Our presentation on the New Curriculum for Information Literacy (ANCIL) research at the libraries@cambridge 2012 conference, 12 January.

1. Beyond Arcadia:
ANCIL at Cambridge
Dr Jane Secker & Dr Emma Coonan
Dr Helen Webster & Katy Wrathall
libraries@cambridge 2012

2. The Arcadia Programme

3. Phase 1: May-July 2011
Develop a new, revolutionary curriculum for
information literacy in a digital age
http://arcadiaproject.lib.cam.ac.uk/projects/information-literacy.html

4. “Information literacy … empowers people in all
walks of life to seek, evaluate, use and create
information effectively to achieve their
personal, social, occupational and educational
goals. It is a basic human right in a digital world
and promotes social inclusion in all nations.”
UNESCO (2005) Alexandria Proclamation

5. Aims: in 10 weeks
Understand the needs of undergraduates entering HE
over the coming 5 years
Map the current landscape of information literacy
Develop practical curriculum and supporting
resources

6. Method
Modified Delphi study
• means of obtaining expert future forecasting
• consulted widely in the fields of information and education
Literature review
• theoretical overview of the field
• conflicts in terminology, pedagogic approach, values
Expert workshop
• method, findings and preliminary curriculum presented
• curriculum refined in light of feedback

7. Expert consultation
Librarians, researchers, educators, trainee teachers,
school librarians
How you teach at least as important as what you
teach
Must be embedded into the academic curriculum and
disciplines will vary
Must be based on real needs: students are not
homogeneous
Must be opportunities for reflection

8. Our experts said …
Format and structure of
the curriculum
Modular, flexible
holistic, embedded,
relevant to students
Online / face to face
Active learning: discussion
and reflection
Training > Teaching Teaching style and
method of delivery
When?
Who teaches?

9. And don’t forget …
Use of audits
Assessment
Meaningful assessment
Learning outcomes
How to market IL
to different audiences
Marketing / hooks
Aligning the curriculum content to
discipline specific knowledge, skills and behaviour

10. Curriculum strands
1. Transition from school to higher education
2. Becoming an independent learner
3. Developing academic literacies
4. Mapping and evaluating the information landscape
5. Resource discovery in your discipline
6. Managing information
7. Ethical dimension of information
8. Presenting and communicating knowledge
9. Synthesising information and creating new knowledge
10. Social dimension of information literacy

12. Information literacy is a continuum of skills,
behaviours, approaches and values that is so
deeply entwined with the uses of information
as to be a fundamental element of learning,
scholarship and research.
It is the defining characteristic of the discerning
scholar, the informed and judicious citizen, and
the autonomous learner.
ANCIL definition of information literacy (2011)

13. Phase 2: Oct-Dec 2011
Strategies for implementing the
Curriculum for Information Literacy
Dr Helen Webster & Katy Wrathall
http://arcadiaproject.lib.cam.ac.uk/projects/strategies-for-implementation.html

14. Aims - also in 10 weeks
Scope possible implementation strategies
What provision already exists?
Who might deliver or support ANCIL within an institution?
What formats might delivery take?
What is needed to support delivery?
Develop resources to support implementation
For individual institutions
Generic, adaptable resources for any institution

15. What’s new about
the New Curriculum?
It’s a curriculum

16. What’s new about
the New Curriculum?
It doesn’t belong to any one profession

17. Map of information literacy
at Cambridge

18. What might the curriculum
be used for?
benchmarking/ framework to inform
diagnostic tool strategy, learning outcomes
and marking criteria
ANCIL
guidance model
audit tool: institutional,
faculty/college,
individual
teaching resources

19. Where to start?!
Institutional
Audit tool
Teaching
toolkit

20. Delivery formats
Subject expertise
Staff-led Student-
led
Professional expertise

21. Project outputs:
Recommendations Cambridge
ANCIL for Colleges
ANCIL for Faculties
ANCIL at Cambridge*
Resources (hosted on the ANCIL wiki)
ANCIL for supervisors
Supervision teaching resources
Information literacy First Aid
ANCIL for Cambridge libraries
ANCIL: the video
Librarians in Training workshop
Transkills workshop

22. An Information Literacy
Strategy for Cambridge?

23. Project outputs:
other institutions

24. ANCIL research outputs
Phase 1 reports
Executive summary, expert consultation report, and theoretical
background
Curriculum and supporting documents
http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com/
Phase 2 resources and case studies
Case studies - University of Worcester, York St John University
Cambridge resources
http://implementingancil.pbworks.com
YouTube Video
Search for “ANCIL curriculum”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY-V2givIiE