Redefining Information Literacy...Part 1

After reading some of the literacy research (including J.P. Gee) I started questioning the information literacy literature. I'm exploring these thoughts by continuing my reading and applying common literacy definitions to information literacy.

Here are my initial thoughts...I'll post part 2 tomorrow and then post regular updates on my progress.

Librarians (especially academic librarians) are interested and in many cases heavily invested in the notion of information literacy. Academic librarians are surrounded by the term information literacy, but much of the existing literature and practice focuses on information literacy as a set of skills or competencies to be learned and mastered. The current working view of information literacy (as used by the Association of College and Research Libraries) takes a narrow view of the term literacy.

I seek to review the literacy literature and explore answers to the following questions:
Can information literacy actually be considered a “literacy” as defined by Gee and other literacy scholars because it is lacking key components (primarily the social aspects of literacy)?
How do multiliteracies (especially media and digital literacies) fit in with information literacy?

In my opinion the current narrow view of information literacy should be expanded to include socio-cultural aspects and elements of the other “new literacies” (visual literacy, ICT literacy, and digital literacies). Expanding the scope of information literacy will not only provide a more complete and academically rigorous definition, it will provide librarians with a more effective platform for instruction.

Revivals

I know that I have posted in a while...okay, a really long time. I am reviving this blog in order to discuss interesting items in library/information science, literacy, instructional design, and distance education AND to chronicle my progress through UF's Educational Technology EdD program.
Stay tuned for my first content based post on redefining information literacy...

Blogging Update

So class is finished and I've got about a week before summer A starts. I don't think I'll have any blogging requirements this summer, but I'd like to continue to post.

My goal is to post once a week on anything dealing with info, visual, or media literacy, or ed tech in general. In my next post I'll discuss a new Pew/Internet report: A Typology of Information and Communication Users.

Wish me luck as I tackle Learning Theories online (summer A) and Instructional Design later this summer.

Happy Semester's End!

Visual Literacy and the Academic Library

My friend and colleague Kathryn (a fellow UF ed tech student) recently went to the ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) Conference and brought me a handout from a presentation about visual literacy and academic libraries. Although I'm sorry I wasn't able to see the presentation face-to-face, there are some related visual literacy presentations at the ALA Annual meeting in June and I'll definitely attend those sessions.

Here's an overview of the ACRL session:

Definition
The presenters use a definition of visual literacy presented by John Debes in 1969 which refers to a group of visual competencies the ability to communicate using the competencies.

Importance
As media and technology are transforming society, visual images are becoming a predominant form of communication

How UNO (Univ of Nebraska Omaha) and the library are incorporating visual literacy

• The library has a "partnership for visual literacy" with the university with representatives from the Criss libary and the school of communication
• Criss library is promoting visual literacy by using visual messages in communications and in library marketing, by having virtual library tours, and vodcasting

I'm glad to see that libraries are seeing the need for increased use of visual images in a variety of settings. I'd like to see more libraries incorporating visual literacy topics in information literacy instruction and making instruction more visual.

The Media Equation

As Reeves et al. discuss in the "The Media Equation" two of the benefits of understanding the media equation -- first, the ability to use the knowledge that people respond to media to design better media/interfaces and second, the use of "the media equation" as a means for developing a foundation for evaluating and critiquing media. Both of these concepts influence librarianship and education. From this point forward, I'll break the discussion into sections according to these two points.

Improving the Design of Media
Reeves et al. comments on the idea the using the media equation design rules can be created to capitalize on human expectations and response to media. This started me thinking about many of the interfaces commonly used in libraries today. How would applying the media equation design principles to library catalog and database interfaces improve ease of use and functionality? Some users may love their library catalog, but most would probably like to see it improved so that they can more easily find what they need. The chapter touches on some of the design principles, but for more detail and concrete ideas on re-designing library interfaces I'll need to read the later chapters.

Evaluating Media
Depending on the institutional goals and definition of information literacy, there is overlap between information literacy and media literacy. A key component of media and information literacy is evaluation. Teaching students to find information and media is useless without teaching them to thoughtfully critique and evaluate what they find. Assessing the source of the media, the accuracy and or quality, and any biases are essential skills. Given the ideas inherent in the media equation, that media=real life, teaching evaluative skills takes on an entirely new meaning. Does the fact that many of us seem media as real life effect our evaluation abilities? Does it change the way we teach students to evaluate media? These are all issues that librarians teaching information and media literacy should consider.

Horizon Report Redux

My last post was about the key issues facing higher education as perceived by the writers of the Horizon Report. In this post I'll discuss the critical challenges facing higher education and will mention the technologies to watch from the 2007 Horizon Report. Because of my interest in educational technology, I'll focus one whole post on the technologies portion of the report with commentary on how (or if) libraries are incorporating the technologies.

Challenges

Assessing new creative products and forms of work --
Academy leadership flexible enough to evolve with the changes in teaching, learning, and scholarship is a must. If academia doesn't adapt to the changes, it will distance itself from the actual conduct of scholarship.

Tackling intellectual property and copyright issues because they are barriers to scholarship -

With the extension of copyright terms, intellectual property (IP) and copyright laws are increasingly restrictive. Balancing the need to protect IP and the need to share and use works is difficult and the proliferation of digital material further complicate the matter. Many scholars interested in sharing their work are using less restrictive licensing and using the creative commons to design flexible licenses that allow more creator control and wider use of material.

Pressure for higher education to provide learning and services to mobile devices --
Cell phones and other mobile devices are ubiquitous and they have driven a need for instant "anywhere, anytime" access. Some universities are providing access to services and content via mobile devices and this trend will increase. Coping with this pressure and delivering mobile services will continue to challenge higher education.

Technologies

User-created Content

Social Networking

Mobile phones and devices

Virtual worlds

Massively Multiplayer Gaming

For a detailed discussion of the "technologies to watch" and their estimated time to adoption, check out my next post...

On the Horizon...

For the past few years the New Media Consortium has collaborated with the Educause Learning Initiative (ELI) to research emerging technologies that are likely to have an impact on higher education. The report is divided into sections by time to adoption and includes technologies that will be adopted for educational use in a year or less up to five years. The 2007 Horizon Report discusses a number of technology and trends, but rather than summarizing them all, I'll point out a few I think are most significant or have an impact on academic libraries.

Key Trends

1. Changing higher education environment --

• less students overall because of declining enrollment
• Increased need for distance education
• More non-traditional and non-residential students

2. Academic review (including peer review) , merit, and tenure processes are not adapting to new forms of scholarship. As faculty are using digital mediums for expression and increasing interdisciplinary collaboration, their work is moving towards a new type of peer review, but "traditional" ideas of academic status are presenting barriers to change.

3. Information Literacy should not be considered a given. The IL skills of students are not increasing proportional to technology usage. Today's students are using various types of technologies, but that does not make them more information literate. This is why many academic libraries are boosting their efforts at IL instruction.

The three trends discussed above impact higher education as a whole, and are issues that effect academic libraries provision of services and instruction. The changing nature of the academic environment and student body contribute to the services offered by academic libraries and the amount and types of instruction we provide, while the new forms of academic review have a potential impact on the scholarly publishing crisis. I was pleasantly surprised to see that information literacy was one of the key trends. Many times the misperception is that netgen students are information literate because they are technologically literate. Libraries have been teaching information literacy skills for years, but I would like to see more an institutional emphasis and initiative for information literacy. Many universities are emphasizing IL, but many are not. Institutional support and interdisciplinary collaboration with libraries to include IL instruction is increasingly important.

Stayed tuned to my next post where I'll continue the discussion of the Horizon Report by discussing the critical challenges and technologies to watch...