Information Literacy in the Digital Age

Information Literacy in the Digital Age: An Evidence-Based Approach Teresa S. Welsh, Ph.D. [email_address]

Questions to be addressed:
Why is information literacy important?
What is information literacy?
What research is related to information literacy?
What learning theory is related to IL?
How can IL research & theory inform teaching?
How can IL be assessed?
25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece

Why is Information Literacy important?
"Information is the new world currency and wealth will be measured by how much information a company, individual, or country can create, distribute, accumulate, and mine."
Mark Dean, PhD , IBM Fellow, Inventors Hall of Fame
25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece Cartoon by Bill Waterson

According to ALA, information literacy is “increasingly important in the contemporary environment of rapid technological change and proliferating information resources…” “Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning and is common to all disciplines , to all learning environments , and to all levels of education .” 25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece Why is Information Literacy important?

What is Information Literacy?
“ Information” is from Latin informatio , meaning concept or idea.
“ Literate” is from Latin literatus , meaning learned or lettered.
25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece www.TechKnowLogia.org

How is Info Literacy defined by LIS?
ALA, ACRL: IL is “a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.”
Determine the extent of information needed
Access the needed information effectively and efficiently
Evaluate information and its sources critically
Incorporate selected information into one's knowledge base
Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose
Understand the economic, legal, and social issues and use information ethically and legally.

25 May 2011
QQML11, Athens, Greece

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE): “21st century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies .”
Develop proficiency with technology tools
Build relationships with others to pose and solve problems collaboratively, cross-culturally
Design and share information to meet a variety of purposes
Manage, analyze, synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information
Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multi-media texts
Attend to ethical responsibilities required by complex environments.
Information Literacy: A Meta-Literacy 25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece

Information Literacy: A Meta-Literacy
25 May 2011
QQML11, Athens, Greece http://uniedtechdesign.blogspot.com/2011/03/information-literacy.html

Research: The Google Generation
Research on Google Generation (those born after 1993) conducted by CIBER (UCL Centre for Information Behaviour & Evaluation of Research) indicates:
Online searching tends to be shallow, information-skimming, not in-depth searching
60% visit a site once only and view each Web page only a few seconds
Prefer quick information in form of easily-digested short chunks rather than full-text.
25 May 2011
QQML11, Athens, Greece Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future. London: CIBER, 2008.

25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future. London: CIBER, 2008 .

OCLC Research: College Students
89% of college students use search engines to begin an information search (2% start from library Web site)
93% satisfied with using a search engine (compared with 84% for librarian-assisted search)
College students still use the library, but less (and reading less)
Books still primary library brand, despite investment in digital resources, of which students are largely unfamiliar.
25 May 2011
QQML11, Athens, Greece College Students’ Perceptions of the Libraries and Information Resources: A Report to the OCLC Membership . Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2006.

Kent State Library Research: TRAILS
T ool for R eal-Time A ssessment of I nformation L iteracy S kills (free online assessment for grades 3, 6, 9 or 12)
Boswell (2007) TRAILS study:
Greatest weaknesses of students in evaluation of information and in using Boolean search techniques.
Supported by CIBER research (2008):
Little time spent in evaluating information, either for relevance, accuracy or authority
Poor understanding of information needs so students find it difficult to develop effective search strategies.
25 May 2011
QQML11, Athens, Greece http://www.trails-9.org/ http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber/downloads/

Qualitative Study by New Media Consortium
Abundance of Internet resources are increasingly challenging for sense-making, coaching, credentialing.
People expect to work, learn, and study whenever, wherever they want.
World of work is increasingly collaborative, giving rise to reflection on structure of student projects.
Technologies are increasingly cloud-based, and notions of IT support decentralized.
2011 Horizon Report : Emerging Trends 25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf

Digital media literacy continues rise in importance as key skill in every discipline and profession.
Evaluation metrics lag behind emergence of new scholarly forms of authoring, publishing, research.
Economic pressures, new models of education present competition to traditional models.
Keeping pace with rapid proliferation of information, tools, & devices is challenging.
2011 Horizon Report : Challenges 25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf

Now : 1 year or less:
e-books (NetLibrary, ebrary)
Mobiles (i-Phone, Android smart phone, i-Pad)
Near-term future: 2-3 Years
Augmented reality: “computer-assisted contextual layer of information over the real world, creating a reality that is enhanced or augmented.” ( http ://www.layar.com / )
Game-based learning ( http://gaming.psu.edu / ).
2011 Horizon Report : Tech Adoption 25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf

25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece http://info.xplana.com/report/ Xplana Report

Longer-term future: 4-5 Years
Gesture-based computing (Kinect, SixthSense, Tamper)
Haptics touch-surface technology such as Mudpad ( http :// hci.rwth-aachen.de/mudpad )
Eye movement technology such as EyeDraw
( http ://www.cs.uoregon.edu/research/cm-hci/EyeDraw / )
Analytics: new data-gathering tools and analytic techniques to study student engagement, performance, progress ( http://www. google.com/analytics ).
2011 Horizon Report : Tech Adoption 25 May 2011 QQML11, Athens, Greece http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf

Learning Theory: Connectivism
Learning:
Process of connecting specialized nodes/information sources
Rests in diversity of opinions
May reside in non-human appliances
Requires nurturing, maintaining connections
Requires accurate, up-to-date knowledge
Includes decision-making.
Capacity to know is more critical than what is known.
Core skill is ability to see connections between ideas, concepts (Siemens, 2004).

