The amazing library race

In this time of disinformation and misinformation, libraries remain a reliable source of truthful and factual information. As they fervently support the agenda of lifelong learning, libraries recognise that there are various influences that redefine the process of student learning. Admittedly, librarians need to be more creative in motivating post-millennial students to help them fully develop their Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills.   This paper explores how games are adopted and utilised by academic libraries as an interactive approach to entice students to learn essential MIL competencies. It shows how games can be a viable tool not only to deliver information literacy (IL) instruction in a collaborative learning environment but to also effectively engage and attract students to use the library resources and services. While the use of games is not novel, the way it is delivered and re-purposed to meet MIL competencies is vital for today’s young generation of learners. This report demonstrates how two academic libraries in the Philippines and Kazakhstan were able to embed MIL skills through a library race challenge. Furthermore, this paper discusses the practical steps undertaken in the preparation of the game as well as the observations made during and after the activity was conducted. From this, other libraries may gain insights and best practices on how to leverage this method to further champion MIL in their own communities

The amazing library race: Developing the students MIL skills through games: the case of the Philippines and Kazakhstan

In this time of disinformation and misinformation, the libraries remain to be a reliable source of truthful and factual information. As they fervently support the agenda of lifelong learning, libraries recognize that there are various approaches that redefine the process of student learning. Admittedly, librarians need to be more creative in motivating the post-millennial students to help them fully develop their Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills. This paper explores how games are adopted and utilized by academic libraries as an interactive approach to entice students to learn the essential MIL competencies. It presents how games could be a viable tool not only to deliver information literacy instruction in a collaborative learning environment but to also effectively engage and attract students to use the library resources and services. While the use of games is not novel, the way it is delivered and re-purposed to meet the MIL competencies is vital in today’s young generation of learners. In addition, this presentation highlights how two academic libraries in two separate countries were able to embed MIL skills through a race challenge. Furthermore, this paper discusses the practical steps undertaken in the preparation of the game as well as the observations made during and after the activity was conducted. With this, other libraries may gain insights and best practices on how to leverage this method to further champion MIL in their own communities

Climate variability of the Great Barrier Reef in relation to the tropical Pacific and El Nino-Southern Oscillation

Understanding the nature and causes of recent climate variability on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, is fundamental to assessing the impacts of future climate change on this complex ecosystem. New analytical tools, improved data quality and resolution, longer time-series and new variables provide an opportunity to re-assess existing paradigms. Here, we examined sea surface temperature (SST), sea level pressure, surface winds, sea surface height and ocean currents for the period from 1948 to 2009. We focussed on the relationship between GBR surface climate and the wider tropical Pacific, and the influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. Also, for the first time, we investigated the impact of the El Niño/La Niña Modoki phenomenon. Although neither type of ENSO event is a primary driver of inter-annual climate variability on the GBR, their influence is conspicuous. Classical ENSO events have a strong signature in the atmospheric circulation in the northern GBR but no significant relationship with SSTs and the opposite applies for the southern GBR. Conversely, El Niño/La Niña Modoki is significantly related to summer SSTs on the northern GBR, but not for the southern GBR. This study enhances our understanding of tropical Pacific and GBR climate drivers and will improve future predictions of change in climate variables that are likely to impact on the complex GBR ecosystem