RasGuides: Information Literacy: Resources and Application

eBooks

The titles below are a small sampling of the many eBooks that are now available inside the eBooks and Academic eBooks via EBSCO and 3M Cloud Library databases!

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Rethinking Information Literacy: A Practical Framework for Supporting Learning by Coonan, Emma; Secker, Jane A vision for the future of information literacy teaching Based on groundbreaking research, undertaken by the authors as part of the prestigious Arcadia Programme at Cambridge University, this presents a new and dynamic information literacy curriculum developed for the 21st century information professional. The curriculum adopts a broad definition of information literacy that encompasses social as well as academic environments and situates IL as a fundamental attribute of the discerning scholar and the informed citizen.
ISBN: 9781856048224
Publication Date: 2013
Information Literacy Instruction That Works, Second Edition by Patrick Ragains (Editor) This text provides strategies and techniques for teaching college and university freshmen, community college students, students with disabilities, and those in distance learning programs. It contains approaches to teaching students in the popular programs of study.
ISBN: 9781555708603
Publication Date: 2013-06-01
A Guide to Teaching Infomation Literacy by Helen Conroy; Jo Webb; Chris Powis; Helen Blanchett This easy-to-use book is an invaluable source of inspiration for any librarian involved in teaching information literacy, providing practical guidance on tried and tested ideas and techniques for sessions. The role of the librarian increasingly involves delivering information literacy using a range of teaching methods, from delivering induction sessions to informal one-to-one support on a day-to-day basis. Although this is increasingly recognized, many practitioners do not have teaching qualifications and are often left to fulfil a role for which they feel ill-equipped. Even when they do have teaching qualifications, these are often gained from mainstream courses that do not always adequately address the delivery of information literacy.  This book is a much-needed sourcebook to support library staff in the delivery of information literacy teaching, whether they are new to teaching or experienced but in search of fresh ideas. Full of hints and tips grounded in learning theory, it is a practical reference tool designed to be dipped into as needed when planning teaching and training. Where applicable the activities are mapped to models of information literacy, with guidance on adapting ideas for different levels and contexts.  Advice is given on activities in the following areas: designing sessions preparing sessions delivering sessions different types of sessions teaching by topic  creating teaching / support materials assessing learning evaluating teaching sessions e-learning.   Readership: Any librarian involved with teaching information literacy and LIS students.
ISBN: 9781856046596
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Practising Information Literacy by Annemaree Lloyd This book showcases new interdisciplinary academic research on the relationship between information literacy and learning. It combines findings with new understandings drawn from theoretical and empirical research conducted in primary and secondary schools, higher education, workplaces, and community contexts. The studies offer new insights into questions such as how transferable are the information practices and skills learned in one context to other contexts? What is the degree to which information competences are generic, to what degree are they domain and context specific? What are the kinds of challenges and outcomes that emerge from incorporating information literacy into education and training courses? And, most importantly, what kinds of theories and philosophies regarding the nature of learning, information, and knowledge, should information literacies education and research efforts be based on?
ISBN: 9781780632803
Publication Date: 2010-06-01
Information Literacy in the Digital Age by Teresa Welsh This book examines the various types of literacy that are important in the Digital Age of rapid technological change and proliferating information resources in a variety of formats. According to the American Library Association (www.ala.org), "information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." Information literacy forms the basis for lifelong learning and is common to all disciplines, to all learning environments, and to all levels of education. Information literacy is an umbrella term that includes a variety of specific competencies: cultural literacy, library literacy, computer literacy, network literacy, and media literacy. Each topic addressed in the book includes contextual background information, basic concepts, a resource list, exercises and activities to reinforce the important learning concepts addressed in each chapter. Based on content, resources, assignments, and exercises developed for an academic information literacy course In addition to scholarly content on particular topics, each chapter will include practical applications and activities related to information literacy concepts
ISBN: 9781780630359
Publication Date: 2010-07-27

Data Quote

Articles

NOTE: These resources require a Rasmussen University email and password to access.

