Information Literacy

Information Literacy: Why? What? How? Sharon Markless King’s College London

This presentation draws on the research and development work of:
Carol Kuhlthau
Louise Limberg
Ross Todd
Dorothy Williams and Carol Wavell
Christine Bruce
Sharon Markless and David Streatfield

Information Literacy: Why?
What strategies do students need to be effective in the current developing information environment?

Student interactions with electronic information?
Expectations:‘ the answer is out there’; dependency
Potential for passive reception-no thought
Very quick decisions about usefulness (30 seconds); seduced by design!
Believe plausible presentation/official looking sites
‘ good enough’ not ‘the best’

Problems students have making effective use of the WWW
How to narrow searches
Which search engines may be best for a topic
Sorting out disinformation and misinformation; judging opinion, rumour, propaganda
The status of of collaboratively generated and edited information
Being selective/ not distracted by interesting stuff!
Skimming and scanning for meaning
Synthesising/rewording: making sense! unintentional plagiarism?

Information Literacy: What?
Where do these challenges leave information literacy?
How should we think about it?

Information Literacy too often is :
About searching for information (including Dewey and pressing the right keys!)
About finding the right information: webpage/resource/answer
Technical procedures and tools; skills
About libraries and resources
A destination
A separate subject

Realities of Information Literacy ( Ross Todd, SLA conference,2005; Louise Limberg, i3 Conference, 2007)
About learning
About building knowledge and understanding ; content alongside process
a range of complex processes related to context
An enabler of reading, research and successfully tackling academic tasks
Not surfing for information but swimming actively in it to arrive somewhere new

‘ Skills’ – a problematic word
It labels and separates
It appears mechanistic
Degenerates into ‘laundry lists’ (Eisenberg)
Teaching skills versus transformative interventions?

“ The scaffolds enabling students to engage effectively with, and to make use of, information in all its forms (electronic, print, popular culture) and formats (e.g. visual, graphic) in order to to extract meaning, to build new knowledge and understanding, and to produce authentic work”
Adapted from Professor Ross Todd, 2005
Paper at SLA Conference, University of Surrey

What do we mean by scaffolds? Intellectual, affective and social processes
Knowledge of how to engage with information in order to learn meaningfully
Skills/strategies that enable students to engage with information and to produce authentic work (technical including reading; analytical; evaluative; reflective e.g. considering alternatives)
Attitudes (incl. confidence) e motions and values
Social abilities to engage productively with peers

Much more than just a shopping list of skills and procedures…
“ Processes that draw on critical thinking, problem solving, and extensive understanding of information (its creation, organisation and problematic nature) … ( Moore, P. 2005)
“ In the 21 st century …we need to focus on tools for the construction of meaning and understanding and for interpreting information; on using information for problem-solving, not on the technology of finding … “
(Professor Carol Kuhlthau, i3 Conference, 2007)
“… a set of abilities for seeking and using information in purposeful ways related to task, situation and context…Influential studies have abandoned the idea of IL as a set of generic skills to be applied anywhere,,,”
(Louise Limberg, i3 conference 2007, Aberdeen)

A non sequential framework to encourage student choice in different contexts
Based on a fusion of two research-based published models, a non-linear model of information-seeking behaviour devised by Allen Foster (2004) and a model of information and critical literacies offered by Ross Todd(2001 etc.)
Published in Andretta, S. (2007) Change and Challenge: Information Literacy for the 21 st Century Auslib (Copyright S Markless)

Information and Critical Literacies Connecting with Information ( orientation; exploring; focussing; locating) Making use of information ( transforming; communicating; applying ) Interacting with Information ( Thinking critically; evaluating; transforming; constructing ) Monitoring progress Reflecting on the experience and the outcome

Connecting with Information problem definition reviewing identifying sources orientation focussing networking picture building browsing exploring l locating systematic searching M o n I t o r I n g p r o g r e s s

Interacting with Information questioning and challenging filtering knowing enough thinking critically refining and interpreting synthesising and analysing transforming constructing l evaluating Imposing structure R e f l e c t I n g

Making Use of Information restructuring transforming taking ownership of the learning communicating applying R e f l e c t I n g o n t h e e x p e r i e n c e a n d t h e o u t c o m e Citing and referencing

Information Literacy: How? 1
Where and when might we develop it?

1: Key points for IL support in the learning task
Negotiating and clarifying learning goals (including content goals)
During the critical role of exploration; building background knowledge
Enabling learners to formulate and refine high quality research questions (via peer discussion, browsing, feedback; takes time)
When learners are evaluating and using information to tackle the problem/question

The Information Search Process ( Kulthau,C. 1994 )
Initiation - apprehension, uncertainty
Selecting a topic- confusion, anxiety, anticipation
Exploring information- confusion, uncertainty, doubt
Formulating a focus- optimism, some confidence
Collecting information- increased interest, confidence, realisation of amount to be done
Preparing to present- sense of relief, disappointment, satisfaction

Issue…
When doing research, students need to stop perceiving the task as primarily one of gathering and presenting information and instead, see it as a task of forming their own focussed perspective from the information encountered
How can we re-focus our students?

