PhD. GRIZLY MENESES PLACERES

EXPERIENCES ON INFORMATION LITERACY AT CENTRAL UNIVERSITY “MARTA ABREU” OF LAS VILLAS (UCLV)

EXPERIENCES ON INFORMATION LITERACY AT CENTRAL UNIVERSITY “MARTA ABREU” OF LAS VILLAS (UCLV)

WORKSHOP: Sharing Flemish expertise in Information Literacy Training with Southern

partners

Contents

Report's Objective1

Experiencie 1: information literacy training in journalism students 2

Experiencie 2: training of information literacy in information sciences students

3

Experience 3: information literacy training for the national university library system with sponsorship of INASP 4

Conclusions5

The description has been made according to the following questions included in the call:

How are the PATRONS (researchers and students) informed about and trained in the use of information, including e-resources?

How are THE LIBRARIANS INFORMED ABOUT and trained in the use of information, including e-resources?

Do you TRAIN LIBRARIANS OR PATRONS (researchers and students)?

Do you have a specific TUTORIAL for your University/Institute? Do you use a tutorial from another University/Institute? Is it online or on paper?

What kind of PROBLEMS do you experience concerning training in the use of information?

Which IMPROVEMENTS do you propose? Did you conduct any SURVEY or kind of follow-up after

the training?

The main objective of the report

to socialize the main actions of information literacy training managed by author.

Report

information literacy training in journalism students

training of information literacy in information sciences students

information literacy training for the national university library system

with sponsorship of INASP

Experiences on Experiences on Information Information

LiteracyLiteracy

EXPERIENCE 1:

information literacy training

in journalism students at Central

University of Las Villas

JOURNALISM STUDENTS

The explosion of digital media- press, television, radio- requires the systematization of topics related to the way of locating and access information in a web environment, how to organize it coherently, how to evaluate it and, at the end, present an efficient communicative product, full of ethical values on the use of information.

the new journalist should not only dominate the (ICT) tools, but also study in depth and refine the mechanisms used to access the information. Thus their message will be more faithful.

Reasons

The trainning….

The syllabus was studied in a first phase of training, in

order to ensure that the actions were relevant to

students.

The way of declaring the information skills in the

curriculum, as well as the subjects that might be more

appropriate to insert the topics of information literacy

were also examined.

From there was decided the inclusion of IL topics inside

the course the DOCUMENTATION JOURNALISM

The following TUTORIALS designed for the university library were used:

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/node/tecnicas-de-lectura-rapida

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/node/como-citar-recursos-electronicos

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/item-tipo-de-fichas-de-contenido

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/item-trabajo-con-ebsco-y-el-endnote

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/item-como-construir-una-biblioteca-digital-personalizada

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/item-trabajo-con-interscience-y-el-endnote

http://www.cdict.uclv.edu.cu/item-trabajo-con-ms-word-y-el-endnote

PROBLEMS

The greatest DIFFICULTIES for the working

sessions were trying to find examples

relative to the speciality of journalism

Besides, at the beginning of training, the lack

of practice in information search

generated discontent among students

A SURVEY….

The evaluation was a process done before, during and

after the training

After completion of training a SURVEY was applied, in

order to identify which information skills were acquired.

ALFINHUMA questionnaire, designed for university

students of Social Sciences, was used. The instrument

aims to provide a better understanding of the levels of IL

through the meaning of variables, categories and

dimensions for compression (PINTO MOLINA, 2010).

EXPERIENCE 2:

information literacy training

in information science students at

Central University of Las Villas

INFORMATION SCIENCE STUDENTS

Future professionals must be prepared to face the double challenge of being person information literate and be able to prepare citizens as competent individuals in information.

information literacy has begun and is seen as a discipline within the Information Science area.

Reasons

The trainning….

As in the Journalism experience, in the first

phase of training the information science

curriculum was revised, because it is

considered the ideal way for the actions of IL

have the expected results.

As a second phase of training, the information

behaviour subject was chosen to perform the

actions in information literacy training.

In this case, the TUTORIALS

designed by the university library

were not as used as described on

the previous experience.

