Roche Chapt 5.docx

5 Information Literacy and Digital Literacy Sarah Pavey Introduction This chapter considers the theory and practicalities of teaching information and digital literacy. We learn about the different formal models we might use and how to plan and deliver lessons through collaboration with subject te...

5 Information Literacy and Digital Literacy Sarah Pavey Introduction This chapter considers the theory and practicalities of teaching information and digital literacy. We learn about the different formal models we might use and how to plan and deliver lessons through collaboration with subject teachers. The National Literacy Trust defines literacy as 'the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world' (2021). Within a school, this is the type of literacy that is assessed in an inspection and there may be a specific committee dedicated to improving these learning goals. Many other more specific literacies are now referred to within education and two of importance to school librarianship are information literacy and digital literacy. Essentially, these terms relate to the understanding of the use of information in all its forms and similarly for digital products. However, the use of this terminology is not always consistent. It is open to interpretation. For this reason, some organisations have tried to define the terms more explicitly. Defining digital literacy Many people mistake digital literacy for the ability to use basic computer skills in relation to hardware, software and online resources, and applying these in context. Others regard digital literacy as the ability to operate digital technology and related resources in a safe and secure way. Whilst e-safety and security are essential aspects of digital literacy, this is far from the whole picture. Digital literacy is about being able to operate in the digital world in its widest sense and this embraces a range of skills that are needed for life. 68 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT The American Library Association's Digital Literacy Task Force offers this definition: Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills. (ALA, 2013) Jisc suggests it is 'the capabilities which fit someone for living, learning and working in a digital society' (2018). In the UK, the Jisc Model Seven Elements of Digital Literacy (2018) is the most recognised by higher education. It incorporates: media literacy communications and collaboration career and identity management ICT literacy learning skills digital scholarship information literacy. Unfortunately, within the National Curriculum for England and Wales (DfE, 2021b), the extent of digital literacy instruction is very much limited to the use of information technology tools and safeguarding. Other schools in countries adopting a more inquiry-based learning approach will accept a wider definition. Defining information literacy Information literacy was defined as a universal human right by UNESCO as part of the Alexandria Proclamation (2006). But what does the term mean in practice? Again, we find the context of use confusing. In 2018, CILIP's Information Literacy Group (ILG) produced a new definition that encompassed the ways in which information use and understanding had changed since the UNESCO declaration. The ILG definition states that: Information literacy is the ability to think critically and make balanced judgements about any information we find and use. It empowers us as citizens to reach and express informed views and to engage fully with society. (CILIP ILG, 2018, 3) INFORMATION LITERACY AND DIGITAL LITERACY 69 How information literacy can be understood within different contexts of everyday life, citizenship, health, the workplace and education is underpinned by examples within the ILG document. When working with terminology that is open to interpretation, it can be difficult for us to engage with teachers and senior leaders so that they understand the importance of the student competencies we are trying to support by offering opportunities for practice. This means that the degree to which we may be involved in the teaching of digital literacy and information literacy will depend upon how the curriculum is delivered in individual schools. If we wish to pursue this cross-curricular approach to lifelong learning skills, we will need to be certain this ambition fits with the wider mission statement of the school. Models for teaching information and digital literacy If we want to teach information and digital literacy skills, we may find it useful to have a robust framework underpinned by academic research to suggest to our line managers. However, this is not prescribed or even essential. We may discover another methodology that works more effectively in our own school. First, we need to decide on the type of information literacy model we wish to use. Essentially, there are three different approaches we can consider: search and use: these models promote higher level thinking and decision taking information inquiry: these models encourage students to reflect and revise to aid the synthesis and embedding of information that is found discipline specific: these models are designed for use with specific curriculum subjects that may require a specialised approach to information handling. Within each of these model groups, there is a wealth of products to choose from and many are freely available. It is worth investigating a few to gain an understanding of the aims and competencies they seek to impart. Table 5.1 on the next page summarises choices that are popular in schools worldwide. A list of references to these models is given in Appendix 4. In the UK, the most prevalent are BIG 6 (and Super 3), PLUS, ISP and, more recently, FOSIL, which is based on Stripling's Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (ESIFC). Here, we can see how formal models might look in practice. Firstly, we will consider a 'search and use' approach from a secondary school. 