Journalism and Information Literacy

Really interesting article:
Lief, Louise. “What the news media can learn from librarians.” Columbia Journalism Review, October 24, 2016 at http://www.cjr.org/innovations/librarians_journalism_lessons.php

"Why librarians? Their job is to navigate the world of information, help scholars and students get what they need, and distinguish good information from bad." 

Information literacy "principles help students to pay attention to the source of information, ask whether it can be verified, and consider the context. Success... is when a student inquires, 'Says who? Based on what authority? What evidence?' An outstanding practitioner goes further and refutes inaccurate information."

"It’s a dynamic process that occurs through conversation and discourse."

"Seen on their mobile devices, snippets of life—tragic, joyful, heroic, unjust—scroll by on a screen, accompanied by personalized ads. Opinion and sentiment outweigh facts. It’s difficult to place information in context or understand underlying causes.... "

"The librarians encourage users to focus on inquiry rather than opinion, to evaluate a range of sources, take into account diverse viewpoints and perspectives, and to develop the ability to pursue new avenues as they gain new understanding.

They also urge users to assess the value of information in its various forms. Is it being used as a commodity, a way to understand the world, a means to influence, a path to educate, or some combination of these? They regard users not only as knowledge consumers, but also as knowledge creators."

Metaliteracy Model; Threshold Concepts

Jacobson, Trudi E., and Thomas P. Mackey. "Proposing a metaliteracy model to redefine information literacy." Communications in Information Literacy 7.2 (2013): 84-91. http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path[]=v7i2p84

• Jacobson and Mackey see the metaliteracy model as a kind of unified theory for information literacy, but what I see is informed learning as reflected in Harlan, Mary Ann, Christine Bruce, and Mandy Lupton's "Teen Content Creators: Experiences of using Information to Learn." Library Trends 60.3 (2012): 569-87. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/1009906531?accountid=39473  as discussed in my previous blog post.
• The blogsite http://metaliteracy.org/  includes learning objectives, practice (assignments), and the article mentions a Metaliteracy MOOC with a badging system (gamification or continuing ed credits?).
• The best thing they do is to tie their work to SCONUL's Seven pillars and UNESCO's Paris OER declaration, along with UNESCO's Media and information literacy curriculum for teachers.

Hofer, Amy R., Lori Townsend, and Korey Brunetti. "Troublesome concepts and information literacy: Investigating threshold concepts for IL instruction." portal: Libraries and the academy 12.4 (2012): 387-405. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v012/12.4.hofer.html

I have some trouble with this trio's conceptions of threshold concepts in info lit:

• Metadata=findability (402). I think metadata is key to findability, but am not certain that students need to understand and recognize as much as Hofer et al state.
• Good searches use database structure (402). Yes, I agree that (like communities--Harlan et al), information has an underlying system of organization, whether it seems logical or not to newcomers. I think this is closer to a threshold concept than "Good searches use database structure."
• Information as a Commodity (403) --  this is a capitalist viewpoint, a frontier economy concept. It is what has contributed to our current journal and textbook pricing crisis. If reframed, one could say that information is part of community, and as Harlan et al saw, students see the value of giving credit when they belong to the community and are modeling their own work on others'. 
• Research Solves Problems -- does it? Sometimes, but not always. Experimentation is part of learning, and at GVSU many academics try to connect their (or their students') research to the community, but is this essential?

 I do like: 

• Format as a Process (403), meaning that format is a result of the process of creating information and that it may be important to evaluate it accordingly.
• Authority is Constructed and Contextual -- "what constitutes authority changes depending on the context" along with Harlan et al's idea that each community creates its own criteria for trusted sources.
• "Primary Source" is an Exact and Conditional Category. Sources are "created and used differently in different disciplines" and should "be considered ... in ... context" but may shift to another category "when viewed through a different disciplinary ... lens."

Ianuzzi, Patricia Anne. "Info lit 2.0 or Déjà Vu?" Communications in Information Literacy 7.2 (2013): 98-107.  http://www.comminfolit.org/index.php?journal=cil&page=article&op=view&path[]=v7i2p98

I agree with Ianuzzi's assertions that we don't need a re-statement of the info lit standards, but rather an integration into existing frameworks of learning outcomes such as:

The Lumina Foundation. (2011). Degree Qualifications Profile. http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/The_Degree_Qualifications_Profile.pdf "so that the outcomes are 1) introduced, reinforced, and applied to the discipline[s] through integration with disciplinary context; and 2) demonstrated through a culminating experience" (102). Teaching needs to include "authentic formative assessments" which "scale" and can be collected for "program and institutional evidence of success" along with involving "students in their own assessment" and including summative assessment (103). She mentions the CLA, which GVSU tried and rejected as too costly, the
Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP), or the Educational Testing Service (ETS) Proficiency Profile (formerly MAAP) as other possibilities (is GVSU using either?). Ianuzzi states that SAILS does NOT assess info lit, but that the iSkills from ETS does, although it "is expensive and can be difficult to administer" (104). However, "true assessment of student learning is through direct assessment of academic work. E-portfolios...." Ianuzzi recommends that ACRL "work with higher ed associations...(i.e., AAC&U),"...focus on clarifying info lit in "existing national frameworks," help with curriculum mapping development models, and "partner to promote already developed, normed, and reliable rubrics...."(105). She stresses that librarians "need to partner on course and curriculum design, possess technology as well as pedagogical skills, and struggle to partner with faculty who believe the ownership of the course and the curriculum begins and ends with the instructor" (106).

