Sheila WebberBill Johnston

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Information Literacy in the Curriculum Selected
findings from a phenomenographic study of UK
academics' conceptions of, and pedagogy for,
Information Literacy in four disciplines

• Sheila Webber, University of Sheffield
• Bill Johnston, University of Strathclyde
• September 2004

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Outline

• Information Literacy
• Higher Education context
• Research questions and methodology
• Findings fo Marketing academics
• Discussion

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Information Literacy our definition
Information literacy is the adoption of
appropriate information behaviour to identify,
through whatever channel or medium, information
well fitted to information needs, leading to wise
and ethical use of information in society. A key
discipline of the information society
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Information Literacy UNESCO- sponsored "Prague
declaration" (2003)
Information Literacy encompasses knowledge of
ones information concerns and needs, and the
ability to identify, locate, evaluate, organize
and effectively create, use and communicate
information to address issues or problems at
hand it is a prerequisite for participating
effectively in the Information Society, and is
part of the basic human right of life long
learning.
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Bruce "7 faces" model

• 1.      IT conception
• 2.      Information Sources conception 3.     
  Information process conception 4.     
  Information control conception 5.      Knowledge
  construction conception 6.      Knowledge
  extension conception 7.      Wisdom conception
• (Bruce, 1997)

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UK Higher Education context

• Government policy - aiming for 50 participation
  greater diversity - without same growth in
  resources
• Employability/ key skills focus
• Students having to pay for their education
  (tuition fees, loans, part-time jobs)
• Teaching quality assessment
• Research Assessment Exercise (QAA)

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Research project

• Three-year, 130,000 Arts Humanities Research
  Board (AHRB) - funded project (Nov 2002- Oct
  2005)
• To explore UK academics conceptions of, and
  pedagogy for, information literacy

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Key research questions

• 1.  What conceptions of information literacy are
  held by UK academics?
• 2. What are academics conceptions and reported
  practice in educating students for information
  literacy?
• 3. Do differences in conception correspond to
  differences in discipline?

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Approach

• Phenomenographic study Interviews and Analysis
• 20 interviews x 4 disciplines
• Hard Pure Chemistry
• Hard Applied Civil Engineering
• Soft Pure English Literature
• Soft Applied Marketing
• Academics from 26 different universities
• Survey of wider practice Questionnaires and
  Analysis

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• "Phenomenography is the empirical study of the
  differing ways in which people experience,
  perceive, apprehend, understand, conceptualise
  various phenomena in and aspects of the world
  around us.
• Marton (1994)

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Sample Marketing academics

• 12 male / 8 female 15 UK nationality
• Ages in ranges 21-30 to 51-60
• Years of teaching in ranges 0-5 to 26-30
• All taught undergrads, 18 taught Masters, 8 PhDs
• 10 course/programme coordinators
• 12 universities 4 post-1992/ 8 pre-1992
• RAE ratings 2 - 5
• Teaching quality grades Satisfactory - Excellent

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Interviews

• Approx. 45 min. each
• 3 basic questions
• What is your conception of IL?
• How do you engage your students in IL?
• What is your conception of the Information
  Literate University?

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Dimensions of Variation 1 Information literacy
as

• 1. Accessing information quickly and easily to be
  aware of whats going on
• 2. Using IT to work with information efficiently
  and effectively
• 3. Possessing a set of information skills and
  applying them to the task in hand
• 4. Using information literacy to solve real-world
  problems
• 5. Becoming critical thinkers
• 6. Becoming a confident, independent practitioner

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Example of "information"

• referring to a hodge-podge of sources
  Various journals that I subscribe to, different
  texts from the library, a number of sources that
  we get from the library. And then a host of more
  personal contacts, uh, colleagues, interacting by
  e-mail with people inside and across the world,
  generally things like conversations in the coffee
  room, and something as simple as observation.
  (20)
• Examples include formal and informal sources,
  print and electronic, also sometimes tools used
  to access/manipulate information.

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Dimensions of Variation 2 Focus of pedagogy .

• The subject (marketing)
• The course of study
• Self
• Assumptions about students
• Student expectations
• Student understanding

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Categories of descriptionPedagogy for
Information Literacy as

• 1. Someone elses job
• Its my job in a two hour lecture to lecture to
  them on the subject area for two hours. Uh,
  when I go to a lecture I teach in a lecture. I
  dont teach them how to use the library. I dont
  teach them how to use the internet. I dont teach
  them how to do electronic searches. (13).

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Categories of descriptionPedagogy for
Information Literacy as

• 2. Upgrading students information toolbox at an
  appropriate point
• Well, it means having a, uh, a kind of toolbox
  of skills that I can show the students how to
  use. But I should point out that I dont teach a
  lot of information literacy, not as it would be
  called information literacy, but there are
  important bits or specific tools that I do bring
  out for different classes. (14)

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Categories of descriptionPedagogy for
Information Literacy as

• 3. Facilitating access to a variety of resources
• As an educator, I suppose it would mean, um,
  well, if we are talking about education, then I
  suppose it information literacy would
  meanbecause my first answer was based on
  researchI suppose this would mean more about
  using it in teaching and teaching other people
  where to get information from, and what exists
  out there, and how to get a hold of it. (18)

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 4. Showing students how and when to use
  information skills
• Aside from all the stuff they have to learn
  about what this topic is, I like them to learn,
  um, how to find things out to use for essays and
  the resources that are available on the computer
  and in the library. I like them to learn, um, a
  more practical side of things like communication
  and discussion and things like that, but I dont
  know if youd class that as information skills or
  not. But I think that the learning experience is
  about, um, can you go out and work at the end of
  the degree and not just can you recite who wrote
  this particular journal article in 1978? (03)

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Pedagogy for Information Literacy as

• 5. Helping students understand how information
  literacy is critical to them, for marketing
  life
• The MBA is all about learning to swim in
  information and to make heads or tails of where
  you are and where you need to go. (01)
• I want them to think about information. I want
  them to feel like they can really participate. I
  put a lot of pressure on the students to get
  interactive, to go out and to learn. I want them
  to see that information is essential and that it
  doesnt have to be boring." (20)

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Implications for student learning

• Discussion!

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s.webber_at_sheffield.ac.ukb.johnston_at_strath.ac.uks
.j.boon_at_sheffield.ac.uk
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More information

• Project Website
• http//dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/project/
• Information Literacy Weblog
• http//ciquest.shef.ac.uk/infolit/
• Information Literacy Place
• http//dis.shef.ac.uk/literacy/

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References

• Bruce, C. (1997) The seven faces of information
  literacy. Adelaide Auslib Press.
• Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2003) Information
  literacy in higher education a review and case
  study. Studies in higher education, 28 (3),
  335-352.
• Marton, F. (1994) "Phenomenography." In Husén, T
  Postlethwaite, N. (Eds) International
  Encyclopaedia of Education.2nd ed, Vol. 8.
  Pergamon. pp. 4424 4429
• Prague Declaration (2003) http//www.nclis.gov/lib
  inter/infolitconfmeet/post-infolitconfmeet/post-
  infolitconfmeet.html