70 CREATING A SCHOOL LIBRARY WITH IMPACT Table 5.1 Selection of information literacy models used by schools worldwide Search and use Inquiry based Discipline specific SAs (Macdonald, Dosaj & Jukes) BAT (younger students - simplified PSU) (Nesset) BIG 6 (Eisenberg & Berkowitz) FLIP IT (Yucht) I-Learn (Neuman et al.) lrvings (Irving) Information Search Process (ISP) (Kuhlthau) PLUS (Herring) PSU (Nesset) REACTS (Stripling & Pitts) Simple Four (Alewine) Super 3 (younger students - simplified BIG 6) 8Ws(Lamb) Alberta Dimensions of Inquiry (INFOhio) Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (ESIFC) (Stripling) FOSIL (Toerien) (UK adapted version of ESIFC) Imposed Query (Gross) Inquiry Cycle (Gourley) I-Search (Macrorie) Noodle Tools (Abilock) Pathways to Knowledge (Pappas & Tepe) Pre-search (Rankin) Research Cycle (McKenzie) WebQuests (Dodge) SE Inquiry Model (Bybee) Humanities Model of Inquiry (Bateman) Problem Based Learning (McMaster) Science Technology Society (STS) Inquiry Model (Joyce &Weil) Scientific Method Suchman Inquiry Model Zoom-In Inquiry We used the Big 6 model for history projects for KS3 (11-13-year-olds). Using a model helps prevent the students just going to Google and copying/pasting what they find. It gives them the reason to be selective and critical of the resources they find before using them. There are six steps. First, they define the task and we let them brainstorm. Secondly, they look at what types of sources they might use and we introduce them to the CRAAP test and refer back to the brainstorm to think about keywords. Thirdly, they need to decide how they are going to find the information. Fourthly, when they have to record the information they find, we show them about referencing and making a bibliography. Next, we consider note-taking and how to construct their presentation. For the final step six of evaluation, we have a mark rubric and introduce peer assessment. It all works very well and they seem to become ryiuch more engaged with the topics. Let us now look at an information inquiry-based model. For this to be effective in practice, the subject needs to be investigative either through experimentation or because divided opinion about the topic exists. The research model involves more than simply finding an answer, evaluating the source and communicating what you have found to others. The students in Year 9 (12-13-year-olds) were given a topic to investigate asking why finding a smallpox cure had been so important in England, as part of a science class on infectious diseases. We used the FOSIL model as the scaffold for their independent learning project. They began with 'Connect' and considered why this might be an important question to answer. They used the 'Wonder' thread to think about what questions they would need to ask and how to find the answers. 'Investigate' introduced them to searching for resources to answer the questions and they learned about note taking, reference information and quotations. Moving to 'Construct', they pieced together the information they had gathered in a logical order and thought about the message they were conveying through their presentation. 'Express' allowed them to refine and add personal reflection to their final production. 'Reflect' was completed last and here they considered why the results of the research were an important contribution to history more generally. It certainly gave them freedom to investigate for themselves in a different way to just gathering random facts. They had to reflect on the purpose of the information and tell the story. When working with younger students or those with special needs, we may need to adapt the research process and just consider the basic requirements. Good learning outcomes can be achieved using one of the simpler models as the next example shows. The Year 4 (8-9-year-olds) were conducting a project on the Romans. We decided to use the BAT (Beginning, Acting, Telling) model of information literacy to help them understand the research skills they needed. The good thing about this model is it is adaptable and can include more complex elements for the more able students. 'Beginning' involves thinking about the topic and reading and discussing what is to be investigated. 'Acting' concerns sorting out the vocabulary that will be needed, gathering the information and deciding what to use. 'Telling' is about preparing what has been found and selected for the presentation. They loved the idea of bats and everyone made their plan for research on a bat-shaped template, which we then displayed alongside the posters they produced. Similarly, there are also models for digital literacy. Three that are commonly used are: Digital Literacy Across the Curriculum (Hague and Peyton, 2010) New Media Literacies (Jenkins, 2006) Eight Essential Elements of Digital Literacy (Belshaw, 2014). References to these models can be found in Appendix 5. Digital literacy models focus on the use of technology to help with research and understanding of topics. These three exemplar models all differ in their learning objectives. Hague and Peyton consider digital literacy in terms of the key skills students need to develop. By focusing on the nature of the skill, the model helps students develop transferable skills. They argue that only then can consideration be given to the use of technology. The Hague and Peyton model seeks to make the embedding of skills across the curriculum in different subjects more meaningful. The Jenkins model suggests that schools need to devote more time to cultural competencies and social skills embracing the collaboration, networking and deep learning that digital technologies might support. Using this model involves focusing on specific media, looking at cultural exchange and the social skills that can be supported by digital technology. Belshaw's eight essential elements, or 8Cs, identify the skills an individual needs to gain to become digitally literate. These areas for consideration are: cultural; cognitive; constructive; communicative; confidence; creative; critical; and civic. There is an overlap between the information literacy and digital literacy models and it is possible that we might choose elements of both and blend them together. The challenge with using a model, whether for information