness of teaching methods, such as peer instruction or just in time learning.

This just in, the updated Association for College & Research Libraries ACRL Guidelines for instruction programs in academic libraries, published in the most recent issue of C&RL news.

The Information Literacy Section of the International Federation of Library Associations & Institutions (IFLA) announces new Media and Information Literacy Recommendations, developed with UNESCO’s Information for All Programme (IFAP).

Just stumbled on this: ACIEGE (http://www.aciege.org/): Association des responsables des Centres d’Information des Ecoles de GEstion – or the association of business schools heads of libraries.

I am very lucky to be a business librarian at Concordia University – this is true on so many levels! Of all the reasons, the fact that the John Molson School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) may be a boon to work towards integrating information literacy in the curriculum.

As their website shows, the AACSB has Accreditation Standards to which JMSB must adhere to. These include the concept of total quality management – or making the most of the resources you have. It also assists in comparing business school together. Every so often, accredited schools must undergo a review process (audit), which serves as a nice entry point should you want to propose changes to how things are done – an external review fosters the feeling of continuous improvement.

For example, the “Assurance of Learning Standards” offers a few points where a library could have a positive impact… these are straightforward issues that school educators must report back on – so they are easily actionnable!