Information Literacy
Much has been written about the information super highway.
If I can extend the analogy, teacher librarians are both driving instructors and highway engineers.
I believe that information literacy is about access.
Firstly, there must be physical access to up-to-date resources plus the tools to locate and use them.
Secondly there must be intellectual access where students are empowered to not only find information, but also use it effectively!
As a librarian or information manager I tackle the physical access. Facilitating intellectual access is the teacher part of my role. This web site or 'filing cabinet' contains resources that I have developed and used to foster the development of information literacy skills of both students and teachers.
I have developed school intranets that have morphed into Virtual Libraries(VL) that can be viewed at the following locations:
These are used by both staff and students to support resource based learning programmes at those schools, and also by individuals for online help . For example the VL is used to good effect in running tutorials for Year 12/13 students, parents and staff. I designed the reSearch pages to provide on-line, self-paced and 'just in time' learning support for the development of information skills and Key Competencies. I also set up information 'shortcuts' for students - the Pathfinders and Hot Lists - so that they can spend more time 'using' the information or transforming it into their own knowledge, rather than merely finding and reproducing it. As teachers become more familiar with learning technologies and enlist my help, we publish online assignments and web quests on this constantly evolving, and growing, Virtual Library.
I once joined in an online discussion on Information Literacy as a deficit model:
"The deficiency model also comes through in the way we have focused on the teaching of information literacy skills. This teaching is conceived in terms of expert-novice; teacher-learner, professional-needing, information rich-information poor....a view that assumes people have a problem with accessing and handling information - the person is the problem - and that information literacy, as a set of information competencies, is the solution..... This is a deficiency model."
aliaINFOLIT listserv. Message posted by Dr Ross Todd Wed, 11 Oct 2000
I responded to this provocative statement as follows:
"In reflecting on my own practice, I reckon I try a bit of everything - the Year 8 orientation and the Year 12 'how to use the internet' sessions; I've set up an intranet that uses the information process to provide students with online help to be used when they wish or need it; I work with teachers to design and teach RBL units (print &/or digital resources; see Topic links and Pathfinders at the above address]); I teach IT skills to teachers and students alike; I keep staff informed on the impact of new learning technologies; I help students to find information in a hurry; I provide shortcuts to digital information on the intranet.
But the strategy that gives me the biggest buzz is working with one or two students, showing them how to find, select and use the information they need at that moment. That's when you get immediate feedback...some warm fuzzies that keep you going through all the other hassles with technology that lets you down etc. etc...
If meeting the needs of staff and students is a deficit model then so be it. The important thing is to be responsive and flexible; to cater for different abilities, different learning styles, different circumstances. Cut the suit to fit the customer I say.... "
aliaINFOLIT listserv. Message posted Tue, 07 Nov 2000
I find such online debates and sharing of information invaluable in my own professional development, and strongly recommend others to subscribe to some of the listservs that I recommend elsewhere.
As the above response indicates, resource based learning is a vital methodology in meeting the need for information literacy. I have often found that teachers use RBT (Resource Based Teaching) rather than RBL (Resource Based Learning) - setting 'hunt, gather and why not plagiarise' tasks. Addressing the issue of plagiarism is often a great way to 'hook' teachers into collaborating on assignment task design.
The following PD materials on plagiarism may be of interest:
Dealing with Plagiarism(2003) pdf handout | Plagiarism (2004) web page | Plagiarism links (2004) web page