literacy or digital literacy, is that it assumes a student is working independently. This may not be the case, particularly within an exam-based curriculum. Galley (2017), although in a primary school context, suggests that using an 'imposed query' model might be more relevant to an English curriculum. Models can also place restrictions on how information and digital literacy might be delivered in practice. Many models assume a linear or cyclical approach when in fact research is often a 'messy' process. So, we might decide just to use elements of a model and not necessarily stick with a strict order. A series of 'Research Smarter' leaflets, detailing approaches to different components of the research process, has been developed by the Information Literacy Group (ILG) and these can be downloaded for free from their website: https://infolit.org.uk/ information-literacy-group/school-resource-sheets. Let's consider now how we might teach information and digital literacy in practice. Information and digital literacy lessons - opportunities, location and planning The opportunities to teach information and digital literacy will vary between . schools. For some of us, it may be a dedicated set of library lessons; others may deliver skills through the taught requirements for the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) or other project-based work. However, for many of us it will be a matter of spotting opportunities and coaxing teaching staff on board in an ad hoc manner. In England and Wales, the National Curriculum and exam board syllabi rarely require formal teaching of information and digital literacy aside from being a small part of some subjects, such as Citizenship, Computing and Media Studies. So, what do we do? It is beneficial to study the National Curriculum and exam board criteria in depth. This can help us to identify areas where an inquiry approach to learning might be possible. Next, we can approach subject teachers and invite them to collaborate with us in the lesson delivery. Not all teachers will feel able to accept our offer, but we should seek out the staff who want to work with us and use the learning outcomes from these lessons to persuade others. True collaborative practice happens when there is joint planning and agreement on the learning objectives of the lesson. Teachers are experts in developing formal lesson plans and we should allow ourselves to be guided by them. However, we are the information experts and can contribute to provision of resources and instruction about the use of these resources. By using parts or the whole of an information literacy model, we can use the academic language to which a teacher can relate. Having devised a plan for the lesson, we need to think about where it will take place. Pavey (2005) considered the pros and cons of delivering lessons in the library and the classroom and concluded that beginning with classroom delivery, followed by research in the library, yielded positive outcomes. By using this approach, the formal setting of the classroom with the teacher sets a familiar environment for learning for the students. This enables the librarian to ensure the students understand how they will undertake their research work before they move to the more informal setting of the library. It also underpins that the teacher sets the research learning objectives and assessment structure, but the librarian can advise on resources and how they might be used. Being involved in the awarding of some marks reaps rewards too, as students then perceive us as integral to the learning process. It could be that we are not able to collaborate and have been directed to deliver a set of discrete lessons on information and digital literacy rather than to embed these competencies within a subject area. Here, to maximise the chance of transferring skills, it is useful to relate what we teach to subjects in the curriculum that the students may be studying. Our setting will be our library, but it is advisable - if space allows - to ensure there is a classroom type area or at least a formal atmosphere when delivering the lesson plan. Lesson planning is a necessary skill and we can get ideas by watching and talking.to teaching staff. There are also websites where you can download lesson plan templates. By using these, we can demonstrate to our line managers that we understand about learning objectives and outcomes and the wider educational benefit of what we teach. Teaching elements of information and digital literacy A lesson plan can help us define objectives and set out the nature of the elements we will teach, but how can we deliver our message in a meaningful way and ensure learning has taken place? Very few librarians in the UK are dual qualified as teachers and the temptation is just to deliver a lecture using slides. We need to be mindful that students are more familiar with an interactive approach and so we may need to be more creative. This is a challenge! Teaching referencing and bibliography creation hardly seems exciting. Let us look at some ideas. Planning research The structure of research will to some extent be dictated by the subject and purpose of the work. A scientific experiment and report will be different in approach to a long essay for a humanities subject. Other research work will be discursive and based upon evaluating opinion rather than fact. Nonetheless, most information literacy models will advocate beginning with a 'brainstorming' session to see what is already known and what the scope of the work will be. One method is to use a 'mind map' as a structure, but we could also make use of the many collaborative apps that are available such as Jamboard (https://su pport.google .com/jamboard/answer/7424836?hl=en), Post-it Plus (www.3m.eo.uk/3M/en_GB/post-it-notes/ideas/app) or Nearpod (https://nearpod.com). The research with Year 12 students (16-17-year-olds) studying English focused on the question 'Should a novel challenge or entertain the reader?' The class was divided in two and each tasked to come up with questions to support the viewpoint they were to argue from. They wrote the questions on square