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Factors that Impact the Relevance of Information Literacy to College Students: The Kaleidoscope Effect - Dr. Karen F. Kaufmann
- The document discusses a study examining factors that impact the relevance of information literacy to college students. - A mixed-methods study was conducted involving an online survey of 134 students and 4 focus groups of 10 students total. - The survey found that students perceive information literacy as socially and cognitively relevant when used for academic assignments, and this relevance is not dependent on student characteristics. - The focus groups identified 11 key factors that make information literacy relevant to students' academic work, including knowledge base, digital literacy, authoritative sources, and information literacy instruction.
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Factors that Impact the Relevance of Information Literacy to College Students: The Kaleidoscope Effect - Dr. Karen F. Kaufmann
- 1. Factors that Impactthe Relevance of Information Literacy to College Students: The Kaleidoscope Effect Dr. Karen F. Kaufmann LILAC Conference, Monday, April 11, 2022 Manchester, UK
- 2. Primary ResearchQuestion: Howisinformation literacyrelevant, fromasocio-cognitive userview,to undergraduate student academic work?
- 3. Mixed Method Cross-SectionalExplanatory Sequential Research Design SETTINGS: Online Survey (n=134) / Four Focus Groups (n=10) SAMPLING: Purposive/ Non-Random Undergraduates MEASURES: Cross-sectional Survey and Focus Groups
- 4. Stage One- OnlineSurvey identified student perceptions of the relevance of information literacy to their academic work. Stage Two – Focus Groups identified factors that make information literacy relevant to academic work.
- 5. DefiningTerms: Socio-Cognitive Relevance Socio Usefulness is definedas your perception of how valuable or essential the application of an information competency is to the completion of your paper assignment Cognitive Meaningfulness is defined as your view or judgment of when information competencies are important for the completion of your assignment.
- 6. InformationLiteracyCompetencies ILC ILC Description 1Incorporate new information into your current knowledge. 2 Determine or identify the information needed for your assignment. 3 Select sources that meet your task (assignment) requirements. 4 Select sources that are academic-created by experts or scholars and provide evidence for your writing making you a contributor to conversation in the academic community. 5 Evaluate information critically for its usefulness or ability to add value to your work. 6 Use information for your assignment considering economic, legal and social issues. 7 Recognize that information has value. 8 Use academic sources to follow your curiosity about the topic and expand your knowledge. 9 Use a process for information gathering. 10 Strategically explore and search; building a process of exploring, selecting and organizing information for academic work.
- 7. Survey– KeyFindings Information Literacyis perceived as socio- cognitively relevant – useful and meaningful- when used for an academic assignment. Students perceive information literacy to be highly relevant to their academic work User relevance of information literacy is not bound by : • age • gender • academic status • academic program • student status • required sources for an assignment • perceptions of information literacy improvement to complete an assignment “Relevance is timeless. Concerns about relevance will always be timely.“ (Saracevic, 2007)
- 8. Focus Group KeyFindings: Factors that make Information Literacy Relevant to College Students Uber Factor - Knowledge Base 9 Key Factors ↔ ↕ 11 Dimensional Factors Digital Literacy User Friendliness in Digital Environments User Experience in Digital Environments Current Information Authoritative Sources ILC Articulated ILC Integration ILC Instruction Personal Relevance Professional Relevance Organizing Information Comprehension Specific Academic Discipline Information Literacy Competency Awareness Acquiring New Knowledge Real World Application Research Process Critical Thinking The Scholarly Conversation Curiosity/Passion/Motivation (Kaufmann, 2018)
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- 11. Metacognition andThreshold Concepts Metacognition – Thinkingabout one's thinking Threshold Concepts – crossing thresholds of understanding and liminal spaces
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- 13. Discussion Points &Implications of Findings Enriching Information Literacy “The most prominent and consistent determinant of information literacy competencies is student perception.” (Poll & Payne, 2006, p. 132) User relevance: A Pragmatic Building Block of Sociocognitive Relevance in Information Science “The relevance of a piece of information is relevant to its user” (Van der Henst, J B, Sperber, & Politzer, 2002, p. 4) Knowing student perceptions of the relevance of IL can Facilitate Student Success in Academic Work “Perceptions are important because they make up or influence our internal organization of data.” (Graham, Unruh, & Jennings, 1999, p. 1).
- 14. SmallGroup Discussions Prompt 1 How couldthe Factors of Information Literacy Relevance impact your work? Prompt 2 How might The Information Literacy Kaleidoscope Effect impact how we teach, talk, and integrate Factors of Information Literacy Relevance into our work?
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- 16. Join at slido.com #724023 ⓘStart presenting to display the joining instructions on this slide.
- 17. How does metacognition,the kaleidoscope effect and the relevance factors of IL resonate with your information literacy work? ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.
