Training opportunities

Developing your teaching is crucial if your job includes information literacy teaching.   There are a range of formal and informal courses that can help you develop your teaching skills.  The CILIP Information Literacy Group and Information Literacy website are not endorsing any of the courses listed below; we are just letting you know what is available.

Formal Qualifications

  • UCAS provides a list of Information science and teaching courses being offered by UK Universities.
  • The Open College provide an NVQ Level 3 in Library and Information Studies which incorporates a lot of reflective practice around information and digital literacy topics.
  • PGCHE / PGCAP (Postgraduate Certificates in Higher Education / Academic Practice) are HEA accredited courses normally run by HE institutions for their staff. Once completed, staff gain HEA Fellowship. This can also be achieved via a reflective portfolio.
  • Many FE colleges still require their teaching staff to hold a formal teaching qualification, often a CertEd or PGCE, which means these courses can often be accessed in house at subsidised prices.
  • UCL offers short, in-person, CPD courses on Information Literacy.

Workshops

  • CILIP provides a calendar of training courses, including those run by the Information Literacy Group.
  • The School Library Association (SLA) The School Library Association runs a range of workshops on developing information literacy courses in the school sector.  See details of the contents of courses, dates and how to book from the SLA Regional Courses webpage.

LILAC

  • The Information Literacy Group’s annual conference, LILAC, has a strong focus on sharing innovative teaching techniques.

Online Learning

  • The School Library Association have a range of online courses which are modular and equate to a half days training on a variety of topics related to information literacy. A certificate of completion is provided by the SLA.
  • Library Juice – Library Juice Academy offers a range of online professional development workshops for librarians and other library staff, focusing on practical topics to build new skills.

Independent trainers

  • Andrea Baer – “Inquiring Teachers” offers online professional development courses for instruction librarians and other information literacy educators.
  • Karen Blakeman – Karen Blakeman and RBA Information Services provide training on internet and evaluation techniques, business information and social media.
  • Lisa Jeskins – provides training on blended learning, social media and training the trainer.
  • Sarah Pavey – provides training for school librarians and  teachers  on teaching information and digital literacy skills in general for all year groups or specifically for EPQ or International Baccalaureate Extended Essay or Cambridge Pre-U.
  • Andrew Walsh – provides training on active learning, creative, and playful information literacy training approaches.

TeachMeets

TeachMeets are informal, normally free to attend, gatherings of (originally) teachers, designed to allow the sharing of ideas. Library TeachMeets are for librarians who teach! Find out more about the history of Library TeachMeets in the article “TeachMeet: Librarians learning from each other” by Niamh Tumelty, Isla Kuhn and Katie Birkwood.

If you’d like to run your own TeachMeet, here are some top tips:

  • Find others to help organise it – you can go it alone but it’s easier if you have a team!
  • Find a venue & consider if you will provide refreshments.
  • Promote your event! Complete the ILG’s Comms request form and post a message on the LIS-InfoLiteracy Jiscmail list.
  • Think about your hashtag – it might be an idea to include #libteachmeet as part of this.
  • Use a booking tool such as Eventbrite to manage bookings.

Content adapted from the Library TeachMeets wiki.