sticky notes and then photographed them with the app Post-it Plus and uploaded them to a collaborative board. The whole class discussion showed the board and the notes could be moved. Together a structure for the investigation was developed that the whole class could follow using the questions as a guide. · Year 7 (11-12-year-olds) were researching elements for science. There were a number of facts that they had to gather that had been chosen by their subject teacher. Together we planned a template that could be filled in for the element they had been given. The class discussion then considered where the information might be found. In pairs, the students were given a couple of books, articles or websites selected by the librarian and the students had to decide whether the sources would be useful. They reported back to the class their views. This also enabled the librarian to see what the students needed and to adapt the resources offered. Searching and finding information From the planning and brainstorming session, students can begin to get a sense of the vocabulary they might need for effective searching. However, the temptation is just to put the title of the research into Google, find the Wikipedia reference and copy it without thought. Students are so used to looking for information online, they have little sense of hierarchy, so teaching them to use an index works well as a starter exercise. Twenge, Campbell and Sherman (2019) noted that vocabulary levels have significantly dropped over the last few decades. In the following scenarios, we see practical examples that address this concern and invite our students to learn more about the effective use of keywords. The Year 8 students (12-13-year-olds) were divided into pairs and each was given a dictionary. They chose a starting word for their research project and wrote that in the centre of a large piece of paper. One student looked up the word in the dictionary and read out all · the other words associated with it in the entry. The second student wrote these words down and drew connecting lines from the original word. The second student then chose one of the new words and looked that up in the dictionary and the other student recorded the information. The game continued until all possibilities had been added and then the students highlighted the ten best words to use for a keyword search. To help students understand about using keywords, one student becomes the internet and sits with their back to the screen. A picture is projected onto the screen with a keyword written underneath. The rest of the class offer alternative words so that the 'internet student' can try and guess what word is written on the screen. The alternatives are written down so they can all be seen on a flipchart. The game progresses from a simple word to two words that need to be searched separately to be understood, for example, 'red car', then to a subjective word, such as 'success', and finally to a word that might have multiple meanings, such as 'resistance'. This gives students a feel for the complexity of an internet search and the potential pitfalls. Another lesson that we might plan is showing our students where to look for­ information. We can discuss with them the differences between primary, secondary and tertiary resources using a quiz style approach and by using scenarios related to their research methodology. For example, Abi is investigating the impact of the planting of trees in her local community for her EPQ. What kind of resource would she use for the following? Background information on the benefits of tree planting. Finding out about how much planting had taken place in her area over the last five years. Discovering the attitudes of local people to the new woodland areas. This method would also work with younger children, asking: What resource do you use to look up the meaning of a word? What resource do you use to find out about a recent event? What resource do you use to read a story about something? It is important that we show students the full range of media options available to them when looking for information and to illustrate that taking extracts and facts from a variety of sources protects to some extent against bias and misconception. It is an easy trap just to lecture students about all the information resources you have, but many will not be listening to what you say. It is difficult for students to understand the purpose of the knowledge you are imparting if they do not have the practical experience to interpret its meaning. Hence, it is best practice for us to devise lessons where students can participate and either follow instructions on use or better still experiment and find out for themselves. A short plenary at the end of the lesson will confirm what has been learned and any gaps can be identified and filled by us as facilitators. Students were given a list of the subscription and free databases that the library management system (LMS) had as links. In pairs, the class were given a specific database to work with and asked to use keywords associated with the topic of renewable energy to find information. The librarian and science teacher offered help and guidance when it was requested. At the end of the lesson, students reported back on what they had found and commented on how easy the database had been to use, its pros and cons and suitability for the topic. The librarian felt that the students had gained more information about the databases and by gaining practical experience felt more confident in their own ability to use them. Selecting and recording information Sifting through the many sources of information takes time and some students may find the process overwhelming. Research work often presents as a novel scenario as most students are more familiar with extracting specified information from a single source and presenting their findings immediately. As librarians, we can explain that inquiry work takes time and as a first step it is useful to gather as much relevant information as possible so that we become familiar and immersed in the topic. This repetition aids memory