The importance of embedded information literacy instruction in tertiary education.

1. FROM ABCD TO LOL
THE IMPORTANCE OF EMBEDDED INFORMATION LITERACY
INSTRUCTION IN TERTIARY EDUCATION

2. As anyone working in the field of
education will tell you, for real
learning to occur there has to be a
supportive framework around the
learner.
Incite ALIA September 2011

3. ABCD: Any Bozo Can Do
“This should be easy but it’s
actually surprising … it should
be easy anyway because we
have a lot of well-organised
databases and there is a specific
place that you go … Anyway
they should know how to use
these things."
York University lecturer
quoted in Bury (2011).

4. ABCD: Any Bozo Can Do
“I haven’t done (information
literacy instruction) at all … I just
consider this is something they
should have done before they get
to my point in the program … I
know that some of them won’t be
able to do it so I just assume they
are going to have extra work
figuring it out.”
York University lecturer
quoted in Bury (2011).

5. TMI 24/7
Information can be accessed online 24/7, and
mobile access to the web means it can literally
be in your pocket.
Many digital natives ‘live online’ and naturally use
a Google search as their first source of
information. It’s fast, and at their fingertips.
The web contains a vast amount of information,
including a lot of user-generated content from
sites like Wikipedia. A simple search in Google
will output a huge number of results of varying
quality.

6. Students =
Digital Natives?
26% of domestic students in Ministry of
Education funded programmes at AUT in
2010 were aged 25-39. 12% were aged
40+.
Students aged 25–40+ will have differing
educational, social and professional
backgrounds and corresponding
differences in their levels of skill with
information technology. Some may be
‘digital immigrants’.
Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

7. Students =
Digital Natives?
Even among students under 25, a
universal ability with emerging
technologies may be overstated.
The following video, titled “Shift
Happens” was created by Karl Fisch, a
high school teacher in the US, and was
subsequently used by Sony BMG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkD8
VE5ueXI
Image: graur razvan ionut / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

8. Digitally Native =
Information Literate?
What do students need to know to be
information literate?
- when information is needed
- how to find information
- how to evaluate information
- how to use information effectively
- how to use information ethically
Image: Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

9. Digitally Native =
Information Literate?
Can digital natives identify when information
is needed?
On-demand internet access for Y12 students
resulted in them defaulting to trying to
answer a question online rather than
drawing on their own knowledge
Even if they knew part of the answer they
just typed in the entire question
Image: Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

10. Digitally Native =
Information Literate?
How do secondary teachers define information
literate?
- ‘able to use technology to communicate
with others’
- ‘au fait with what is out there in terms of
technology’
- ‘being able to use computers to access
information’
Without education in this area, ‘digital natives’
can’t become information literate.
Image: Tina Phillips / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

11. WTF?:
Where’s The Fire?
The Internet, Google and mobile devices
have created a culture of immediacy –
speed in finding an answer has taken
over from critical thinking and strategy.
Students need to know how to find and
use information efficiently and
effectively, not just quickly.
An academic subject search in Summon
is as fast as Google, yields more relevant
results, and allows more advanced
searching and limiting options.
Image: chrisroll / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

12. WTF?: Where’s The Fire?
“they don’t seem to
be that familiar with the
electronic resources and how
to navigate them because there
are tricks”
York University lecturer
quoted in Bury (2011).

13. WTF?:
Where’s The Fire?
Strategy and critical thinking are the
keys to success and speed with
searching and evaluation
Keyword searching is still no match for a
carefully constructed search strategy
with truncation and wildcards!
Thinking first about where to search and
how to search then thinking again to
evaluate search results saves time in the
long run
Image: chrisroll / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

14. WTG:
The Way To Go
How do we ensure students learn the
information literacy skills they need to
succeed at tertiary level?
We have seen that being ‘digitally native’
is not the same as being information
literate – technology is not a substitute
for teaching.
However, technology can be a way to
engage with students who ‘live online’: IL
instruction can be delivered via podcasts
or videos on YouTube and Facebook,
available as and when needed.
Image: chawalitpix / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

15. WTG: The Way To Go
“We should as a program be
clear about if you are a Political
Science major…what you should
be able to do by the end of first
year, second year. It should get
progressively more challenging and
difficult. We should give them lots
of practice and we should be
assessing them as they go. ”
York University lecturer
quoted in Bury (2011).

16. WTG:
The Way To Go
Embedding IL workshops in the tertiary
curriculum at every level ensures:
Students will attend
Students won’t ‘fall through the cracks’
Students will see practical application
of the skills they need, reinforcing
learning
Better learning outcomes

17. We can’t assume all students are digital natives, or
LOL:
that being a competent user of technology is the
same as being information literate.
A Lifetime Of
Students need to learn the skills to efficiently and Learning
effectively search for and evaluate information if
they are to succeed at tertiary level and beyond.
These skills need to be taught directly and
embedded in courses so that learning is practical
and timely, increasing student success rates.
Information literacy is a transferable skill and
promotes lifelong learning, so a small investment
at the beginning of students’ academic careers
will continue to reap rich rewards as they mature
into confident and competent learners.

18. Information literacy initiates,
sustains and extends lifelong
learning through abilities that
may use technologies but are
ultimately independent of them.
ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards For Higher
Education

19. REFERENCES
Association of College and Research Libraries. (2000). Information literacy
competency standards for higher education. Retrieved from
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/standards.pdf
AUT University. (2011). Annual report 2010. Retrieved from
http://www.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/206110/AUT- Annual-Report-
2010-Final-31-March-web.pdf
Bury, S. (2011, June). Faculty voices on information literacy: interview-based research
exploring information literacy practices, attitudes and perceptions among
university faculty. Paper presented at the Workshop for Instruction in Library
Use. Retrieved from http://pi.library.yorku.ca/dspace/handle/10315/10047
Twiss, T. (2008). Ubiquitous information: An eFellow report on the use of mobile phones
in classrooms to foster information literacy. Retrieved from http://www.core-
ed.org/sites/core-ed.org/files/Toni_Twiss_-_Ubiquitous_Information_0.pdf