2: In which situations should we actively enhance information literacy?
In context (relevance): critical evaluation of sources to construct a position for an essay v general guidance on evaluation. Content matters!
When needed (timeliness) : when doing an authentic task; to move learners on in their work; at transition points (safe learning environment?).
Across different subjects with different types of resources and information; context affects practice.

So, what about transfer and progression when considering the where and when of IL?

Transfer: chimera or reality?
“ Even when students are able to demonstrate mastery of certain skills, they are unlikely to transfer these skills to new areas of learning on their own.”
Grotzer, 2005
“ Research suggests that it is much easier to prevent or disrupt transfer across contexts than to successfully promote it.”
“ We were surprised at the extent of similarity it is possible to have between two problems, without learners realising that the two situations require the same type of solution.”
Perkins and Salomon, 1992

Situated Learning/ Cognition
What is learnt is learnt in relation to specific contexts, not inherently general.

Benefits of Situated Cognition as a theoretical basis for Learning
Learn about conditions for applying knowledge and skills
See implications of skills/knowledge
Supported by context in adapting skills to real situations
Authentic contexts support development of advanced thinking (Construction)

Mechanisms of Transfer
Low road transfer : reflexive, automatic triggering, little active thought
High road transfer : mindful, conscious, deliberate, search for connections

Can we do anything to encourage transfer?
Design challenging tasks so that learners are actively engaged in extensive practice (conditions for transfer)
Apply, re-apply, re-teach and feedback in different contexts
Explicit abstraction and overt, specific connections to other applications
Focus on purpose of strategies
Consider how strategies might be adapted
Build in time for discussion and reflection
Design activities that encourage self-monitoring and self-regulation (assessment for learning?)

But we have problems: the school and HE context…
Teaching in separate boxes; experience fragmented and erratic
Little extraction of general principles
Few cross-curriculum connections made overtly
Little focus on reflection
Looking for ‘the right answers’

Progression: orderly and structured?
Scaffolding/zone of proximal intervention
“ The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows; ascertain this then you can determine where the gaps are and teach him accordingly”

(Ausubel: 1968)

Information Literacy: How? 2
What are the most effective interventions? (based on sound learning theories and principles)

1: Understand and use influences on effective learning
Needing to learn (relevance/timeliness/ real needs/ real consequences)
Wanting to learn (achieving success; feeling valued/self esteem; potential not deficit model)
Active engagement/practice/challenge
Feedback answering ‘what can I do to improve?’
Reflection and planning essential-build them in

2: Don’t be seduced by the myth of teaching IL as transmission
“ We teachers and others are in the grip of an astonishing delusion. We think we can take a picture, a structure, a working model of something constructed in our minds out of long experience and familiarity, and by turning it into a string of words or actions transplant it whole into the mind of someone else …”
(John Holt, in Sotto q.v.)

3: Understand learning as construction and enable learners to build meaning by :
testing ideas and thoughts against prior knowledge and experience
listening, formulating questions, discussing, arguing, speculating, sharing ideas.
solving problems using new and existing information
active thinking, reflecting, and analysing; developing their own viewpoints, not just ‘doing ’

Help students construct meaning
Design interesting situations to explore that encourage discussion, hypothesis, question formulation, own interpretation…
Set up authentic, real-world problems/tasks (not sequence of instruction: “this is how to…”)
Model-the teacher/librarian puts her/his mind on display (make processes visible)
Enable critical reflection on processes and target setting
Enable focussed feedback, peer & ‘expert’
Constructivism involves healthy doses of play

4a:Make connections between IL and content…
Avoid:
Skills-led approach
Allowing a sequential process to dominate (this is how to…) rather than task focus
Lack of focus on developing knowledge; learning always has content as well as process
Dorothy Williams, Making Connections, Information Literacy Conference, London, 2007,

4b: use timely interventions (mediation) in the task
Identify critical learning points in task (where do learners need something in order to move on?)
Focus on localised and learner context as well as IL ‘skills’, in effective mediation
Choose mediation style and focus carefully
Set content alongside process objectives
More progress in information-based activities in school when more mediation v skills-led lessons
(Williams and Wavell, i3 Conference,2007)

5: Enable learners to see alternatives/ different lenses through which to view a task
Variation Theory:
Learning is about changes in conception-assist students in developing new and more complex ways of experiencing information literacy
Teaching and learning activities should be designed to enable students to develop more complex understandings; to enable choice of strategies, learners need the whole repertoire to draw on
Christine Bruce in Andretta, S. 2007, Chapter 2.

Variation in information searching:
looking for a needle in a haystack
finding a way through a maze;
as using the tools as a filter
as panning for gold
Which is the most appropriate to use in different contexts?
TASK: experience variety on-line and reflect on differences:
For each of the searches on the two sources note down
How many results you obtained
What type of results e.g too broad? Too narrow?
Area in which you didn’t get the answers that you expected etc

To be effective …
In effective information literacy
sessions students are put into the role
of ‘the learner’ rather than ‘the taught’

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Information Literacy

by Learning and Teaching Scotland on Mar 18, 2008

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Information Literacy — Presentation Transcript