Discussion of information literacy in this module are diverse and interesting. In your journal, reflect on what you can take from the discussion of information literacy to your TL role in school.
We need to take the behaviourist and the sociological perspectives to understand the definition of information literacy. The behaviourist perspective supports the idea that information literacy is a set of learned skills-based, where individual achieves competence in the development and execution of certain skills. The sociological perspective emphasizes on the collaborative aspects of meaning making and information exchange necessary for participatory work.
Information and technology literacy is clearly the basic skills set of the 21st century. Information and technology affects people in all settings – education, public service, work and every day life in the information society. TLs should aim at preparing students to equip with a set of skills and competencies which will enables them to enter the workplace.
TLs are the leaders of information literacy instruction. TLs need to have a good understanding of information literacy closely linked to the learning environment and teaching. Although the concept of information literacy can be diverse, we can always measure the learners’ information literacy by using a more skills-based approach (Herring, 2009). The skill set for information literacy can be taught explicitly in the inquiry based learning which TLs and teachers can work and plan collaboratively in school (Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2015).
Reference:
Herring, J. (2009). A grounded analysis of Year 8 students’ reflections on information lieracyskills and techniques. School Libraries Worldwide, 15/1, 1-13
Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari, A. K. (2015). Assessing and evaluating. In Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century. 2nd edition (pp. 149-161) Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited