CILIP North East: Holistic, tailored, and meaningful: Reimagining skills development

Join us to hear how information professionals across the sector have created, and are successfully providing, effective study skills support that is tailored, holistic, and meaningful to those attending them. 

Speakers will share how they support students using approaches such as referencing masterclasses, teaching media literacy, discovering grey literature, and improving digital skills.  

They will report on what has worked, what were the biggest challenges, and what they learned while passing on some tips that we think you’ll find extremely useful. 

Teams joining instructions will be sent after registration.

Speakers 

Media literacy: a holistic approach - Julie Burrell, Rachel Donlon and Sarah Webb - Academic Liaison Librarians, Manchester Metropolitan University

We will discuss our holistic approach to teaching media literacy and how we view the role of the HE sector in empowering students to be confident and positive consumers of digital media. Whilst evaluating information for assignments is undoubtedly important, it is only one tiny facet of the broader media and information literacy landscape.

As a team, we have moved away from evaluation checklists and have expanded our focus to address the psychological influences underpinning our media consumption as well as the everyday relevance of media literacy in students’ personal and professional lives. We will briefly outline the development of our self-directed online Media and Misinformation course and share some initial research findings from our subsequent impact assessment as we work towards publication of our research.

From Framework to Fit: Creating an In-House Digital Skills Check - Georgia McNally, Assistant Liaison Librarian, Newcastle University

In 2023/24, Newcastle University Library partnered with the University’s Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) to pilot the Jisc Digital Capabilities Discovery Tool with student cohorts and Library staff. While the tool provided a valuable, non-judgemental self-assessment aligned to the Jisc framework, participant feedback highlighted two key challenges: the assessment was time-consuming, and the follow-up guidance was often too generic to support meaningful skills development. T

o support Newcastle University students in improving their digital skills, we created a Digital Skills for Learning Audit closely linked to the Academic Skills Kit. It features self-assessment questions that connect to clear, up-to- date guidance and resources. The tool was developed collaboratively by the Library Liaison team, LTDS, and FMS Technology Enhanced Learning, drawing on the Jisc Discovery Tool, FutureDotNow’s Essential Digital Skills for Work, and existing internal frameworks. This short presentation will explore why and how we moved from a national framework to a tailored, in-house digital skills module, along with feedback and key lessons learned.

Evolving Study Skills Support for Diverse Learners at the University of Sunderland - Katie Hobson and Laura Charlton - Study Skills Advisers, Sunderland University

The University of Sunderland supports a diverse student community, including online only learners, Degree Apprenticeship students, international students, mature students, and those with significant personal or caring responsibilities. To meet these varied needs, the Study Skills team has developed a flexible and inclusive programme of online masterclasses delivered via Microsoft Teams. Covering core topics such as referencing, academic language and assignment structure, the sessions have attracted 119 attendees so far this 2025/26 academic year.

The online model prioritises practical, interactive learning through Padlet activities, chat-based tasks and verbal contributions. Cameras are optional to create a comfortable and accessible learning environment. Sessions are delivered in themed blocks by the same adviser, ensuring continuity and a supportive rapport. We are now exploring shorter, more focused formats to further enhance accessibility and engagement.

To complement our online offer, we also run popup study skills dropins across campus, providing quick, informal opportunities for students to seek tailored support. We are actively developing cross-department collaborations to create a more holistic, embedded model that aligns with programme needs. This presentation will outline our approach, reflect on lessons learned, and share future plans for expanding and adapting study skills provision.

What's Not in PubMed? Teaching students to find grey literature in 45 minutes - Jane Pothecary - Learning & Teaching Librarian, Kings College London

This academic year, I have been on a quest to improve and develop our teaching around grey literature as it has been a gap in our teaching offering. Grey literature can be helpful in combating publication bias and surfacing information about underrepresented populations. It is an essential part of the systematic review process.

In 2020, researchers found that 10.5% of citations from 7 nursing journals came from grey literature sources (Woods, S., Philips, K., and Dudash, A., 2020). Yet teaching at my institution has focused almost exclusively on teaching students to use scholarly databases rather than engage with the wealth of good quality information produced by government, industry and non-profits.

But there are challenges with teaching grey literature, especially challenges around time constraints (on both students and librarians), bias, evaluation, and where to start. In this talk, I will outline my approach to developing an interactive 45-minute online workshop, tackling these challenges and how it’s working out. It will be of interest to clinical, health and social sciences librarians. 

References: Woods, S., Philips, K., and Dudash, A. (2020). Grey literature citations in top nursing journals: a bibliometric study. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 108(2), 262-269