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This presentation, "Information Literate in Second life" was given by Sheila Webber at the Creating Knowledge V conference, Turku, Finland, on 21st August 2008. In it I reflect on an intervention that is part of an Inquiry Based Learning approach to teaching information management and information literacy and report on the findings of the research inquiry (into Information Behaviour in Second Life that the students undertook. This version omits a few slides describing results in more detail, that were presented at the conference.
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Sheila Webber, 2008
Information
literate in
Second Life
Sheila Webber/ Sheila Yoshikawa
Department of Information Studies
University of Sheffield, August 2008
Two themes
• Reflecting on an intervention that is part of an
Inquiry Based Learning approach to teaching
information management and information literacy
• Reporting on the findings of the research inquiry
(into Information Behaviour (IB) in Second Life (SL)
that the students undertook
Sheila Webber, 2008
Sheila Webber, 2008
Outline
• Inquiry Based Learning
• Focus for the intervention: Inf104 Information
Literacy
• Second Life (SL) & some SL information tools
• The study of IB
in Second Life
Inquiry Based Learning“IBL is a term used to describe approaches to learning that are based on
a process of self-directed inquiry or research. Students conduct small
or large-scale inquiries that enable them to engage actively and
creatively with the questions and problems of their discipline, often in
collaboration with others. IBL approaches include case-study and
problem-based learning (PBL) methods as well as research projects of
different kinds. It is a key characteristic of IBL that inquiry tasks facilitate
exploration and investigation of issues or scenarios that are open-ended
enough for different responses and solutions to be possible (Khan
and O´Rourke, 2005)” source: CILASS website (Centre for Inquiry Based
Learning in the Arts and Social Sciences)
http://www.shef.ac.uk/cilass/ibl.html
Sheila Webber, 2008
Inf104: Information Literacy
(core, level 1, semester 1)
Sheila Webber, 2008
Background
• Strengthening Inquiry Based Learning approach in our
BSc Information Management programme:
– Help students deepen their engagement with, and
understanding of, Information Management (IM) as an
academic discipline and professional practice
– Give students an opportunity to develop their research
understanding and skills through the whole programme –
starting from day one!
Sheila Webber, 2008
Inf104: Information literacy
• Module aims
– to progress students' information literacy in key areas (working
towards being an information literate citizen)
– to develop their understanding of information literacy &
information behaviour theories and practice
• Assessment
– Website/article/book review
– Analysis of & reflection on research interviews in Second Life
– Reflection on their progress in relation to the SCONUL 7 Pillars of
Information Literacy
Sheila Webber, 2008
Second Life
Sheila Webber, 2008
Second Life
• 3-D Online Digital world, owned by Linden Labs
• Most things created by SL residents: SL fashion designers, architects, bakers, animal makers ….
• Avatars- 3D representation of yourself – free to signup and can live on freebies, but need Linden dollars if want to own land, buy clothes etc.
• Communication through text chat, Voice and Instant Messaging
• Many educators and librarians in SL
Sheila Webber, 2008
*
* Photo Vicki Cormie,
others by
Information tools inworld:
1 - Search in SL
2 - Land info in SL
3 -
Avatar
info in
SL
4 -
Object
info in
SL
Sheila Webber, 2008
Inquiry in SL
• Students undertook critical incident interviews with SL
residents (a time when they had an information need
relating to a SL activity) in SL itself
• Student assessment: Students:
– analysed transcripts in relation to models of RL information
behaviour
– audited their own interview technique
Group 5 BSc IM 2007
Sheila Webber, 2008
Rationale
• Focus in more depth on specific parts of research process (data
collection & analysis)
• Strengthen theoretical element of module with genuinely novel
investigation
• Preparation:
– Class activity over 3 weeks – group research/ presentations on
whether SL was dangerous
– Induction to basics of SL over several weeks: teaching team was me
plus two librarians
– Practice interviewing in real life & SL
Group 5 BSc IM 2007
Models to which students
compared their findings
• Erdelez’ (1999) model of information encountering
• Ellis’ (1997) model of information seeking
• Mansourian’s (2007) information visibility model
Study details
• Treated as a pilot study
• 42 semi-structured interviews (2 per student) carried out in
SL (apart from 2 email interviews) late Nov - early Dec
2008
• Informed consent, and chat transcripts logged
• Convenience sample, mainly solicited through the SL
Educators & (UK) Virtualworlds discussion lists
• 11 Canadian undergrad students; the rest educators,
librarians or SL developers from various countries
• Not a full analysis for this study
Sheila Webber, 2008
Observations
• Examples of topics: buying land; obtaining things
(e.g. business clothes; tables; games); how to open
a virtual parachute; finding good “camping” sites;
preparing for a job fair
• My students (and I) able to identify behaviour
relating to the RL models;
– Accounts of information encountering
– Searches could be categorised using Mansourian’s
model
– Patterns of starting, linking, chaining, monitoring etc
Sheila Webber, 2008
Observations 2
• People important as sources of info and advice
• People and web search common starting points;
also one’s own inventory
• Information encountering common (cf Ostrander)
• Mixture of inworld and outside tools and people
used (much criticism of inworld search)
• Rich mix of sources
• UG students with less complex information
behaviour & using SL-specific techniques/tools lessSheila Webber, 2008
Sheila Webber, 2008
Concluding observations
• Same underlying information
literacy needs
• Specific skills in understanding the nature of
information in SL: possibilities, pitfalls etc.
• The most complex information behaviour from
people aware of, and fluent in, the affordances of SL
• Personal and social connections
for finding & creating information
• As an educational exercise: good
academic outcomes and richer
experience for students
With thanks to the INf104 class of
2007/8 and the interviewees
Sheila Webber, 2008
and to CILASS for paying for the SL
island: Infolit iSchool
Sheila Webber, 2008
Sheila Webber
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://adventuresofyoshikawa.blogspot.com/
Sheila Yoshikawa
Powerpoint at: http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/
Sheila Webber, 2008
Other material• Flickr set on Infolit iSchool:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23396182@N00/collections/72157604063164433/
• Contributions from Webber about Infolit iSchool & education in SL in reports to the Eduserv Foundation by John Kirriemuir: see http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/studies/slsnapshots
• Infolit iSchool (our SL island) wiki: http://infolitischool.pbwiki.com/
• Margaret Ostrander’s MLIS research project on IB in SL is blogged at http://librariandreamer.wordpress.com/
Sheila Webber, 2008
References
• Ellis, D and Haugan, M. (1997) “Modelling the information seeking patterns of engineers and research scientists in an industrial environment.” Journal of documentation, 53 (4), 384-403.
• Erdelez, S. (1999) “Information encountering: it's more than just bumping into information.” Bulletin of the American Association for Information Science [Online], 25 (3), 25-29. http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Feb-99/erdelez.html
• Khan, P. and O´Rourke, K. (2005). “Understanding Enquiry-based Learning”, In: Barrett, T., Mac Labhrainn, I., Fallon, H. (eds), Handbook of Enquiry and Problem Based Learning. Galway: CELT.
• Mansourian, Y. and Ford, N. (2007) “Web searchers' attributions of success and failure: an empirical study.” Journal of Documentation, 63 (5), 659 – 679.