retention. Nonetheless, students may find it difficult to work with non-fiction texts and not understand how to discern which information they might need for their work. Information can be presented in many different forms, all of which require specific reading techniques. We might choose to develop a lesson to allow students to practise these skills: Tables were set up, each with five books requiring a different type of reading: finding a word in an index finding a word in the contents page finding information from a diagram skimming for information in a book with no index or contents page making your own subjective decision about information to use. On top of the pile of books was a different set of questions for each table that tested the ability of students to find information in the five different ways. For example, the diagram information might be tested in a book of symbols or a dictionary showing a labelled diagram. Making a choice might be a book on making a cake for a party and asking them to choose the one they like best. A maximum often minutes was given for each table. A plenary at the end discussed what skills were needed to find the information? What was easiest and what was most challenging? Did it get easier with practice? When the intrinsic motivation of inquiry work kicks in, we find ourselves in a state defined as 'flow' (Nakamura, Dwight and Shankland, 2019). This is when we are so absorbed in our actions that we cannot think of anything else. Unfortunately, for many students this also means they may forget to record the source of their information. While teachers may have drilled their students in note-taking for printed texts, they do not always transfer this skill to other media. It is important for us to show students the value of recording information and why this is necessary, as well as practical techniques for information discovery. In the next example, we see an information literacy lesson addressing this learning objective. The librarian showed a slide on the screen with a statistical graph about use of social media by age to the class. No explanation was given, the class were just asked to read it, but they also·had paper given to them. The librarian then removed the slide and asked the class to take a sheet of paper and write a heading - 'The effect of age on social media use' - and to write sentences based on what they had seen on the slide. The librarian observed who had been taking notes and called on selected students to read out what they had composed. Most students had not taken notes, struggled to remember, made up facts or confessed they should have written something down. A debate then ensued on the value of note­ taking. Interestingly, this librarian repeated the exercise in the same lesson using a video and again most students fell into the same trap! Transfer of skills is a hard concept and constant repetition in different circumstances yields better results. We are giving our students practical experiences they can draw upon when faced with similar scenarios. Living in a world of smart devices drives recording information beyond the traditional concept of physical note-taking using pen and paper. Students can now be shown how to use the camera and microphone on their phones or tablets to take pictures or videos of experiments and resources they use or simply to use voice to text technology to extract short notes for later use. A plethora of specialist apps exists to aid this process, which can be discovered through the various app stores or by using a generic app search engine such as AppCrawlr (http://appcrawlr.com). Examples include: Evernote (https://evernote.com); OneNote (www.onenote.com); Notion (www.notion.so); and Google Keep (www.google.com/keep). Some, such as Penultimate (https://help.evemote.com/ he/en-us/articles/209122017-Penultimate-Quick-Start-Guide), Notability (https:// notability.com) and Squid (www.squidnotes.com), allow students to add handwriting annotations. The Inkflow app (www.qrayon.com/ home/inkflow) is specifically about visual notes. Nonetheless, despite all this wonderful technology, it is useful for students to learn to take notes in a more traditional way too. Here, we can build upon the techniques we may have used in lessons about searching for information and the importance of keywords. Many teachers use 'doze' activities to achieve this. These are sheets of texts with missing words and the student must select from a list which word would be most appropriate in each space. This type of exercise can also be used in other ways to help with the recording of information. The students were each given a photocopy of an article. They were asked to cut out the words or short sentences that would be useful for writing the article in their own words. They then threw away what they had not used and tried to write the sense of the piece, sticking words they had found on the paper and writing their own text around the words. In a discussion after completion, we talked about how easy the piece had been to write, whether they had chosen the right words, what went wrong and what went well. They then reflected on how they might do this again - maybe differently. It is also important for us to explain to students how they should record information about the sources they use to compile a bibliography. We will consider academic honesty in more depth later, but when gathering information, it is necessary for students to understand the components they need to note. Knowing that the function of referencing is to allow other readers to retrace the elements that led to your conclusions and opinions, rather than just assuming this information is simply to show you did not copy your work from someone else, is fundamental. Many databases allow students to copy a citation format from sources they use and perhaps your LMS has this functionality too. Again, there are apps that allow students to scan the ISBN barcode of a book and produce a citation in several formats, which can be saved or e-mailed. These include Citationsy, Easy Referencing and AlleyDog. Alternatively, students can use the referencing tab in a Word programme