Information Literacy
as a discipline: a
contemporary
perspective
Sheila Webber
Bill Johnston
Dubrovnik, October 2014
Outline
• Beyond definitions and descriptions
• The indicators of a discipline and IL
• Disciplines and pedagogical research
• ACRL Framework 2014/15
• The discipline and the person
Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
“There are more than enough definitions
which enumerate characteristics of
information literacy. What is needed is
further analysis of information literacy as a
coherent field of study”
Webber and Johnston, 2000: 395
Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
IL and the indicators of a discipline
• Becher and Trowler (2001) identify indicators of a
discipline
– The existence of professional associations and journals
– The degree to which an international community has emerged
– The existence of academic departments (not yet!)
– Graduate students
– Identification with the discipline
– Distinctive language
– Knowledge and research base
• We identified IL as a soft applied discipline
See: Johnston and Webber (2006); Webber (2010) Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
Threshold
Concepts
Thinking &
Practising in the
disciplines
Variation Theory
Phenomenographic
Research
Pedagogical research on disciplines’
teaching and learning: some key strands
Approaches to
Learning Entwistle &
Tomlinson
(2007) Marton,
Hounsell
and
Entwistle
(1984)
Meyer &
Land
(2003)
Teaching-
Learning
Environment
Akerlind,
McKenzie,
Lupton, and
Trigwell
(2010)
Constructive
alignment
Biggs & Tang (4th ed.) (2011)
Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
ACRL revisions as stimulus
• ACRL’s proposed IL Framework for Higher
Education identifies Threshold Concepts (TC),
throwing a contemporary focus on the discipline of IL
• You cannot have TCs without having a subject or
discipline within which the TCs reside: they are
identified by disciplinary experts
• By accepting the TC account of disciplines and
disciplinary teaching, ACRL has provided further
substance to the case for IL as a discipline in its own
right and not a package of personal information skills Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
Knowldege & research base:
Core elements
• Information Literacy
• Information behaviour
• Learning
• The diagram in the next slide also indicates areas of research activity
Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
Information literate
person
Information economy: •Law
•Changes in media
•Pricing etc
Organisational culture: •Mission; Values; Norms
•Management style; ways of working
•Information strategy
Personal goals,
relationships, habits,
special needs
Local & national
culture & society
Technical changes
The information literate person in a changing
information culture and society
Johnston & Webber 2013
Based on Webber and Johnston, 2000
Sheila Webber
Information School
University of Sheffield
Twitter: @sheilayoshikawa
http://information-literacy.blogspot.com/
http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/
Photo and
graphics:Sheila
Webber
Bill Johnston
Honorary Research Fellow
University of Strathclyde
• Akerlind, G., McKenzie, J., Lupton, M., Trigwell, K. (2010) Threshold Concepts and Variation Theory. http://thresholdvariation.edu.au/
• Association of College and Research Libraries. (2014). Draft for comment. http://acrl.ala.org/ilstandards/?page_id=133
• Becher, T. and Trowler, P. (2001). Academic tribes and territories: intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines. (2nd ed.) Milton Keynes, England: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press.
• Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university. (4th ed.) Milton Keynes, England: Open University Press.
• Entwistle, N. and Tomlinson, P. (Eds.) (2007). Student learning and university teaching. (pp. 73-90). Leicester, England: British Psychological Society.
• Johnston, B. and Webber, S. (2006). As we may think: Information Literacy as a discipline for the information age. Research strategies, 20 (3), 108-121.
• Marton, F., Hounsell, D. and Entwistle, N. (Eds.) (1984) The experience of learning. Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Academic Press.
• Meyer, J. and Land, R. (2003). Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge: linkages to ways of thinking and practicing within the disciplines. http://www.etl.tla.ed.ac.uk/docs/ETLreport4.pdf
• Webber, S., Boon, S. and Johnston, B. (2006). Comparison of UK academics’ conceptions of teaching information literacy in different disciplines. In Actes des 5èmes Rencontres Formist: Lyon: 2005 (pp.1-17). Lyon, France: ENSSIB.
• Webber, S. (2010) La culture l’informationnelle: un domain d’etude international. In: Chapron, F. and Delamontte, E. (Eds) L’education a la culture informationnelle. (pp 102-113) Villerbanne, France: ENSSIB. Sheila Webber & Bill Johnston, 2014
References