Week 1

Information Literacy

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 Information Age
Need for students to be learners
Knowledge growth
Technology overload
More flexible career paths
Changes in working conditions
Need for critical thinking skills and problem
solving

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 Information Literacy
“To be information literate a person must be
able to recognise when information is
needed and have the ability to locate,
evaluate and use effectively the needed
information.”

A.L.A. Presidential committee on information Literacy.

Final Report (1989). Chicago (ED 315 074)
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Work

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School

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Play

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Computers today are one
million times more powerful
than those 20 years ago.

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In 20 years computers will
be one million times more
powerful than today!

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 Further reading
Presidential report on Information Literacy
Full report (Many other interesting articles here)

Falling through the Net: Digital Inclusion.

Department of Commerce
Executive summary

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WHAT IS DOES IT MEAN TO
USERS?
knowing when they have a need for information
identifying information needed to address a
given problem or issue
finding needed information and evaluating the
information
organizing the information
using the information effectively to address the
problem or issue at hand.

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 The Dilemma

How do we fit it all in:

Do we speed things up?

Do we pack more content in?

Do we add more technology?

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 A Definition
Doyle (1992) with a Delphi study
established that “ Information Literacy is
the ability to access, evaluate and use
information form a variety of sources

Doyle, C.S (1992) Outcomes Measures for Information Literacy

Within National Education Goals of 1990. Final Report to National
Forum on Information on Information Literacy. Flagstaff, Az: National
Forum on Information Literacy

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Information Literacy as a process
Information Process models (1980s)

Big Six ( Eisenberg, Berkowitz) 1986

Kuhlthau: 6 steps affective side of IL
NSW (Australia) Information Process
1986
Pitts/ Stripling 1988: reflective aspect to
the process

Refer to class text for more details

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 NSW, Australia Model
(Department of School
Education 1986)
Define
Locate
Select
Organise
Present
Evaluate

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 Eisenberg and Berkowitz’s

BIG
Life long learning
6
Information process is in all parts of life
…not enough to know content; processes
are more important
based on Bloom’s taxonomy (1956)

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 Information Literacy

1. Task Definition

2. Info Seeking Strategies

3. Location & Access

4. Use of Information

5. Synthesis

6. Evaluation
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 Final writing assignment

Forbidden City may have caused you to

think about the freedoms that we who live
in democratic countries enjoy. Write an
essay in which you contrast life in China to
life in your country. Use specific details
from both places in your essay.

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 Organization Chart
Religion Freedom of Freedom of
Government speech

China

US

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“Seven Faces of Information
Literacy” by Christine Bruce
Phenomenography “mapping of the
qualitative ways in which people
experience conceptualize perceive and
understand various aspects of the world
around them”
Data gathered by Interview, email,
workshops
Academics and Librarians

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 “Seven Faces of Information Literacy” by
Christine Bruce Information literacy is seen as….

1. … the ability to use information technology for

information retrieval and communications
2. … the ability to find information
3. … executing a process
4. … controlling information
5. … the ability to build up a personal knowledge
base in a new area of interest
6. … working with knowledge and personal
perspectives adopted so that insights are
gained
7. … using information wisely for the benefit of
others.

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 Information Use
Information Use
Intuition 6 Information Use 5
Critical analysis
Value
7
Information Control 4

Information Process 3

Information
Sources 2

Information Technology 1

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 Alternative Solution
To focus on process
as well as content

The information
process:

Information
Literacy
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