to create references too. Evaluating the information We might also choose to plan information literacy lessons around the concept of evaluating the credibility of the information. The rise in concern about 'fake news', misinformation, disinformation and malinformation may trigger teachers to contact us and ask for help in explaining this to students. Unfortunately, the curriculum in England and Wales treats this skill as spotting false information, rather than understanding why the information has been published, so it may be that what we see as the learning objective and what the teacher requires differ. Another communication issue that might arise with students is that the use of the word 'evaluate' in the curriculum of England and Wales is not what we are given to understand. Here, it means consider your own work and think about how well you have achieved the objectives of the lesson. Getting students and teaching staff to appreciate the need to consider the purpose of the literature and to apply critical literacy criteria can be difficult to achieve. Again, there are models we can use in our teaching, such as the descriptively named CRAAP test (Blakeslee, 2004). This is an acronym for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. Many university websites include a guide to its use, often with video content too. Other models that focus on the source information include RADAR (Rationale, Authority, Date, Accuracy, Relevance) (Mandalios, 2013) and 5Ws lH (Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?) (Radom and Gammons, 2014). SIFT: The Four Moves (Caulfield, 2017) takes a slightly different approach by looking at the context of the information. Here, the letters represent: Stop (slow down and think about the information), Investigate, Find and Trace. All these approaches provide a strong scaffold on which to plan our lessons. References to these models are in Appendix 6. Critical literacy is another aspect of information evaluation that we can help students understand. If we assume that most text information is created by humans, then we accept that the author will choose what to include and what to leave out. Choices are made about the subjects and people that are represented in the written piece. Readers, too, will have different experiences and knowledge and may therefore interpret texts in different ways. Overall, we can see how an article can influence our actions and our use of it in a piece of research. Deeper understanding of how information is constructed, its 'architecture', can help us to evaluate the content. In the next example we see how this might be made more explicit to students. The students were given an unusual object. They handed it around the class and everyone had to ask a question about it, such as: What was it made from? What was its value? How old was it? The librarian wrote the questions on the board. Next, for each question, the students thought about who would need to know the answer and for what purpose. There was then discussion about how the write-up about the object would differ according to the intended audience. The object was then substituted by a research article and the same process followed. This gave the students a greater sense of the rationale for the text creation. In England and Wales, we are likely to be directed to deliver a lesson on 'spotting fake news' as this forms part of the National Curriculum. There are many fake websites that we can use to show students how easy it is to fall into believing a conspiracy theory or just using information that is wrong. These include: Save the Tree Octopus (https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus); Dog Island (www.thedogisland.com); and Petrol Direct (www.petroldirect.com). We might decide to engage the class with something in the context of their research; the BBC offers some sophisticated ideas through their specialised website: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4fRwvHcfr5hYMMltFqvP6qF/ help-your-students-spot-false-news. If we are willing to take more of a risk and safeguarding concerns have been addressed, we could ask students to create their own fake news sites and try them out on their classmates. ClassTools (www.classtools.net/breakingnews) provides a fake news generator that, like its other products, is similarly not live (so can be used with younger students) but allows participants to interact. Academic honesty and integrity Academic honesty and integrity are an important part of any information literacy programme. Although it is not a requirement of the curriculum in England and Wales, learning about citation, referencing and bibliography creation is essential preparation for higher education. It also forms part of the 'taught skills' programme of the EPQ and is a fundamental of the IB Diploma Extended Essay. Many students have been drilled in not copying and pasting and so they do not realise that it is permissible to quote from sources and include short excerpts in a report. Conversely, they do not understand that even if they paraphrase someone else's work, the source needs to be referenced. Further complications arise with the use of images, especially as younger children are often encouraged to add visuals to work with no acknowledgement. In teaching academic honesty, we need to be aware of two basic aspects: What is permissible. How to construct references and a bibliography. Plagiarism is defined as: The action or practice of plagiarising; the wrongful appropriation or purloining, and publication as one's own, of the ideas, or the expression of the ideas (literary, artistic, musical, mechanical, etc.) of another. (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989) It is not the copying that is wrong, but the act of trying to pass off what has been copied as your own idea. There are four main types of plagiarism: Intentional plagiarism. This is the most serious form of academic dishonesty because the culprit is aware of what they are doing but decides to take a risk. In an examination situation, such transgressions are not treated lightly and, if caught, the student may pay a heavy