Presented at LILAC 2009

1. o
Supported by
IUISC 5.03.2009
Niall McSweeney
Head of Information Services
NUI Galway
Margot Conrick
Head of Information Services
University College Cork

2. Graduate Information Literacy Module
Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF)
1 Module Context
2 Online Demonstration
3 Questions / Answers / Discussion

3.  PhD Graduate Education
 4th
Level Ireland
 Generic Skills Modules
 Module Development
 Stakeholder Benefits
 Challenges
 Future Plans

4. 4th
Level Ireland
Key points:
 Doubling the PhD numbers
 Establishment of Graduate School system
 Change from apprenticeship to structured 4-year PhD
 National co-ordination of training provision
 New emphasis on career paths

5. Generic Skills Training
New key element of the PhD Programme
 Structured 4-Year PhD
 Generic Skills
 Enhanced Career Paths
 National Co-ordination / Collaboration
 Increased Student Mobility

6.  Broaden student skills and knowledge
 Provide specialist courses in the research area
(high-level interdisciplinary skills)
 Develop high-level transferable skills with an eye on
student career paths
 Create inter-institutional graduate education
programmes
 Broaden and deepen the intellectual training
which the student will receive
 Develop innovative structures for the provision
of generic skills

7.  Research leading to the PhD dissertation must comprise
at least 240 credits within the overall programme
 Overall minimum of 270 credits with a maximum
of 360 credits
 The PhD programme of study may include up to 90 credits
of generic and speciality training

8.  Strategic Innovation Fun (SIF) 4th
Level Ireland Project
 Learning Outcomes
 Skills that may be develop through
 Research
 Additional Taught Modules
“ …PhD education must also facilitate
additional skills development opportunities.”

9. “ Government fund to promote collaboration,
support change and enhance quality in Irish
higher education so that it is equipped to meet
the challenge of driving Ireland’s development
as a leading knowledge economy…”

11. The SIF Generic Skills Project
has the overall objective of providing
the key transferable generic skills,
with an inter-institutional structure

12.  300 million euro (2006-2011)
 Cycle 1 – October 2006 - 42 million euro
 14 projects
 Generic Skills is one of these
 SIF IL Module is with GS

13. Niall McSweeney,
Co-ordinator
Ronan Kennedy
NUIG
Marie Reddan
Advisor
Isolde Harpur
David McNaughton
TCD
Margot Conrick
Richard Bradfield
UCC
Module Funding
€100,000

14.  Identification of current level of information skills
 Development of existing skills and acquistion of new skills
 In-depth knowledge of key resources available
 Techniques to evaluate and use quality resources
 Maximise research time and effort and avoid duplication
 Learn to adapt and apply skills learned to new research
Key skills to be developed / learning outcomes

15.  Consultation critical
- PhD supervisors
- Deans
- Library staff
- Researchers and students
 National IL standards
 International ‘best practice’

17.  Aimed at PhDs
 may include Research Masters or Post-Docs
 Face-to-face and online
 Integrate with VLE, e.g. Blackboard
 Variety of media options – podcasts / video, etc.

18.  Audit / expand / acquire / update portfolio of IL skills
 Expert guidance on the usage of information resources
 ‘Best practice’ search strategies
 Key concepts of information management
 High-quality literature review
 Mapping / evaluating resources to research needs

19.  Bibliographic management techniques
 Awareness of the ethical issues in using information
 Importance of bibliometrics /impact factors
 Apply & adapt acquired skills research
 Maximise research time

20.  More focused research students/group
 Enhanced research output - information literate students
 Skills profile for structured 4-Year PhD
 Reflective framework
 Well-prepared adaptable/ employable PhD graduates

21.  Inter-institutional collaboration / networking
 Content creation / delivery – national applicability
 Enhancing expertise
 Innovation exchange / enhanced profile
 Tapping-into source of expertise in university and library
 Perception -vs- Reality - Phd Research

22.  3 year timescale 2007 – 2009
 Began April 2007
 Initial partial pilot May 2008
 Full pilot October 2008 – February 2009
 Delivery September 2009 ?

23.  Module content complete
 Online outsourced to media company
 Pilot of Full Module (all 7 units) in 3 universities
October 2008 to February 2009
 STM examples but generic content
 Fully evaluated

24.  Face-to-face / Online
 Weekly delivery
 Formal assessment
 Practical application to own research / supervisor
 More tutorial type sessions
 Exercises should be relevant & authentic
 Competencies should mirror Learning Outcomes
 Competencies capable of being applied

25.  No dedicated Project Support
 Existing resources
 Collaboration
 Institutional differences
 Geographical spread
 Support – Cultural/Political
 each library
 each institution
 Integration of module with PhD Programme
 Registration/Scheduling of module
 Assessment – pedagogy/consistency
 Online (via VL)+ Face-to-face
 Sustainability – resources
 Additional Workshop/Sessions
 New/Additional Content

26.  National research support potential
 Exist complimentary to IReL
 How will it be supported and developed further
 How can cohesion be kept going?
 Great energy and commitment to date
- how can that momentum be kept up?

27. IR
SIF IL Key Element

28. SIF IL Module is hosted by HEANET
www.informationliteracy.ie