Critical Friends: Bringing Teaching and LearningSupport Teams Together to Define the UniversityAcademic Development Strategy

LILAC9 April 2015

Elizabeth NewallSenior Librarian, Teaching and Learning Support

Libraries, Research and Learning Resources

Ruth AllenAcademic Development Adviser

Teaching and Learning Directorate

Background

Libraries, Research & Learning Resources•Transformation with new structure in place on 1st

August 2014

•Dedicated Teaching and Learning Support Team

•First priority to review of information skills offeringfor taught course students

Teaching & Learning Directorate•Expanding team with new post of AcademicDevelopment Adviser [Nov 2013]

•Teaching Transformation Programme

•Academic Development one of several keystrands ‘Students at the heart’

Information skills legacy

The legacy information skills offeringhad evolved over time, as a result the

experience offered to students hadbeen inconsistent.

Future provision needed to betargeted at key transitions:

school to university to employment

Review of information skills offering

1. Review at point of delivery* to address:

• Reach

• Content

• Timing

• Profile

• Mode of delivery

• Assessment

• Evaluation

• Team resource

2. Critical friend… WANTED!

• non-library/librarian perspective

• broader academic development context

• strategically placed for leverage

* To deliver the same induction and information skills sessions in

Semester 1 as at the same time in the preceding year

So what does a critical friend do?

• Teaching observation

• A ‘student journey approach’ was an obvious choice for the Info SkillsReview

• Lock down (replicating school approach)

• Mapping the info skills journey to understand transitions

• Traffic-light system for reviewing current provision

• Defined guiding principles for future provision

• Took a Learning Outcomes methodology to mapping the newprovision

• In-line with school practices for maximum buy-in

• Easy-to-use for building a coherent offering

So what does a critical friend do?

University buy-in

• Invited to present paper at University Teaching &Learning Board (January)

• joint approach• NSS and student achievement• naming but not shaming• endorsement of recommendations

• Academic consultation through School Directorsof Teaching (March/April)

• new suite of UG information interventions• consultation brief• Strategic direction for co-ordination and

prioritisation

• Student focus groups (March)

Recommendations of review

1. Redesign library induction

• Repackage existing content

• Refocus: to inspire discovery of library collections (how will thelibrary underpin the student’s university journey?)

2. University-wide uptake of information skills teaching within thecurriculum

• New suite of UG information skills interventions designed to havegreatest impact at key points in UG student lifecycle

3. Packages of teaching materials to support each intervention

• If we cannot meet demand, academics can be offered materials inorder to teach the sessions themselves

4. A NOOC (Nottingham Open Online Course) for taught postgraduatestudents

• Different approach required due to shortened length of study

• Anticipated growth in distance learning for PGTs

Developing the UG suite

The suite of information skills interventions for undergraduates is as follows:

1.Engaging with Scholarship: Introducing your University Libraries

2.Resource Discovery: Using Library Collections for your First Assignment

3.Critical Approaches to Sourcing Information on the Web

4.Undertaking Independent Research: Extending Use of Library Resources

5.Applying Critical Appraisal to Information and its Sources

6.Why Reference?

7.Referencing: Using Bibliographic Management Software (BMS)

8.Researching Employers

9.Taking Information Skills into Professional Practice (vocational courses)

No. 2Title Resource Discovery: Using Library Collections for your First AssignmentWho UG1When Semester 1 (Week 3 onwards)Format Lecture / WorkshopRoom Lecture Theatre (BYOD) / Computer Teaching RoomDuration 1 – 2 hours (depending on requirements)SessionOverview

Aimed at first year undergraduates, this session will support students in their transition to university byintroducing a wide range of physical and digital academic resources within their subject discipline. Students willalso explore literature searching techniques as they prepare to write their first assignment. This will encouragethe development of independence in literature searching and allow participants to move beyond any givenreading list.

In this practical session, students will use NUsearch (UoN resource discovery tool), reading lists, and relevantdatabases as appropriate, to access different types of scholarly literature. A guided discussion will enablestudents to explore the scholarly purpose of journal publications and how these too can be accessed viaNUsearch.

LearningOutcomes

By the end of the session, students should be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding(B) recognise that a community of scholars may use a range of vocabulary / terminology to describe a specificarea of research within a given discipline;(C) develop knowledge of different types of literature and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses fordifferent academic purposes;

Intellectual Skills(C) determine the scope of the question or task required to meet their information needs (ACRL);

Professional Practical Skills(C) employ an effective search to identify relevant literature on a given subject;(C) apply functionality within at least one key subject database to a search;(C) identify key UoN resources to find relevant information;(C) learn how to locate and access material and facilities at UoN libraries;(C) access and manage reading lists to extract pertinent information to support academic learning;(C) match information needs and search strategies to appropriate search tools (ACRL); and(C) apply different types of searching language (e.g. controlled vocabulary, keywords, natural language)appropriately (ACRL).

Being part of the skills review has:

•Helped me get a clearer picture of school activity inthis area

•Given me a clearer picture of the issues schoolsand ‘support’ units experience in this area of work.

•Provided a model for successful collaboration

•Reinvigorated and redefined a new role for‘centralised’ provision in a decentralised universitysetting.

•Raised profile of information skills as a significantcomponent of AD; strategic leverage through theTeaching Transformation Programme

•Helped embed information skills into teaching andlearning practice across all schools

Academic Development Strategy

For further information…

Elizabeth NewallSenior Librarian, Teaching and Learning SupportLibraries, Research and Learning Resources

elizabeth.newall@nottingham.ac.uk

Ruth AllenAcademic Development AdviserTeaching and Learning Directorate

ruth.allen@nottingham.ac.uk