penalty. Non-intentional plagiarism. With this type of plagiarism, the offender is unaware that they might have done anything wrong. This may be because they have not been taught correct procedure. Self-plagiarism. This is when a student writes and submits the same piece of work for two separate formal tests. Collusion. This is the pooling of collective thoughts and writing with others, but then submitting a final report as your own work. This is an increasingly common pitfall as group work gains popularity. By understanding how to identify plagiarism, we get a better idea of how we can teach staff and students to minimise the risks. A simple way of introducing students to the consequences of plagiarism is given in the next example: Ask the class to write their name on the top of a piece of paper. Next, add a title - Where I went on my holiday'. Tell them you will time them for five minutes to write as much as they can. (Note form is acceptable, don't worry about spelling.) Next, ask them to swap their paper with the person next to them. Ask them to count the words on the paper and put them in a circle at the bottom. Then, tell them to scribble out the name at the top and write their own name instead. Keep hold of the paper. Compare the papers and each person in the pair whose name is written on the paper with the highest number of words is given lots of praise and congratulations and an award (sweets!). This exercise was developed by Geoff Dubber from the School Library Association. The exercise can be continued further by exposing the plagiarist. When the students come to the front to receive their award, choose one who you know will be able to enter into the spirit of the exercise and, before giving them the reward, hold them back. Quiz them about the contents of the paper - maybe ask them questions about the flight, people they met, where they ate, etc., and expose their lack of understanding. Then call out the real author to give an explanation and to confront the offender. An extension of the exercise could be showing students examples of real­ life plagiarism. It is a good idea to use scenarios that have meaning in their current lives, so concentrate on popular culture or examples linked with areas of the curriculum they are studying. There are many internet sites listing examples of plagiarists in the news. Universities also provide support specifically for sixth formers (16-18- year-olds) in understanding how information can be used as part of an academic essay. Newcastle University provide a good example: https:// sixthformstudyskills.ncl.ac.uk/referencing/quiz-referencing. For something more light-hearted, the Goblin Plagiarism game can be played individually or as a class (www.lycoming.edu/library/plagiarism-game). Another whole class activity is the 'Jail or Freedom' game (www. authorstream.com/ Presentation/SarahPavey-1081155-plagiarism-game-updated). Considering what is acceptable can also be extended to include copyright. This is an area where we might consider developing a talk for an INSET training day for staff. Many are unaware of what cannot be copied and disseminated without permission. Whilst most government-funded schools around the world are covered by blanket licences, this is not the case in the independent sector. In England and Wales, the Copyright and Schools website gives a good summary (https://copyrightandschools.org). It is important for us, as librarians, to make best practice explicit through exemplar work, leaflets or displays to supplement the lessons we deliver. We may be able to contribute to or write a school policy on academic honesty to provide guidance for the whole school community. Even if this is not possible, we need to become familiar with what is permissible in the handling of information, particularly as teaching staff may look to consult us as information experts about these matters. We have already explored how ready-made references can be copied and embedded into a bibliography. Nonetheless, understanding the construction of a reference is an important skill for students to learn, especially if they are headed to higher education. There are many different recognised formats for a reference but unfortunately no real consensus about what should be used when. Swaen (2021) gives a good overview of the rationale behind different options. We can ask departments in the school which style they prefer or . consult the exam board syllabus in case there is mention there. Basically, referencing has two major divisions of format: Author/Date (e.g., Harvard) Footnotes (e.g., MLA). Generally, we can apply a system whereby for subjects where writing is more minimalised because of the presence of formulae, experimental data and charts, we can suggest an Author/Date system. For more reflective writing analysing texts, we might consider a footnotes system. This is simply because footnotes in a text-based essay help to break up the writing visually. The use of ibid. and op. cit. in footnotes also gives a more academic feel. Many students and staff assume that the purpose of referencing is simply to show they have not cheated and that they have not made up the information. While this is a valid point, it shows that they do not always_ understand that a reference enables a reader to find out more about the topic being discussed and also enables an examiner to understand how you have built an argument around a subject and reached a conclusion. A good analogy to use is showing your working out in a mathematics question or providing a sketch book with a finalised art project. By understanding this concept, students can see why it is important for references to contain exact information and be presented in a set order to avoid any possibility of misinterpretation. Teaching referencing can be a challenge as it is not the most exciting of subjects. Students need to be given plenty of opportunity to practice and therefore ideally it should be a whole school approach. Nonetheless, by using some inventive lesson plans we can make the steps involved more memorable. The students were divided into groups. Each group was given a source to reference