It has been a while since I posted and so I am unsure which post best fits this topic. I wanted to share an update on our use of FOSIL here in Stuttgart. We began a collaboration a year ago with our instructional leadership team using the FOSIL Framework. We decided to focus on five specific skill bands in the Investigate and Express stages:
– Different Types of Sources / Organisation of Information
– Navigation and Search Strategies
– Evaluation, Selection, Curation, and Use of Multiple Sources
– Capturing Information and Thinking / Notetaking
– Academic Integrity
Our reasoning for doing this is that we felt a strong need to prioritise the most essential skills that the library was best placed to teach.
After a year-long project we could integrate five skill bands of FOSIL within the AtL scope and sequences in two of our three divisions. In our third division where I am the librarian I could complete a crosswalk of FOSIL to the AtL skills document and the subject criterion where that skill is assessed. Although in my division I was limited in my capacity to integrate it into my collaboration with teachers. This year we have a specific plan to develop the AtL skills in my division. I was happy to see that the FOSIL framework was listed in the plan as one source for developing our divisional AtL scope and sequence. After discussing the matter with my team of librarians we have decided that we will collaborate on a library-specific research scope and sequence using FOSIL as the source. We can then split it up into it’s modular pieces to fit it into the AtL scope and sequences of each of our divisions. That way the AtL skills supported by the library represent a complete continuum of skills based on the FOSIL Framework. I am very excited that we can now work on this together this year and much of the work is already done from last year. I will post more on this subject throughout this year as we develop this research scope and sequence.