Threshold concepts

Meyer, Jan H.F., Ray Land, and Caroline Baillie (eds.). Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning. Sense Publishers, 2010.

Page 3 definition of "proactive knowledge." Page 7 = correspondence to deep learning as extended by Ramsden to include the transfer of knowledge to new situations/problems, & the application of informed learning. Page 9 includes alertness, positive attitude, & ability to apply knowledge as part of "proactive knowledge." Alertness has to include "weakly cued" situations (p.12), & include "freeform noticing & self-initiated engagement" -- "intrinsic motivation" (p.14). Page 16 despite this book's denial of "deep learning" and phenomenography, it acknowledges the need to accept variation, disciplinary contexts, process, & transformation (variation theory, etc., are part of C. Bruce's underpining of informed learning).

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Christine S. Bruce, Mary M. Somerville, Ian Stoodley, Helen Partridge (2013), Diversifying Information Literacy Research: An Informed Learning Perspective, in Mark Hepworth, Geoff Walton (ed.) Developing People’s Information Capabilities (Library and Information Science, Volume 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.223-240. DOI: 10.1108/S1876-0562(2013)0000008018 ; http://library.catalog.gvsu.edu/record=b3570873~S19

"Informed learning attends to variation in peoples' information experiences rather than their skills or attributes. Within the framework of informed learning, ... information literacy education ... [is] changing awareness of people's experiences of using information to learn" (225). "a holistic approach to understanding information use" ... takes into account the interrelations between people and their environment" (226).

"Key principles... include:  ...

• ... simultaneous attention to information use and discipline content.
• Emphasizing learners' awareness, either of different aspects of how they use information to learn, or of different facets of one aspect....
• ...inseparable connection between people and their world," (226-7)

"holistic social context...importance of each individual as a contributing member of the social group.... reciprocal relationships between one's social groups and the natural world. ... involved all dimensions of one's being while providing both personal development and technical skills through participation in community life.... essentially a community integrated expression of environmental education" (Cajete, 1994, p. 26 as quoted in Bruce et al, p.234).
"lives are truly and profoundly connected to other people and the physical world, reflecting a deep relationality" (ibid).

"Such a framework suggests a way of being in the world, as well as experiencing the world, in which learning is cultivated within a community culture that values information and knowledge closely intertwined with the experience of using information to learn. This approach to learning departs significantly from Western societies' assumptions about information and learning" (234).

"In the interpretive tradition...some researchers focus on...the way in which people in different contexts build meaning together...."
"learning groups or communities ... are grounded in specific contexts. Significant diversity exists in the kind of information or knowledge that is valued.... In spiritually grounded cultures, ... emphasis [lies] on experiencing information as transformational and subjective.... Information in these cultures appears also as purposeful and intentional" (235). "... information...becomes part of a process that determines action, enables insights, creates a work of art" (Bruce, 2008, p.101, as quoted in Bruce et al, p. 236).

"Such insights highlight the need for educators...to ensure that they understand the information experience of the communities they serve instead of assuming the validity of pre-existing information literacy standards and models" (236).

"it may not be useful to continue to treat academic, workplace and community settings as separated" (Lloyd, 2010, as summarized in Bruce et al, p.237) ... "perspectives intermingle" (237).

"Understanding information experience from multiple perspectives ... has the potential to guide...practitioners, in refining their practice, since the experience of information use is pervasive across settings" (237).

"Future agendas"
"d. The need to enquire into whether the language of informed learning counters the dominating assumption that information literacy is comprised of skills and behaviours to be learned" (237).

[Conclusion]
"information use...is...creative, transformational and collectively achieved. [rather than paternalistic, "controlled and correct"] ... socially grounded ways of understanding...constructed in and through relationships; [w/fac liaisons, e.g., DW, VV, MV] spiritual information and spiritual experiences as different from conventional understandings..." (238).

TO READ:
Harlan, Mary Ann, Christine Bruce, and Mandy Lupton. "Teen Content Creators: Experiences of using Information to Learn." Library Trends 60.3 (2012): 569-87.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/1009906531?accountid=39473

Somerville, Mary M., and EchoHawk, Dana. (2011). Recuerdos Hablados/Memories spoken: Toward the co-creation of digital knowledge with community significance. Library Trends, 59(4), 650-662.  http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/868866506?accountid=39473