There is no policy regarding information literacy as of yet at the schools where I have taught in Victoria. There seems to be a common understanding in many schools of information literacy that it is to be taught almost exclusively in the Humanities, with the occasional STEM teacher experimenting with its implementation as an isolated exercise in professional learning. Transfer of knowledge and skills across subjects and stages could be more explicitly linked by creating multiple exposures to metacognitive discussion of information literacy processes and drawing on prior experiences with inquiry learning to counter many of the impeding assumptions identified by Herring (2011) that to many overlooked opportunities for explicit teaching.
Information literacy in schools in addition to suffering from a lack of sustained, whole school approaches can be further limited when pigeonholed into media literacy and ICT electives and when digital citizenship is taught as a unit in isolation and not authentically embedded in the curriculum design of each subject. One of the basic demands of citizenship in the digital age is being able to communicate knowledge and understanding collaboratively using emerging technology. Assuming that the methods of communicating subject specific knowledge and understanding are identical in the digital information landscape devalues the complexity and nuance of the growth and development within each discourse.
My individual approach the convergence of digital citizenship and literacy is in line with the opinions of Michael Wesch, who has advanced the discussion of digital citizenship in schools to ask new questions unique to the digital world revolving around algorithms ( Waters,2012). His argument that helping students to understand the constructed nature of the digital world they inhabit is the first step in scaffolding a new model of citizenship is powerful. Certainly, the movement towards online learning during the lockdowns in Victoria have exposed the cognitive dissonance in the lives of many students who have undergone an unforeseen convergence of two, once very separate social spheres and realities blurring into one.
The ethics of digital citizenship are dependent upon information literacy. The capacity of learners to navigate a changing social reality are likewise dependent upon their capabilities in transliteracy. Sukovic (2014) has stated how ”when educators provide connecting spaces for the transfer of skills, insights and modalities, students can find the niche that fits them” (P. 227). It is clear that by embedding and enacting guided inquiry across curriculum, TLs can maximise the opportunities to provide these connecting spaces that increasingly determine the ways and forms young people as individuals articulate their identities and values in a global digital society.
References
Herring, J (2011). Assumptions, Information Literacy and Transfer in High Schools. Teacher Librarian. Feb2011, Vol. 38 Issue 3, p32-36. 5p.
Sukovic, Suzana (2014-09-18). “iTell: Transliteracy and Digital Storytelling”. Australian Academic & Research Libraries. 45 (3): 205–229.
Waters, J.K. (2012). Turning students into good digital citizens.THEJournal, 9 April.sh