- 18. How can weapply the kaleidoscope effect to our information literacy work? ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.
- 19. Please rate theimportance of the kaleidoscope effect and factors of IL relevance to your work. ⓘ Start presenting to display the poll results on this slide.
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- 21. Karen F. Kaufmann,PhD Research & Instruction Librarian, Professor Seminole State College of Florida Email: kaufmannk@seminolestate.edu Telephone: +13212745841 Twitter: @literacyfan
- 22. References American LibraryAssociation. (2000). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved July 3, 2017 from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency Association of College and Research Libraries. (2016). Framework for information literacy for higher education. Retrieved July 3, 2017 from http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/Framework_ILHE.pdf Borlund, P. (2003). The concept of relevance in IR. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(10), 913–925. Cosijn, E., & Ingwersen, P. (2000). Dimension of relevance. Information Processing and Management, 36(4), 533–550. Graham, G. H., Unruh, J., & Jennings, P. (1991). The impact of nonverbal communication in organizations: A survey of perceptions. Journal of Business Communication, 28, 45-62. doi:10.1177/002194369102800104 Hjørland, B. (2002). Epistemology and the socio-cognitive perspective in information science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 53(4), 257–270. Hjørland, B. (2004). Domain analysis: A socio-cognitive orientation for information science research. ASIS&T Bulletin February/March 2004, 30(3). Hjørland, B. (2010). The foundation of the concept of relevance. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 61(2), 217– 237. doi: 10.1002/asi.21261 Li, H. (2007). Information literacy and librarian-faculty collaboration: A model. Chinese Librarianship, 24. Poll, R., & Payne, P. (2006). Impact measures for libraries and information services. Library Hi Tech, 24(4), 547–562. Saracevic, T. (1975). Relevance: A review of and a framework for the thinking on the notion in information science. Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 26(6), 343. Saracevic, T. (1996). Relevance reconsidered. In: Proceedings of the Second Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science (CoLIS 2), 201–218. Saracevic, T. (2007). Relevance: A review of the literature and a framework for thinking on the notion in information science. Part II: Behavior and effects of relevance. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 58(13), 1915–1933. doi: 10.1002/asi.20681 Van der Henst, J.-B., Sperber, D., & Politzer, G. (2002). When is a conclusion worth deriving? A relevance-based analysis of indeterminate relational problems. Thinking and Reasoning, 8(1), 1-20. doi:10.1080/13546780143000071 Wilson, D., & Sperber, D. (2004). Relevance theory. In: L. R. Horn, & G. Ward (Eds.), The Handbook of Pragmatics (pp. 607–632). Blackwell: Oxford. Thank you!
Editor's Notes
- #2 This presentation will introduce findings from my recent doctoral research investigating the relevance of information literacy to college students when applied to an academic assignment or task. The research design was a two-stage sequential mixed methods pragmatic study, using relevance theory as the theoretical framework. Certain Factors of Relevance were discovered from the stage one survey, and the Kaleidoscope Effect was unveiled from the stage two focus groups.
- #3 The Primary Research Question asked… (read slide) presentation is college student perceptions of the relevance of information literacy to their academic work The study usedrelevance theory as the theoretical framework and pragmatic paradigm to guide the methodology to provide a suitable mixed methods pragmatic approach for the research question(s) and research design. With pragmatism as the epistemological frame and pragmatic methodological approach, the problem to be investigated is to explore how information literacy competencies used by students are relevant to their academic work.
