Metrics for Managing the Literacy Learning Process
Sean Cordes, PhD Associate Professor,
Western Illinois University
Past tenseIn 2000, the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education provided a framework for assessing the information literate individual in higher education
Finding, evaluating, using, and citing information
Future Tense
Complementary and Interacting Literacies
Changes in technology, communication, and the information life cycle have changed the face of information literacy.
• Media Literacy-analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in a variety of forms –print, video. internet. Seen as a basic human right, participative democracy, collective intelligence.
• Digital literacy encompasses understanding, evaluating and integrating digital information; creating digital content; and taking action to share knowledge and solve problems.
• Visual literacy enables an individual to find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media.
Future Trends• Most information literacy models developed in 1990s
EVOLVING to include focus on: • Multiple literacies, Affective outcomes, Creation, Collaboration
Alternative Information Literacy Models
• American Association of School Librarians Standards for the 21st Century Learner (2007)
• Multiple literacies, digital, visual, textual, technological crucial skills for this century
• Learning is affective, has a social context, students need skills in sharing knowledge and learning with others (collaboration)
• Society of College, National, and University Libraries (SCONUL) Seven Pillars of Information Literacy Core 2011,
• Information literacy is an umbrella encompassing information, digital, visual, and media literacies, information handling skills, data curation and data management
Beyond the classroom
• Students today may ‘lack the skills for selecting the most relevant results they need for solving information problems in their daily lives’ (Head and Eisenberg, 2011).
• Recent graduates said they used for skills evaluating and managing content; yet employers felt most graduates still needed to develop adaptive strategies to save time and work more efficiently (Head et al. 2013).
• Within five years, information and communication technology skills will be a requirement for 90% of jobs, making these abilities vital for employment and work success (Kolding et al, 2009).
SKILL GAP
Trouble communicating in the team setting
Lack ability to use multiple formats to provide context
Trouble making meaning from multiple sources
Fixated on finding answers quickly
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Engaging team members in research process
Retrieving information using multiple formats
Finding patterns and making connections
Exploring a topicdeeply and thoroughly
Information skills employers need
Information skills many graduates have
Head, A. J., Van Hoeck, M., Eschler, J., & Fullerton, S. (2013). What information competencies matter in today’s workplace? Library and Information Research,37(114), 74-104. Retrieved from, http://www.lirgjournal.org.uk/lir/ojs/index.php/lir/article/view/557/593
Study One
The Foundation• Gain insight into challenges students face
building multimedia web sites • Flanagan’s critical incident and standards used
to benchmark student performance
The Fit• Message creation, diversity forms, sharing and
collaboration, info handling, data curation, technological skills, affective outcomes
Constructivist Learning Example
Web Site
Develop a research question and develop a presentation web site using multiple content types and tools.
http://sites.google.com/site/lib201site/
Findings• Negative critical incidents were split about evenly for technology
systems (54%) and Information search (46%)
• Students were effective identifying appropriate methods, retrieval systems, media types and sources, and using material ethically
• Implementing search strategies was a frequent problem. Google and database searches were effective. But problems occurred searching, sharing, and displaying, and connecting content with social network tools.
• In particular troubleshooting, using interfaces, and understanding how individual tools worked and how systems worked together.
Study 2
The Foundation• Gather ratings of usability metrics to
understand how useful and usable learners feel search systems are in general, and which search tools are most useful and easy to use
The Fit• Finding, evaluating, citing, and interpreting
information, solving problems, technological skill, affective outcomes
Study Design
Findings• When students found a tool easy to use, they also
found it generally more useful, requiring less effort to control.
• Learners found the OPAC required more effort, and
created more disorientation than the database or search engine
• But they felt the database most useful, while the search engine and catalog were equally useful, suggesting learners value good content over ease of use
• Interestingly, students thought the data base easy to use, but felt least confident using it
Study 3
The Foundation• Uses online decision making experiment to explore
how learners exchange information, develop feelings about group fairness, and foster strong group climate. The study helps shed light on factors that lead to more accurate group decisions, more effective collaboration, and positive feelings about the group.
The Fit• Collaboration, participation, evaluating and
integrating digital information, knowledge sharing problem solving, collective intelligence
Study designInputs Process Outputs
Task Design
Shared and unshared information between members
Monitoring, Backup, & Coordination protocol vs ad hoc process
Information Display
Editable / collaborative document vs chat only
Action Process Performance/Affective
The within-subject factor was the exclusive decision information set for each member.
The between-groups factors were two independent variables, action process structure and information display structure. 15
Decision PerformanceTeam ClimateProcedural Justice
Hidden ProfilesYou are member of a four person pilot job search committee.
D
CB
A
All your team members havepositive and negative information too. Some is the same. Some is different.
The study uses a hidden profile problem
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B C
DAIf team members
share all the information between them the initial worst choice becomes the best.
Critical thinking, counterfactual mindset, listing
Findings
• Strong process for monitoring, feedback, coordination, interdependence increased decision performance, positive team feeling, and procedural fairness perceptions
• Collaborative display alone improved decision accuracy and team climate feelings at least some
• But collaborative display alone failed to improve fairness perceptions without strong process
• Also, participants who were very comfortable using internet technologies had more positive perceptions of procedural justice than persons with lower confidence levels
How can we teach these skills? •Broaden the scope of search and gatheringDevelop perspective that information is preserved, yet different forms reflect a unique topology of deformations, twistings, and stretchings
•Focus on concept and contentStress similarities between tool interfaces and function, shift from teaching process to evaluation of fit and quality of content
•Offer Cross Media ExamplesTake a search. Do it in Ebsco, in Google for EDU sites, in a Diigo group, on Twitter, what results do you get, why?
•Develop topic centered support networksProvide support resources for lesson technology and processes, offer open class collaboration, integrate specialist
•Provide process structures for collaborative groupsCreate learning situation that foster interdependence, where students feel safe participating, contributions of all participants are recognized and valued, and decisions are made fairly
Questions?