Information Literacy Advocates: developing student skills through a peer support approach

Area of Science:

• Health Sciences Education
• Information Science
• Academic Development

Background:

• The University of Nottingham has implemented an Information Literacy Advocates (ILA) scheme since 2013/2014.
• This scheme operates as an extracurricular module within the Nottingham Advantage Award programme.
• It specifically targets second-year and above medicine and health sciences students.

Purpose of the Study:

• To facilitate the development of information literacy skills and confidence among students.
• To enhance communication, organisation, and teamwork abilities through peer support.
• To explore the impact of the ILA scheme on participants and stakeholders.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of second-year and above medicine and health sciences students.
• Implementation of an extracurricular module focused on peer support.
• Overview of scheme administration and impact assessment.

Main Results:

• Peer assistance effectively enhances information literacy and related skills.
• Students value the opportunity to receive help from more experienced peers.
• The scheme positively impacts Information Literacy Advocates, their peers, and librarians.

Conclusions:

• The Information Literacy Advocates scheme is a valuable extracurricular program for developing essential student skills.
• Peer support models are effective in enhancing information literacy in health sciences education.
• The scheme demonstrates positive outcomes for all involved parties, with potential for future development.