using a given citation style. Each group was also given a set of A4 cards with a different component of the reference on each card, for example, author surname, author initials, date of publication, title, etc. The group needed to work out which cards to use and which to discard and then line them up in reference order. The rest of the class watching could ask to change the order or add or remove items if they felt it necessary. As an added amusement, if the writing was in italics as part of the format, the student holding that card could lean sideways! Students were placed in teams of six. Each team was given a source to reference with a style guide. Each team had some biscuits and an icing pen. They wrote the component of the reference on the biscuit in the correct format and lined up the biscuits to make a reference. The next step, on instruction from the librarian, was for one member of the team to eat one of the biscuits. The group then decided what the impact of the missing information would be on finding the source material. Then another biscuit could be eaten and the discussion repeated. It is easy to find university sites offering online guidance and games about constructing references to supplement our lessons. However, the key is to practice the skills regularly and to start the process of recording information, at least in a basic format, as early as possible at primary school. Presentation of information The overall goal of information literacy and digital literacy is to enable students to become competent and discerning handlers of the ever-increasing amount of information available to them. They will then be able to make informed choices about what to accept and what to use in their own compositions. It is estimated that by 2025 the world's data will have grown to 175 Zettabytes. One Zettabyte is a trillion Gigabytes (Patrizio, 2018) so these skills will be vital. We can assess how much of what we teach has been understood if we see the end product of their research. Many teachers may just bring students to the library and expect them to cope without instruction and this can be frustrating for us as librarians. However, if we are involved, it is important that we see the process through to the end and ideally are involved in the marking. The end product might be an essay, a slide presentation, an experiment report or even an artefact or a performance. Learning to put the information that has been found through research together in a coherent order takes skill and this is also an important component of information literacy teaching. By using a mind map creatively, we can show students how to write in a way that will engage their audience. The students were asked to sketch out a structure for their research write-up using a mind map. They then turned the headings they had written into questions. This helped them understand how a reader can be encouraged to be engaged with the text while seeking an answer to the question, plus how they as the author can work within a boundary without veering into irrelevant information. Later, the headings could revert from the question format. Structuring an essay in this way at the beginning of the research process also helps students to gather information under the headings either in physical or digital folders. We can show them how this type of organisation can help with the writing and production of the final piece. We might also devise a lesson to explain the differences between types of written report, whether it is a scientific report, a discursive essay, a persuasive text, a narrative account or presenting the pros and cons of a product or situation. Writing up research is another area where students could be encouraged to use the technology available on their mobile devices. The development of voice to text apps means that students can dictate notes as they read or watch and then the time saved can be used in proofreading and editing. Again, this helps to develop use of their own opinions in their work. In summary Information literacy and digital literacy are important life skills. Students need to have a good understanding of what these terms mean and how they will impact on their education, the workplace, health, everyday living and their place in society as a global citizen. To achieve this, we need to ensure they have space to practice these skills and, as librarians, we should show our schools why this is so important, even if it is not taught formally and assessed. We may not be employed to teach, and we may have little or no teaching experience, but we can learn from our teaching colleagues and liaise with them to deliver these skills. There are many sites available with ready-made lessons that we can use, such as the Times Education Supplement files, Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. Also, organisations such as The School Library Association and the School Librarians Network have data banks we can consult. We might choose to develop our own lessons using one of the information literacy or digital literacy models. We know we face barriers. The lack of support from formal learning directives means we must create opportunities within the existing framework. This takes time and effort, as well as expertise in communication skills. Secondly, our task can be made more challenging if we are perceived as an adjunct to the English department rather than having a cross-curricular role. However, these are both barriers that can be overcome and by doing so we can develop the scope of our service to everyone's benefit. Action points Seek out opportunities to deliver information and digital literacy. Liaise with teaching staff who would like to collaborate and aim for a cross-curricular presence. Read the National Curriculum and exam board specifications to identify areas where information and digital literacy skills could be applied. Ask for a slot in a teaching staff training day to emphasise the need to teach and practise these essential life skills. Investigate potential models for information and digital literacy and see what might be used in the context of different subject areas.