Redefining Information Literacy to Prepare Students for the 21st Century Workforce Information literacy instruction-a set of skills taught in order to identify and find the information needed to solve a problem-traditionally follows a formalized academic model. It assumes information skills can be applied universally and learned individually. However, this approach does not correspond to the social and specialized learning practices in the workforce. This article presents an argument for faculty and librarians to collaborate and redefine information literacy guidelines using specific disciplinary requirements while incorporating non-formal and informal workplace learning practices. This approach would better prepare students for the social and collaborative learning required in a 21st century workforce environment.
Information Literacy in the Workplace: Employer Expectations This study attempts to bridge the apparent divide between academic information literacy research and the perception of information literacy as a workplace skill. A qualitative inquiry of mid- to senior-level corporate managers yielded a series of recurring themes related to information use in the workplace, how information competencies are recognized in workplace settings, and how entry-level professionals are equipped to locate and use information in their jobs. To directly interpret and apply results locally, participant selection was limited to organizations with a direct relationship to the College of Business of James Madison University. The business college strives to provide a highly relevant, experiential learning curriculum to prepare students for postgraduate employment, and the intent of this study is to inform and enhance the information literacy initiatives of university libraries in support of business college programming.
Student perceptions of information literacy instruction: The importance of active learning This study investigates the merits of employing active learning strategies in the delivery of information literacy instruction (ILI). Traditional approaches to the teaching of information literacy skills - where students are passive recipients of the information they receive - are challenged. Rather, methods that encourage students to actively engage themselves in the learning process are posited to yield heightened student learning outcomes. To test this assumption, a survey was administered to 372 undergraduate students who experienced both passive and active learning ILI opportunities. Results indicate that passive instruction is not an effective style of teaching in yielding positive student psychological, behavioural or benefit outcomes. Rather active instruction yields more positive effects. Importantly, the amount of active ILI received does not matter; a single active learning instructional session may be sufficient to yield significant and sustaining student learning outcomes. This is particularly good news for ILI practitioners working in resource-constrained higher educational environments.
Student Effort In and Perceived Benefits from Undergraduate Research The benefits of student engagement in undergraduate research are well-recognized by many higher education institutions. Increased emphasis on undergraduate research in these institutions has taken many forms resulting in considerable differences across institutions ranging from "light touch" to "heavy duty" involvement of students in the research process. We surveyed 44 undergraduate students who participated in undergraduate research projects in one mid-western university. The survey measured student effort and perceived benefits along many dimensions. Our findings reveal that the total hours worked on research projects is significantly and positively correlated with perceived benefits by students. At a more granular level, student effort was specifically linked to benefits in the areas of communication; data collection; professional development; personal development; professional advancement; information literacy; responsibility; and knowledge. Additionally, the total time spent on the undergraduate research project by the research mentor/faculty positively correlated with student effort. Furthermore, higher student effort also evidenced a higher intent to publish the research. Exploratory analyses examined if specific types of work correlated with total benefits. Findings revealed that the total benefits score was significantly positively correlated with tasks including developing a theory or conceptual model, defining the sample, interpreting the findings, and preparing the written report. Thus, our findings strengthen the current trends of increased emphasis on undergraduate research across the board in higher education institutions, and they suggest that "heavy duty" involvement may be most beneficial for students.
Integration of Learning Model: How College Students Integrate Learning Students integrate their learning experiences across contexts through a process of connecting, applying, and synthesizing information, knowledge, and skills.
Is an Online Learning Module an Effective Way to Develop Information Literacy Skills? Information literacy is an integral generic skill or graduate attribute in higher education, with many higher education institutions developing information literacy policies and including information literacy in graduate attribute policies. Barrie (2007) notes that universities around the world are increasingly concerned with ensuring that their students develop attributes which will better equip them for the world of work. This paper focuses on online learning and its effectiveness in developing graduate attribute skills, particularly information literacy skills. The project outlined in this paper revealed that students who completed an online information literacy tutorial gained an understanding of information literacy concepts and that the flexible, self-paced delivery of this module was an effective way for students to develop information literacy skills.
Key factors in the transfer of information-related competencies between academic, workplace, and daily life contexts Personal information behavior has been studied within a large number of different contexts; however, individuals show different information-related competencies in their professional, academic or daily life contexts. Literature suggests that if a person is information-related competent in one context, then he or she will be competent in the rest of the contexts of action. But this is only true for a basic level of information competencies. This article reports results from 24 interviews performed to mature e-learning students and suggests that in a more advanced level of information competencies, some competencies that appear in one context are not manifested in another context. Several factors have been found to be related with information competencies transfer between contexts. Attitude is a key factor and feelings regarding Internet use is another critical factor. Specifically in learning environments, the results suggest that canned content and planned learning strategies can discourage a proactive attitude and enthusiasm for information and communication technologies, and therefore the acquisition of information-related competencies. Understanding the differences and common patterns between these contexts may be useful for designing better information systems, services and instruction.
What's skill got to do with it?: Information literacy skills and self-views of ability among first-year college students This study replicates a previous study based on work in psychology, which demonstrates that students who score as below proficient in information literacy (IL) skills have a miscalibrated self-view of their ability. Simply stated, these students tend to believe that they have above-average IL skills, when, in fact, an objective test of their ability indicates that they are below-proficient in terms of their actual skills. This investigation was part of an Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded project and includes demographic data about participants, their scores on an objective test of their information literacy skills, and self-estimates of their ability. Findings support previous research that indicates many students come to college without proficient IL skills, that students with below-proficient IL skills have inflated views of their ability, and that this miscalibration can also be expressed by students who test as proficient. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Websites

Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
Project Information Literacy: Inventing the Workplace In this study, author Alison Head and her research team held interviews with a wide number of employers as well as focus groups with recent graduates. The graduates said that they gained important and useful skills in college, particularly in being able to find, evaluate, read closely, and synthesize information from multiple sources.
What is Workplace Information Literacy? A comparison of views from the chalkface and the workplace.
Project Information Literacy Project Information Literacy (PIL) is a large-scale, national study about early adults and their research habits, conducted in partnership with the University of Washington's iSchool.

Videos - Information Literacy

ALAACRL. (2015, March 17). ACRL presents: Putting the framework for information literacy into action [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdl9alP4Xkc

Arms, K. (2017, November). What is information literacy? [Video file]. https://youtu.be/3BAfs_oDevw

APUS Librarian. (2012, April 1). Integrating information literacy into courses [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcgy_gWr1eI

Venice268's channel. (2011, January 13). Information literacy and engaging the 21st century learner [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWlx5OJll7g

How Do You Use Information Literacy Skills?

Introduction
Academic Introduction

Introduction

When making any decision - from which movie you want to go see to something more major such as what car to buy, where to live, or what college to attend - your decision is dependent upon the information you have.

In a general sense, the skill of information literacy refers to the ability to effectively and critically find, assess, use, and cite information. This information retrieved will guide your thought and decision-making processes, so it is vital to locate specific information from a variety of sources while being able to assess the credibility of it as well. We use information literacy skills all the time, but most of us don’t associate what we are doing with this particular skill.

Academic Introduction

Think about how often you research information for your courses- assignments, discussion posts, and projects. Typically, students associate information literacy skills with big research papers and/or projects. After going through this content, it will become apparent that information literacy is used everywhere in your personal, academic, and professional lives; not just for those big research papers.

Academics and Information Literacy- What Information and Where Do I Find It?

Academic Uses

Succeeding in your academic course work depends on how you gather and utilize information to help formulate, add credibility, and provide basis to your thoughts and opinions. Obviously this is important within research papers, but you also use this skill in other written assignments, discussion posts, study practices, and even within your emails and other forms of communication.

What Information Do You Need To Find

Get as specific as possible in your search. For example, instead of searching for genetically modified foods, you could search for the advantages of genetically modified foods.

Where To Find and Locate Information

Not all information is created equal, nor is it always easy to find specific information. Limiting information gathered from one source, such as individual blogs, will severely impact your ability to formulate decisions and opinions.

Academically and professionally, you will be required to locate information from a wide variety of sources. Failure to do so will limit the diversity of information you can possible retrieve and limit your decision making and/or opinions regarding a particular topic.

Academics and Information Literacy- Assessment of Information

Evaluation Of Your Information

It is important to remember that not all information is created equally; you may be able to find specific information, but is it current and from a credible source? This ability to assess your information is just as important as your ability to find it. Check out the "Evaluations of Resources" tab in this guide to further enhance your knowledge.

How To Utilize Your Information

After you've retrieved your information and assessed its credibility, how do you utilize your work? What do you look for? This may be the hardest aspect of information literacy skills- piecing together your research and extrapolating patterns and ideas within it. This ability relies on critical thinking skills as well because you typically have multiple resources of data and have to gather content that supports your thesis, ideas, theme and/or concepts.

Citing and Referencing Your Information

Obviously you must cite and reference the content you researched within your assignment. Check out the "Citation" tab in this guide to further enhance your knowledge.

Information Literacy: Resources and Application