information literacy as a discipline: a contemporary perspective

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


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)


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


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

[email protected]

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

[email protected]

• 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