Plethora of literacies (functional, information, computer, digital, visual, e-literacy etc.) -...
-
Upload
reynard-booker -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
0
Transcript of Plethora of literacies (functional, information, computer, digital, visual, e-literacy etc.) -...
Who are you indexing for? The information literate of the twenty-first century
Nicoline Wessels
Plethora of literacies (functional, information, computer, digital, visual, e-literacy etc.) - Educational challenges
Add literacy to everything (mathematical, economic, emotional)
Term ‘literacy’ – quicksand of meanings and philosophical discussions ◦ Meta (behind, after, beyond, higher order)◦ Trans (across, beyond, transcending)
War of Semantics
Constantly changing
Slide 3 of 28
Literacy
Certainties are:• Constant change • Data and information abundance• Globalisation (nationalisation)
Many academics and authoritative organisations worldwide indicated the changing twenty-first century skills expectations of people in learning, the work place as well as in their personal lives (Breivik 2005; Dede 2009; Horton 2008:i; IFLA; NRC; UNESCO).
Twenty-first century
Twenty-first century skills include: • deep cognitive learning• critical thinking• problem solving • knowledge creation and application • Information literacy/ICT fluency• creativity• innovation • working in networks and teams • problem-solving • risk-taking • coping with change
Twenty-first century skills
Twenty first century skills
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) -specifically formed to consider these expectations and provide a framework.
Existing organisations:◦ Metiri/NCREL◦ OECD◦ American Association of College and Universities (AACU) ◦ International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) ◦ CHE (in South Africa)
Information literacy appears consistently as an important twenty-first century competency.
Information literacy inclusion
“to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (ALA 1989).
Adaptations (social aspects, technology) Information literacy - umbrella term for
media literacy, computer literacy, digital literacy, Internet literacy, ICT literacy…. (à la David Bawden)
Information literacy
One of the driving forces behind all these changes in skills expectations is not technology per se, but specifically sophisticated ICTs.
Information literacy is one of the tools to make sense of information overload and to use ICTs effectively.
Being able to post on fb or tweet on twitter “does not an information literate make”.
Technology savvy versus….
There seems to be a general understanding internationally that the ability to use technologies is not enough, nor is the easy access to and availability of information.
In order to be prepared for the twenty-first century, one must be information literate and have the ability to think critically about information
… versus information literacy
Less instruction in how to locate information Self-reliant and confident about information
needs - to think critical about it. Decode the packaging of information in any
format from traditional text to electronic packaging where data is delivered as a screen image.
Problem is: need the basics to work from (library skills, bibliographic skills, finding skills e.g. using a dictionary or a book index)
Is this where we lack behind?
Slide 6 of 28
South African reality
There is no context to link information literacy to
52 million people 1/3 under 4 years of age Unemployment rate 25,5% Low literacy levels (PIRLS 2006+2011 reports) 7% functional school libraries Less than 12% of population have some form of access
to Internet. Research shows that workforce does not read well
enough for technological society General believe that “using” a computer can leapfrog
all these problems (or worse, dumping tablets in schools without intervention and mediation will change the face of education)
Slide 3 of 28
Some information and statistics
Teacher quality - 30 000 unqualified teachers Less than 25% use libraries Teachers are not taught information literacy skills during
pre-service training Principals and teachers: no or very low information literacy
levels There is no context to link information literacy to (no library
etc) Many teachers are not (even traditionally) information
literate Information literacy is not taught effectively in most South
African Schools Question is: what about university educators?
Teachers (and beyond)
My reality
Ethical use of information Reference techniques Verbatim copying Plagiarism Copyright
No reading culture Google generation Do not care about DDC or keywords; much less
about taxonomies and controlled vocabulary Table of Contents Index (economic index yes) Third year information students – lack basic
reference techniques The same never visited or use a library Question the relevance of cataloguing and
classification
Your reality
Matthew effects(accumulated advantage) Dunning-Kruger effect (mistakenly assessing
one’s ability to be much higher than is accurate)
Also the librarian’s (indexer’s) challenge!
Challenges to Information Literacy
In Conclusion