from University?

hashtag for today is #lilac16

What happens after graduating from university?

Alison J. Head, Ph.D., Project Information Literacy, University of Washington iSchool21 March 2016 | LILAC, Monday, 16:15 – 17:00 p.m. | Parallel Session #3University College Dublin | Dublin, Ireland

Spring 2014

n = 63

Fall 2014

n = 1651

Spring2015

n = 63

Initial interviews

Follow-upinterviews

Report released

January 2016

Findings from PIL’s two-year U.S. information literacy study

Onlinesurvey

Qualitative Quantitative Qualitative 10 solutions

Public dataset

Lifelong learning:Improving skills, acquiring additional knowledge

3. Community

1. Personal life

2. Workplace

10 U.S. colleges and universities

Belmont University (TN)Ohio State University (OH)Phoenix College (AZ)University of Redlands (CA)Trinity University (TX)

University of Central Florida (FL)University of Nevada, Las Vegas (NV)University of North Carolina at Charlotte (NC)University of Texas, Austin (TX)University of Washington (WA)

3research

takeaways

#1 Graduates were surprised to findreal life requires constant learning.

Community

13%

Workplace30%

Personal life57%

Where learning needs occur in “real life”

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 graduates between 2007-2012 | 10 campuses

Personal life Workplace Community

How-to info 75%Hobbies 70%Money mngt. 69%Purchases 63%Interpersonal* 44%

Career dev. 69%Computers 57%Interpersonal* 56%Mobile devices 32%Social contacts 25%

Civic action 25% Volunteering 24%Interpersonal* 16%Social contacts 14%Working w/kids 13%

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 (check all that apply, 28 categories)

#1 need = interpersonal communication

#2 Graduates used Google search – but they turned to people almost as much.

Personal life Workplace Community

Search engines 88%Friends 79%Social networks 79%Family 77% Public libraries 45%

Co-workers 84%Search engines 83%Boss 79% Books 51%Conferences 49%

Search engines 38%Social networks 26%Friends 24%News sources 23%Family 15%

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 (check all that apply, 16 categories)

#1 source = search engines

YouTubePinterestDuolingo

Khan AcademyCoursera

Stack OverflowCodecademy

Google Helpoutslynda

edXUdemy

CrashCourseUdacity

Academic EarthALISON

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

79%51%

21%18%

14%12%

10%9%

7%5%

3%3%2%1%1%

Beyond Google, what’s the destination?

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey, | n = 1651 graduates

Social search > model of “shared utility”

Usefulness Interactivity Shared Utility

Fundamental shift in information seeking

2016 Lifelong Learning Report, p. 57.

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey, (“strongly agree” + “somewhat agree” ) | n = 1651 graduates

Still challenged – even in the digital age

Finding understandable information

Lacking access to library databases

Lacking access to professors or lectures

Staying motivated to keep learning

Staying on top of everything

Finding affordable sources

Finding time for continued learning

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

29%

50%

50%

62%

70%

73%

88%

#3 In most cases, but not all, critical thinking skills

were transferable from college.

A critical thinking index

1. Questioning

2. Searching

3. Interpreting

Asking + staying motivated to keep learning

Formulating strategy + using multiple sources+ re-researching

Sorting + extracting + “close” reading + evaluating credibility

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , n = 1651 (check all that apply, 14 categories)

4. Applying

5. Metacognition

Drawing conclusions + communicating + presenting results

Ability to learn anything + teach someone else

Interpreting Questioning Searching Applying

27% 72% 76% 76%

Were these critical thinking skills developed during university?

2015 Lifelong Learning Survey , (Index from Likert Scale, 1 – 5 points from agree to disagree )

Asking questions until a topic is understoodStaying motivated to keep learning

Meta-cognition

74%

Major mattered

3.14

Questioning n = mean scores on critical thinking index

3.14

3.43 Physical & life sciences

3.36 Business Administration

3.34 Occupational training

3.32 Education

3.31 Arts & Humanities

3.24 Architecture & Engineering

3.14 Computer Science

Stepping back:

How can we better prepare today’sgraduates as lifelong learners?

Recommendations: Information literacy interventions

Higher EducationInclude strategies for finding guidance and expertise after graduation + integrate social side of research

Public LibrariesDesign libraries as “gathering places” for informal and formal learning + embed learning across community

K – 12 CurriculumLeverage success of teaching evaluation skills early on and enhance as students’ learning continues

What happens after graduating from university?

hashtag for today is #lilac16

Thank you

Alison J. Head, Ph.D., Project Information Literacy, University of Washington iSchool21 March 2016 | LILAC, Monday, 16:15 – 17:00 p.m. | Parallel Session #3University College Dublin | Dublin, Ireland