- #4 As already noted, the research design was a two-stage sequential mixed-methods pragmatic study using relevance theory as the theoretical framework. Stage one was an online survey and participants identified their perceptions of the relevance of information literacy when applied to an academic assignment the second stage or stage 2 used focus groups which identified factors that make information literacy relevant to academic work
- #5 In order to measure user relevance, it was essential to operationalize terms to define sociocognitive relevance. The terms usefulness and meaningfulness, having been defined and operationalized, were used in the survey to quantiatively measure student perceptions of ILC – using a 5 point Likert type scale. Sociocognitive relevance (two prongs communicative and cognitive – situated in relevance theory. The term usefulness was used to measure the communicative or socio prong; and the term meaningfulness was used to measure the cognitive prong. For this study, information literacy competencies specific to higher education were described using the recently adopted ACRL Framework and Threshold Concepts (2015) in combination with the ACRL Standards (2000). __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Purposive – students with required writing assignment with citations – participant pool = 392 studentsCross – Sectional – by academic program (10 - 37.5% Business (n=42), 16.1% Legal Studies (n=18), 13.4% Health Science (n=15), 12.5% Information Technology (n=14),8% Nursing (n=9), 6.3% Liberal & Performing Arts (n=7), 4.5% Engineering (n=5), 1.8% Undecided (n=2). ), academic status(senior, junior, sophomore, freshman) , student status (AA,/AS, BS, dual enrollment) , age, gender, and the required sources for the academic writing assignment
- #6 in order to measure user relevance it was essential to operationalize terms and to define social cognitive relevance there are two prongs to socio cognitive relevance situated in relevance theory the communicative or socio prong and then the cognitive prong so the term usefulness relating to the notion of value or essentiality was used to measure the communicative or socio prong the meaningfulness relating to importance was used to measure the cognitive pawn these terms were more fully defined in a study for users this study also information literacy competencies specific to higher education were described using the recently adopted ACRL framework and threshold concepts in combination with the acrl standards i
- #8 Let's take a look at the stage 1 survey and key findings that came out of that stage of the investigation first the survey identified that information literacy is perceived as socio cognitively relevant or useful and meaningful when used for an academic assignment by college students this also perceived that information literacy is highly relevant to their academic work another key finding was that user relevance of information literacy is not bound according to student perceptions by age or gender or academic status their academic program student status requires sources for an assignment and then also perceptions of information literacy their own perception of improvement of information literacy to complete an assignment this was important because previous information literacy studies had looked at some of these demographic types of variables as perhaps impactful and this study of user relevance found that these weren't really factors that were significant in the bottom corner of this slide you'll see a quote from Tefkco Saracevic who's done quite a bit of research and writing in regarding or surrounding relevance mostly system relevance but also user relevance and he says that relevance is timeless and that concerns about relevance will always be timely before moving ahead I just want to note that the survey included 134 participants the survey was developed and piloted and then a test retest criteria was used to verify reliability the pilot survey also served to affirm validity of defined variables and operational terms next slide let's take a look at the stage two the survey included 139 participants the survey was developed and piloted and then a test retest criteria was used to verify reliability the pilot survey also served to affirm validity of defined variables and operational terms
- #9 Let’s look at the qualitative focus group findings: The Factors that make IL useful and meaningful (SCR) to students are dimensional, dynamic, variegated, and diverse while at the same time are intertwined and influence the impact the usefulness and meaningfulness of ILC when applied to student academic work. This relationship between the factors might be described as a kaleidoscope—reflective and intertwined. Three types of Factors were identified: an Uber -Factor, nine Key Factors , and eleven Dimensional Factors. (talk across the table) This table with the arrows in the center attempts to provide a visual indicating the boundary-less-ness of the factors that make IL to users. The Factor relationships are non-hierarchical in the traditional sense; but rather are evidenced as related and reflective in a diffused hierarchy. Hierarchy typically means a higher to lower order or rank of Factors; whereas diffusion lends to the meaning of spontaneous movement of any kind or type of Factor but stemming from a shared origin. The shared origin of relationship in this diffused hierarchy of Factors is the Uber-Factor Knowledge Base. It is from the Uber-Factor Knowledge Base that all the Factors share a commonality or origin. Key and Dimensional Factors are spontaneously present in the student experience or perception of the relevance of IL. The spontaneous presence of Factors of socio-cognitive relevance of IL reflects the metacognitive way students experience and perceive IL to be useful and meaningful for their academic work. The research findings contribute to new understandings to inform assignment creation with user relevance context or situation influences for potential improved student engagement, learning, improved academic performance, retention and completion.” Using relevance theory to investigate IL, and specifically SCR, this study contributes new knowledge to IL and user relevance in information science (IS). User perceptions of ILC SCR as measurable are identified and provide new insights in this exemplar study. The factors or things that impact user relevance perceptions of IL contribute enhanced understandings of metacognitive pathways toward crossing IL thresholds. These findings may assist to enhance ways to communicate the value of ILCs as transferable competencies from academia to the “Real World.”
