JISC

i-Skills

The JISC Organisational Support committee has commissioned a number of projects and studies in the field of staff development and information literacy.  Information overload is a perceived characteristic of contemporary life. Working in an electronic environment increases dependency on information; how it flows; who receives it; how to assess its quality and relevance. The delivery of information to the desktop raises expectations and, in turn, this impacts on a broad range of activities, which in the further and higher education contexts ranges from teaching to research to student learning. Within all departments, with each further and higher education institution, staff need the appropriate level of skills and information in finding, evaluating and using information resources effectively.

Publications

To support this area of work JISC have produced three documents:

1. Investing in i-skills This document considers the benefits of investing in i-skills for both the staff and the Institution or organisation and includes a short self-assessment
2. Improving i-skills This document helps you look at ways to improve staff i-skills and includes a starter for 10 suggestions for your staff i-skills development programme
3. A short introduction to i-skills to pass around to your colleagues

Events

To support this area we are holding two Consultation workshops in June 2005.  At these events we will present JISCs work on Information Skills (i-skills) and the support materials that we have created for staff developers to date. The workshops will allow participants the opportunity to explore and share staff development issues as well as examine the potential benefits for institutions and their individual staff and guide the future development of the programme.