PROBLEMS…..

The greatest DIFFICULTIES found were try to change the

mind of students about their responsibility in the process

of information literacy in society as trainers of

information literate citizens.

One of the reasons of this barrier, was that the chosen

subject belonged to the 2nd academic year, were a few

speciality courses have been imparted.

IMPROVMENTS…

TO IMPROVE the training were proposed other subjects

within the curriculum. For example: Literacies in the

informational field, which presents the phenomenon of

multiliteracies from theory and practice point of view;

and in the context of the Information Architecture subject

some topics about the design of learning objects for

information literacy are given.

EXPERIENCE 3:

information literacy training for the

national university library system

with sponsorship of INASP.

REASONS….

This experience is different from those described before, as it does not

occurred within the UCLV and the INFORMATION SPECIALISTS

(LIBRARIANS) were the ones trained.

In this case the author was convoked by the scientific information

department of Cuban Higher Education Ministry to participate as co-

facilitator in the Workshop on “Implementation of information

literacy programs in higher education” sponsored by INASP.

This workshop was organized twice in Cuba, the first in Matanzas (2010)

and the second in Camaguey (2011).All universities sent at least one

information specialist to the IL workshop.

The trainning….

The workshop was held during the four days scheduled.

The planning was: the first two days dedicated to the theoretical

treatment of Information Literacy in Higher Education

the other two days dedicated to more practical elements for the

implementation of IL programs.

The group exchange was achieved all over the workshop, getting

interesting and controversial discussions on several topics.

In general, the proposed objectives of the workshop were met to the

extent that, at the end, each participant was able to present a general

outline of the IL program to implement in its institution of higher

education, from the mission, vision, goals, objectives, contents and

forms of evaluation of the proposed program statement.

No TUTORIALS were used, but available internet resources were utilized such as:

ACRL - Association of College and Research Libraries. (2000). “Normas Sobre Aptitudes

para el Acceso y Uso de la Información en la Educacion Superior”. Boletín de la

Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios. 15 (60) : 93-110. [ACRL InfLitStand_ES_BAAB

2000v15n60p93-110.pdf]

Bawden, D. (2002). “Revisión de los Conceptos de Alfabetización Informacional y

Alfabetización Digital”. Anales de Documentación. (5) : 361-408. [bawden_ad0521.pdf]

Bundy, A. (2003). “El marco para la alfabetización informacional en Australia y Nueva

Zelanda. Principios, normas y práctica”. Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de

Bibliotecarios. (73) : 109-120. [ANZ Info Lit Frame 2ed_ES_BAAB 2003v18n73p109-

120.pdf]

Beinton, T. (2001). “Aptitudes para el Acceso y Uso de la Información en la Enseñanza

Superior : la Postura de SCONUL”. 67thIFLA General Conference and Council 16-25

August 2001, Boston, USA. [sietepilares_IFLA 67th 2001 016-126s.pdf]

Dudziak, E. A. (2003). “Informationliteracy: princípios, filosofia e prática”. Ciencia da

Informacao. 32 (1) : 23-35 [CienciaInformacao 2003v32n1p23-35 Dudziak.pdf]

The observations made by students and workshop

facilitators allowed improving the 2nd edition of the

workshop.

In this issue a questionnaire, designed by the author to

measure the degree of satisfaction with the material

received, was applied.

Some of the aspects proposed TO IMPROVE were:

More dynamic to teach the content

Teamwork to design information literacy program

CONCLUSIONS…..

1

The experiences on IL training described, included students and librarians of UCLVand Cuba.

2

The tutorials designed by the university library were used, and electronic resources available on internet.

3Two surveys were

used to assess the

information literacy

training. One designed

by the author and the

other(ILHUMASS) that

was designed for

students of the social

sciences in Spain.

4To improve training in IL, is very necessary to know the characteristics of the public to whom it is addressed. Also it is important for the teacher, to know pedagogy techniques for motivating the students and thus achieve more effective training.

THANKS….

PhD. GRIZLY MENESES PLACERES