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Case Study- University of York
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The Case Study Digested:
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To examine the Information Literacy in All Departments (Iliad) for University programme, a stand-alone IT and IL package delivered to new undergraduate students across all academic departments, by:
Founded in 1963, the University of York currently has over 9,000 students and around 30 academic departments and associated research centres covering the arts, social sciences and science and technology. Iliad courses are approved by the University's Teaching Committee and currently consists of two strands: Iliad for University (the focus of this case study) and Iliad for Work. Successful completion of an Iliad course carries a University validated certificate. Points may also be accrued towards the York Award programme of transferable skills which aims to develop students' understanding of the world of work.
The Iliad Programme Manager, responsible for day to day management, is based in the Computing Service. She reports to a Steering Group which meets regularly to oversee strategic development and which consists of staff from the Computing Service, the Library and the York Award office plus a student representative. The Steering Group reports to the University's Information Committee.
In the early 1990s, there was recognition that many students arriving at the university had problems with information handling and with the use of IT tools. To address this, the Iliad programme was set up in 1994 as a collaborative project between the Library and the Computing Service. The impetus for the development of Iliad came from staff working in the 2 services, rather than from a strategic move at University level. The Iliad for University programme offers a specially designed course which introduces first year students to information literacy at the University of York, and aims to raise all students to a common level of ICT skills. The emphasis of the course is on Information Literacy: not just simply teaching students how to use IT, but to explain why it is used and in what contexts.
When Iliad was set up, part of its remit was to recoup some of its costs. Participants are therefore charged a nominal fee of £15.50. The Computing Service is responsible for funding any shortfall. Some departments (e.g. Archaeology) purchase Iliad materials and deliver the courses themselves. Departments may also pay for all of their students to participate.
Most students take the Iliad programme separately from their formal degree studies. Some departments initially require their students to have only basic IT/IL skills levels and the Iliad for University course largely meets these needs. Other departments (e.g. Biology and Philosophy) expect a higher level of skill early on which affects the timing and immediate relevance of the Iliad course. Several departments run skills modules which overlap with the content of the Iliad programme (e.g. Biology and Social Policy). Other departments provide their own courses, taught by departmental staff, based entirely on Iliad and using the high quality Iliad materials (e.g. Archaeology). A further option is for departments (e.g. Electronics) to take parts of Iliad and build them in to their own transferable skills modules. The specialist skills taught by some departments (e.g. statistical modelling offered by the Economics department) fall outside the remit of the basic Iliad course. Students tend to be taught in mixed subject groups but some departments (e.g. Chemistry) block book, making it easier to tailor sessions to specific subject interests.
Collaboration with the Library
Library staff were involved from the start of the project, as it was established as a joint collaboration with the Computing Service and in recognition of the importance of information literacy and library skills. The component offered in week 4, "Researching and evaluating information sources", is taught (for no remuneration) by subject librarians or academic-related library staff and the other courses are taught by bought in tutors. Library staff generally teach 2 sessions during the week when the library component is run. Gareth Johnson, Science Librarian, acts as one of the bought in tutors and teaches throughout all four weeks of the programme. The library component of the course has proved the most popular over the last 2 years.
Recognising that incoming students arrive with different experiences and skills, two modes of study are offered for students to choose from: Taught Course: 8 hours taught and assessed (4x2 hours) with optional help sessions or Self Study (self-paced working through the same materials with optional help sessions). The taught course consists of the following components and takes place in the autumn term:
Classes are taught in groups of 20. There is a choice of timing for the 2 hour sessions, which are offered 4 times a day: Tuesdays to Fridays, starting at 9.15, 11.15, 13.15 and 15.15. Evening sessions are held at 17.15 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In addition, the Iliad office is open in the morning 4 days a week for drop in enquiries and other information. All the courses are supported by workbooks (about 20 pages long). They contain worked examples which gradually increase in complexity and can be used in both the taught and self-study modes of learning. Students are advised to omit sections with which the are familiar and to concentrate on new areas. The workbooks used for weeks 3, 5 and 6 are generic but the week 4 (library) workbooks contain subject-specific examples provided by the subject librarians. There is one subject-specific workbook for every subject taught at undergraduate level and the students select the workbook most relevant to them. Students are not taught about individual databases in their subject area; instead, an introduction to Web of Science is given to all students. The workbook-led approach was chosen to facilitate self-paced learning. Another advantage is that the workbooks can be kept and referred to later if required. Help sessions provide further support on a one-to-one basis to cater for different levels of need. The bought in tutors are from a variety of backgrounds e.g postgraduates, junior lecturers, adult education teachers etc
Students can opt to take an assessment at the end of the course and gain points towards the University's transferable skills qualification, the York Award. All students receive a certificate of completion. In the current year, 92 out of ca 500 students elected to do the assessment. Uptake of this would increase if marks contributed to the final degree, but Iliad would then have to be offered to every undergraduate which is currently not possible. For the purposes of the assessment, students are asked to pick a topic they are already working on, apply the skills they have learnt and reflect on the research process itself. Assessments are marked by tutors using a 10 point criteria system.
Around 500 students signed up for Iliad in 2001-02 which represented about a third of the intake. If numbers of students from the departments which buy into Iliad are included, coverage was nearer 50%. Given current staffing levels, it would be difficult to accommodate more. New students receive information about Iliad along with their joining instructions 3 weeks before they first arrive at the University. Sending letters to students' home addresses in this way is seen as an effective way of marketing. In addition, the courses are quite heavily promoted to new students during the first weeks of the new academic year e.g there are talks given by Iliad staff in departments during induction week. The extent to which departments actively encourage students to take Iliad varies and there may be constraints to their doing so (e.g. the Biology department uses a separate network).
Student feedback is collected ad hoc during the sessions or by means of feedback forms filled in at the end of the course. Students are also invited to focus group discussions in term 2. Iliad tutors come together before and after Iliad to share the ad hoc experiences and library staff who teach on Iliad exchange observations on the accuracy of the workbooks. The content and level of the courses is constantly reviewed and major updating takes place as a result of developments e.g. changes to the library catalogue. Student feedback on the assessment process resulted in the tasks being reformulated to make them less general and more relevant to students' current course work. In addition, an Ilaid programme review1 was completed in January 2002. There are varying degrees of awareness in academic departments about Iliad. Those lecturers who are familiar with the programme have evaluated it positively.
Generic, Standalone Programme or Subject Specific, Curriculum-Based Programme?
The advantages of offering Iliad as a separate information literacy programme are seen to be:
The disadvantages include:
1. Fayter, Debra. Iliad programme review. York: University of York: 2002
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This site is maintained by Claire Ryan. Last Updated 19th February 2002
