The Many Faces of
Information Literacy
Teaching Students Critical Research Skills in the 21st Century
What’s Information Literacy?
• ACRL’s Definition:
• The basis for lifelong learning
• The ability recognize the need for information and find, evaluate,
and use it ethically and effectively (2000)
• IFLA – A fundamental democratic right, socially and culturally
situated
• ICT - the ability to use digital technology, communication
tools, and/or networks to define an information need, access,
manage, integrate and evaluate information, create new
information or knowledge and be able to communicate this
information to others.
Why Information Literacy?
• Information Overload in the digital age
• Information “Obesity” – a steady diet of empty calories
• “Satisficing”
• Common use of “low” quality sources
• Patch-writing and plagiarism
• Changing expectations for college education
• Knowledge “consumers” v. knowledge “producers”
• Emphasis on lifelong learning
• Need for practical, authentic skills
…And more studies
• Inability to correctly interpret citations
• Little or no understanding of the cataloguing system
• No organized search strategies
• Persistent difficulties locating and evaluating sources
Website: http://www.erialproject.org/
Citation Project
Found that students do not…
• Read deeply or comprehend most academic sources
• Don’t know how to analyze sources
• Copy or patch write rather than summarize sources
• Inadvertently plagiarize
Website: http://site.citationproject.net/
http://youtu.be/XqMEonllU1ghttp://youtu.be/XqMEonllU1g
http://youtu.be/s1pBgy2LllE?t=3m11s
Information Literacy as
Competencies or Skill Set
• Based off specific, tightly defined learning outcomes
• Emphasizes the progressive “mastery” of skills
• Treats these skills as universal and transferable (i.e. multidisciplinary, transferable)
• Robust assessment framework, stresses the importance of
continuous, ongoing assessment of skills
Information Literacy as Critical
Literacy
• Based on theories of Ferier, Foucoult, and Giroux
• Opposed to the “banking” concept inherent, critique of
competency-model
• Aligns information literacy with liberationist ideologies, (i.e.
feminism, anti-racist, etc.)
• Aims to have students explore of the nature of power
relations
Example Assignments
• Students interrogate information sources to understand how a
specific discourse might reproduce or challenge systems of
power and privilege
• Students explore the politics surrounding the production and
dissemination of information
• Students examine the social and cultural implications of
specific policies surrounding information use and access
Information Literacy as Ethics
• Emphasizes the notion of an “ethical” discourse, virtue
epistemology
• Treats “information literacy” as a public “virtue” and social
responsibility
• Don’t confuse with “the ethical use of information” standard
outlined in ACRL Standards
Example Assignments
• Students could….
• Outline what ethical behaviors an author or source should follow
and determine which sources conform to them
• Analyze a specific set of sources to determine if their contribution
to a debate is “ethically” sound or responsible
• Examine how other writers use sources and determine if their
research is “ethical” e.g. the “autism and vaccination” debate
• Consider if and what the limits of free speech
Information Literacy as
Disciplinary Practice
• Premised on the notion of “Threshold Concepts”
• Assimilates students into specific disciplinary communities of
practices (i.e. making sense of academia, it’s organization and
structure)
• Students move through progressively challenging research
contexts
Example Assignments
• Students could….
• Examine the evolution of a particular sub-topic within a field
• Select and find an article or monograph the discusses specific
methodologies within a discipline and analyze it’s strengths and
weaknesses
• Trace the “cycle of information” for a specific topic or research
question
Teaching Information Literacy
• Who teaches information literacy?
• Not just a librarian thing
• Typically faculty/librarian collaborations
• Peer to Peer when appropriate
• What do I actually teach?
•
•
•
•
Pre-assess (Don’t assume knowledge or lack of)
Learning goals = specific and narrow as possible
Teach and assess only what they need to know
Be crystal clear about the “hows” and “whys”
Albert’s Model o the Rs e arch Process
Based on a presentation
ry
b Buc e Al berts. “Education through
u
Gi nded I quiry:a C n
t We Begin the Freshman Year?” Presented a Reinvention Conference
November 14-15, 2002, Undergraduate Research & Scholarship and the Mission of the Research University.
K-12 Researcher
Undergraduate Researcher
Graduate Student Researcher
Faculty Researcher
Selects among questions
Refines questions posed by
others
Identifies/poses unique question
Poses unique question(s)
Learn techniques / methods –
components of methodology
Guided construction of
methodology through application
of methods / techniques
Selects from established
methodologies
Determines or creates
methodology for investigation
Data/sources provided
Guided in methods of primary
data/source collection
Generation or collection of primary
data/sources
Sustained generation or collection
of primary data/sources
Synthesize and report data
Analyzes data for results
Coached in methods of
manipulation of data and/or
interpretation of evidence
Data manipulation and analysis /
Analysis and interpretation of
evidence
Introduced to secondary and
popular literature
Directed toward scholarly
sources of knowledge
Conducts comprehensive
secondary literature review
Keeps current through collegial
and scholarly networks
Trained in communicating or
presenting
Coached in disciplinary modes of
communication
Coached in disseminating results to
peers
Disseminates results for peers
Other Tips: Assignment Design
• Process is as important as product – just like writing
• Small interconnected assignments vs. “Big” assignments
• Have multiple opportunities for formative assessment/feedback
• Opportunities to revise/improve
• State objectives clearly and explain how they connect to the goals of
the class
• Make sure assignments require the use of sources you expect
students to use