Up to the HILT! The Handbook for Information Literacy Teaching explained LILAC – University of Leeds 28 th March 2006 Peter Clinch & Nigel Morgan

HILT: Overview  Handbook for Information Literacy Teaching (HILT) - background & aims  The content:  Examples from the Handbook  Evaluation  Future development

Cardiff University: facts & figures  Research-led learning / teaching  7 th in RAE  22,000+ students  5,000+ staff  28 academic schools  2 main campuses  27+ information specialists  18 libraries

HILT: what is it? A user-friendly handbook which supports staff by equipping them with skills & techniques to promote information literacy, to prepare learning outcomes and to deliver and evaluate appropriate learning experiences within the Schools.

HILT: the rationale  Inspired by Information Skills Teaching Manual (1996)  Provide cornerstone of IL staff training & support other initiatives  Equip new / existing staff with appropriate skills  Outline IL teaching strategy  Help achieve strategic aim of “embedding” IL in curricula  Encourage, support & empower

HILT: the outcome  Task group formed - January 2005  Wealth of examples of good practice  Pioneering / practical / concise / current / non-prescriptive  High profile launch – August 2005  Available in variety of formats

HILT: content & examples

HILT: the evaluation  Internal evaluation  Feedback form included in HILT  Questionnaire survey  Focus groups  External evaluation  Application to CyMAL  Evaluation of HILT in four Welsh organisations

Results of internal evaluation - 1  38 members of Cardiff UL staff responded, 27 had given teaching sessions  59% had used HILT in Autumn 2005  ‘generally well received’  94% said it had improved their teaching quality  71% noted improved student feedback or comment

Results of internal evaluation - 2  The most used sections of HILT:  Lesson planning  Examples taken from appendix  Lesson materials  Lesson delivery  Web page evaluation exercise was most popular single element mentioned

Results of internal evaluation by focus group  Main suggestions for improvement  Make more copies available  Create condensed version – down from 64 pages to, say, 50 pages of text  Create appendix summarising major learning theories  To each chapter add an executive summary and some references – add a bibliography at the end of the publication

CyMAL Evaluation  4 project partner institutions to use HILT for 9 months  Assess whether HILT is transferable tool  Identify changes to HILT to improve utility beyond Cardiff  Forge new partnerships to enhance information literacy delivery in Wales

How to contact us  Peter Clinch, Information Specialist for Law    Nigel Morgan, Information Specialist  