Learning Theory: Active Learning
Opposite of passive learning through lectures
Process of active engagement in learning
Involves reading, writing, discussion, engagement in solving problems, analysis, synthesis, evaluation
Class discussion, demonstration
Storytelling
Game-playing
Group project
Field trip, study-abroad
Practicum or internship
Short, evaluative or reflective post or paper
Creation of Web content

Cultural Literacy
Latin cultura meaning “to nurture or cultivate”
Awareness and ability to converse fluently in the history, allusions, and informal content that constitutes ones own culture or another culture.
Cultural Literacy Quiz
Essay on origins of words, alphabet, public schools
Newspaper item on day of birth (microfilm or online)
Family tree, family history
Short essay or post on local cultural exhibit
Short essay on local history
Travel/ study abroad .

Library Literacy
Latin liber , meaning “books”; also means “free”
Latin adjective librarius , meaning “of books”
Essay or post on ancient library
Post on 1 st school library, 1 st public library, oldest univ. library
Library tutorials
Library scavenger hunt
Information tutorial
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Tertiary sources

Ethical Literacy
Ethics is from Greek ethos , meaning “character”
Moral principles or values
Code of Honor
Plagiarism tutorial
Code of Academic Conduct
Copyright tutorial
Citation Machine
Submit papers to Turnitin.com
Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative ( citiprogram.org ) tutorial

Computer Literacy
Development of computer, Internet, WWW
PC hardware, operation
email, attachments
PC software:
Word-processing (Word)
Spreadsheets (Excel)
Presentations (PowerPoint)
Explore Computer History Museum
Create a resume in Word
Create a budget in Excel
Create PPT presentation
HTML Tutorial
Create a simple webpage
Evaluate webpages

Network Literacy
Search engines (robotic)
Directories (human-indexed)
Databases
Online searching
Boolean, nesting
“ Bound phrase”
Truncation, wild card
Field search
Visual search
Compare results of search engine & directory
Google.com
Internet Scout Project
Database tutorials
Database search exercises
General keyword search
Add Boolean AND, OR
Add limiter “peer-reviewed”
Add limiter “references available” or “feature article”
Search in subject or abstract

Media Literacy
“… ability to decode, analyze, evaluate, & produce communication in a variety of forms.” Trent Think Tank on Media Literacy
Web 2.0
XML
UGC
Blogs, glogs, wikis
Social media
Photo/video-sharing
Create a blog
Create a glog
Post to discussion board
Create or participate in a wiki group project
Join Facebook group
Create, share photos and/or videos

Information Literacy Assessment
T ool for R eal-Time A ssessment of I nformation L iteracy S kills (for grades 3, 6, 9 or 12) http://www.trails-9.org /
Pre- and post-assessment surveys based on ACRL standards such as one developed by Marshall (2006): http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume7/marshallJLT2006.pdf
Information and Communication Technology E xam
Certiport IC3 to assess computer competency.

Walsh (2009) identified 9 commonly used types of assessments for information literacy skills:
Bibliographic analysis
Essays
Final grades
Multiple choice surveys
Observation
Portfolios
Quiz/test
Self-assessment
Simulation.

Research paper
Argumentative paper
Objective paper on an approved topic
Use of Standard English, proper grammar
Use of scholarly sources, appropriate parenthetical references, citations.
Purdue Online Writing Lab OWL
Turnitin or other plagiarism software.

Bibliography
ACRL (2011). “Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education”. http:// www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm
National Council of Teachers of English. (2008). “NCTE’s Definition of 21 st Century Literacies”. http://www.ncte.org/announce/129117.htm?source=gs
Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H., Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011). The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2011-Horizon-Report.pdf
CIBER (2008). Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future. London: CIBER. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/ciber/downloads/
Welsh, T.S., & Wright, M. S. (2010). Information literacy in the digital age: an evidence-based approach . Oxford, Chandos. http://neal-schuman.com/blog/2010/08/23/new-book-gives-readers-the-tools-they-need-to-evaluate-and-understand-information-through-a-digital-lens/

Thank you
for your attention.
Please email me at:
[email_address]

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Information Literacy in the Digital Age

by Teresa Welsh

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