- #10 focus group findings as well what were the factors or what are the factors that make information literacy relevant to college students so in this investigation four focus groups were used and the factors were identified using thematic analysis of the qualitative data trustworthiness of data was reviewed and evaluated for credibility transfer ability dependability and confirm ability The factors that make information literacy useful and meaningful to students are dimensional dynamic variegated and diverse while at the same time are intertwined and influence the impact the usefulness and meaningfulness of information literacy when applied to their academic work so the relationship between these factors might be described as a kaleidoscope reflective and intertwined you'll see that there was The factor relationships are non hierarchical in the traditional sense but they're bound realists and they're evidenced as related and reflective and what I call a diffused hierarchy so hierarchy typically means a higher to lower order or rank of factors whereas diffusion lends to the meaning of spontaneous movement of any kind or type of factor but stemming from a shared origin and the shared origin o relationship is their knowledge base so it's from their knowledge base that all factors share a commonality or origin the key and dimensional factors are spontaneously present in the student experience or perception of information literacy so the spontaneous presence reflects a metacognitive way that students experience and perceive information literacy to be useful and meaningful to their academic work
- #11 One of the best preparedness tools to deliver to students early in their academic career is to teach information literacy early and often in a variety of discipline-specific courses. (Kaufmann, 2018+add other authors Maybee, Bruce, etc.) Students who are confident about their ability to find, evaluate and use information well for their coursework have a great advantage as they transfer from one institution to another. This is because they have acquired certain understandings of information literacy (information science) as threshold concepts. Threshold concepts represent portals through which individuals cross and have a transformed understanding for a fundamental concept in a discipline. Threshold concepts have certain features or attributes. Threshold concepts are: expand information for each bullet Transformative Troublesome Irreversible Integrative Bounded Discursive Reconstitutive Liminal (Meyer and Land, 2006a; 2006b as cited in Maid and D’Angelo, Chapter 2- provided by Dr. Holly Larson) When students acquire these fundamental threshold concepts for any discipline, they possess an asset that is foundational to their preparation for new experiences in their academic journey. This asset of tacit knowledge or their “knowledge base” of information literacy travels with the transfer student as they work in different information environments - from novice to expert researcher. Connect transfer assets to new situation- note and see Staines Information literacy threshold concepts within the information science discipline are identified by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL, 2015) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education as: Authority is Constructed & Contextual Information Creation as a Process Information Has Value Research as Inquiry Scholarship as Conversation Searching as Strategic Exploration
- #12 This Framework is useful for instructional pedagogy for academic librarians at colleges and universities. Academic libraries and librarians have a unique platform to engage transfer students early in their journey (Robison, 2017) by providing intentionally scheduled classes, outreach or simply conversations with transfer students. This may require – or perhaps we can be so bold to suggest – does require- collaboration across campus departments and across institutions to best serve our growing transfer student populations. The Framework provides an excellent metacognitive pathway to engage other discipline faculty to begin conversations about crossing thresholds of understandings by applying information literacy competencies to specific course assignments; thus, enriching student learning in a trans-disciplinary scoped and scaffolded but rigorous environment.
- #13 https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxY9I5oYuJGH1rg-K1yFnhD3YG9NX38QJD
- #14 some discussion points and implications of these findings first these findings may enrich information literacy Poll and Payne tell us the most prominent and consistent determinants of information literacy competencies a student perception this infers that perceptions are determining factor of Information literacy therefore when IO is perceived by users as relevant than relevance is also a determining factor of information literacy for students second let's look at user relevance as a 11:01 pragmatic building block of socio cognitive relevance and information science Van der Henst, Sperber and Politzer tell us the relevance of a piece of information is relevance to its user this infers that relevance can be user defined and this user based study found that user perceptions could be both defined and measured when there are well defined and operationalized terms Finally knowing student perceptions of the relevance of information literacy can facilitate student success and academic work perceptions are important because they make up our influence our internal organization of data the combination of the quantitative and qualitative data provides a new baseline of user relevance understanding for information literacy for instance using the factors of user relevance to build awareness while developing information literacy instruction and perhaps applying these factors of user relevance to other disciplines could be useful we can now know these factors matter to students and we raise awareness of the Kaleidoscope metacognitive experiences students have while engaging in their research process for academic work Before sharing Focus Group Findings, here are some brief discussion points of the key findings for consideration… 1st -Enriching Information Literacy: “The most prominent and consistent determinant of information literacy competencies is student perception.” (Poll & Payne, 2006, p. 132) - infers that student perceptions are a determining factor of information literacy. Therefore, when information literacy competencies are perceived by users (students) as relevant, then relevance is also a determining factor of information literacy competencies for students. Next, consider user relevance as a Pragmatic Building Block of Socio-Cognitive Relevance in Information Science: The notion of user relevance - “The relevance of a piece of information is relevant to its user” (Van der Henst, J B, Sperber, & Politzer, 2002, p. 4) - infers that relevance can be user defined. This user based study investigating the socio cognitive relevance of IL found that user perceptions could be both defined and measured when well shared meanings of well defined terms are provided. The SCR of specific competencies were identified by users and their perceptions of relevance were measured .The most useful competencies were Identifying the information needed and organizing the information. The most meaningful competencies were identified as selecting authoritative sources to support the paper assignment with strong evidence and recognizing the value of information as part of a scholarly conversation. Finally, knowing student perceptions of the relevance of IL can Facilitate Student Success in Academic Work: “Perceptions are important because they make up or influence our internal organization of data.” (Graham, Unruh, & Jennings, 1999, p. 1). The combination of the quantitative and qualitative data provides a new baseline of user relevance understanding for information literacy. The survey data gives us measured user relevance perception ratings of IL shows that as students apply ILC to their academic work, there is a high percentage of self-reported improvement in ILC (C Improve Scale).The factors that make IL relevant to the students is empirical data at a more granular level. Informing what influences user organization of data as it relates to IL.
- #23 Thank you !