Part C Reflective practice

Literacy is the foundation of our profession as Teacher Librarians. To me, literacy was simply reading and writing. During the subject I reflected on what literacy means (Powell, April 22, 2019). I realised it is a complex mix of listening, looking, reading, writing, comprehending and understanding. The importance of information literacy (IL) in the 21^st century has become clear to me. The complexity, the need for focus and different implementations of IL have become apparent. Jannet Taylor (2019) sums it up beautifully on the discussion board: ‘I can’t teach a child everything they need to know for the future, but what I can do is teach them how to learn.’

The term information literacy is not easily explained. There is no clear agreement about what information literacy is. The capacity for people to recognise their information needs, locate and evaluate information, collect and store information, use information in an effective and ethical way, and apply information to create and communicate knowledge is the way the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) describes information literacy (Catts & Lau, 2008). The UNESCO acknowledges the importance of IL skills for people to be lifelong learners and even included it their Information for All Programme (IFAP) as a basic human right. The Australian School Library Association (ASLA) and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) released a joint statement describing what information literacy means in the context of an information literate school community.  The statement calls for a framework “to ensure all the targeted skills are identified and taught strategically and sequentially within the context of the school’s curriculum” (ASLA & ALIA, 2016).

The problem with the increased importance of Information Literacy, is the need for students to develop skills, to navigate their way through the maze of information. Students struggle with the various aspects of gathering information online, searching and evaluating being two of them (McGrew, et all. 2018).  This is something I see in my Stage 2 and 3 classes during research tasks. The students do not know how to find the right information, what questions to ask and what is valuable to their topic. As a TL, it is my job to teach them these skills.

Whilst exploring the IL models mentioned in the modules, I got excited! I wanted to learn more. During a recent conference, I had the privilege to attend a workshop by June Wall. Wall is the NSW Department of Education and Training Library Coordinator, and in the process of developing an Information Fluency Framework for New South Wales schools based on the ISP (Department of Education, 2017). She spoke about how information literacy is a process and an outcome of this process is information fluency.  Information fluency is the ability to think critically while engaging with, create and using information and technology regardless of what platform (Wall, 2019). The pyramid Wall used is shown in my blog (Powell, May 10, 2019). This should be what we are aiming for as TLs; students who think critically, solve problems while being creative and innovative. As Trish Templeton mentions in her blog; ‘The role of the TL in this changing information landscape, is to ensure that all students have access to information and have the ability to seek, use and share that information in a variety of formats” (Templeton, 2019).

The information literacy model that resonated the most with me is the Guided Inquiry Design (GID). The deeper learning experienced through GID really inspires me to teach my inquiry lessons this way. The students are guided through the process of learning and information gathering (Maniotes, 2018). Students can ask thoughtful questions and learn because they are curious about a question or topic.

Teaching students the skills to become information literate, is a process that needs to be taught from Kindergarten onward. According to the NSW Department of Education (2017) all students, from Kindergarten to Year 12, need the opportunities to develop expertise in using the information process. As TLs, we are at the forefront of this development. It will be our job to teach, arrange, support and develop. Although my understanding of IL and the models used to teach these skills, has expanded immensely during the subject, I still stand by my discussion board entry (4.1b. Inquiry learning, April 12, 2019) regarding the contradictions in the school curriculum. The push towards inquiry-based learning but the need for standardised testing and data collection, has the system at opposing ends of the spectrum. Until this is resolved, a true inquiry-based learning framework will be hard to implement in Australian schools.

ETL 401 Reference list Part C

Australian School Library Association & Australian  Library and Information Association, (2016). Information Literacy. Retrieved from https://www.asla.org.au/information-literacy

Catts, R. & Lau, J. (2008). Towards Information Literacy. Retrieved from UNESCO Digital Library: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000158723

Department of Education. (2017). The information process. Retrieved from Learning across the curriculum: https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/school-libraries/teaching-and-learning/information-skills/the-information-process

Maniotes, L. (2018). Guided Inquiry Design in Action, Elementary school. Santa Barbara: Libraries Umlimited.

McGrew, S. B. (2018). Can Students Evaluate Online Sources? Learning from Assessments of Civic Online Reasoning. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46(2), 165-193

Powell, C. (2019). Carolien’s Blog. Retrieved from Thinkspace: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/carolien/2019/04/22/literacy/

Powell, C. (2019). Carolien’s Blog. Retrieved from Thinkspace: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/carolien/2019/04/22/information-literacy/

Powell, C. (2019). Discussion Board. Thread 4.1b. Inquiry learning. Retrieved from Interact2: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard

Taylor, J.  (2019). Discussion Board. Thread 5.3b. Guided Inquiry. Retrieved from Interact2: https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard

Templeton, T. (2019). Trish’s trek into bookspace. Retrieved from Thinkspace: https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/trish/2019/04/30/digital-literacy-and-its-impact-on-pedagogy-and-the-role-of-a-tl/

Wall, J. (2019). Information Fluency. Retrieved from https://mantleconference.weebly.com/june-wall.html