This presentation offers an analysis of the new Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education by unpacking the IL Frames.

1. Embedding Information Literacy in Teaching
and Learning at the University of the Western
Cape (UWC)

2. 1. Resources
2. Changing programmes of IL
3. Learning Outcomes
4. Your role as Librarian in embedding IL in
teaching and learning
5. Additional load?
6. Collaboration?

3. Guidelines
For
Embedding information literacy
inTeaching and Learning at UWC
information literacy: a learning literacy
IL framework: 6 frames drafted by ACRL (Association
of College and Research Libraries) 2014
http://www.ala.org/acrl/ invite understanding of
what it means to use information to think, read and
write in a discipline (context)
Lloyd (2010): information literacy is a situated socio-
cultural practice

4. Literacies are social and situated
•Reading: comprehension, analysis, evaluation
•Thinking: visualising, synthesis, problem
solving
•Writing: articulation, shaping argument,
structure
Digital applications: searching, reading,
interacting, visualising, recording, writing –
multimodal communication

5. …IL as Socio-material
 As textual practices are transformed by emerging
technologies and theWeb 2.0 ecology, these practices
are reinterpreted by new understandings of literacy.
 Bhatt and de Roock’s study (2013) on the socio-
materiality of digital literacy events and Bhatt’s doctoral
thesis, (2014) A socio-material account of assignment
writing in Further Education classrooms
 The literacy practices that occur during research and
writing therefore also includes interaction with material
objects.
 Research is undertaken alongside a host of interrelated
behaviours

6. Interconnected elements
of an IL Frame
Threshold
Concept
Knowledge
Practices
Dispositions
Core
understandings
about
information
Abilities and
Proficiencies
Ways of
thinking and
behaviour

7. THE SIX FRAMES OFTHE
INFORMATION LITERACY
FRAMEWORK

8. 1. Scholarship is a Conversation
 no single, easy answer in scholarly
research
 discursive practice where ideas are
formulated, debated and weighed against
each other
 competing ideas give rise to fresh insights
and new discoveries – contesting and
reframing perspectives within a field
 students given opportunities to become
conversant with the discipline
 Knowledge is contested and uncertain

10. Scholarship is a
Conversation
The fact that the Universe is an orderly, harmonious
system has been debated over centuries ….
Galileo
Galilei
Isaac Newton
Ralph
Alpher
Edward
Kolb

11. Phillipe
Pinel
The arrival at the answer of institutionalisation as
the correct solution to the problem of mental
illness
Al Walid Ibn
Abdul Malik
William Tuke

12. Economic equality and the role of the government in the
capitalism v socialism debate has been on-going for many
years.
Scholarship is an ongoing
conversation
Capitalism

16. 2. Research as Inquiry
 Open-ended exploration and engagement with
information
 Iterative process – student has to rethink, rework,
explore, test concepts of their discipline
 Students need to be taught how to identify unresolved
issues and frame questions
 Students will uncover more complex questions as they
deepen their knowledge within a field
 Process includes various research methodologies and
different lines of inquiry
 Data collection and management requires students to
communicate with role players and practitioners in the
community, where they will learn how issues affect these
individuals.

17. Example of an assignment
 Is the “passion” gap (removal of the top four
incisor teeth) that is so prevalent on the
Cape Flats, a cultural phenomenon, fashion
statement or a result of poor dental
hygiene? Discuss your position and give
possible strategies to combat it.
 It involves doing interviews, with open –
ended questions, surveys and observations.
 (They will get a better picture of cultural
beliefs, personal perspectives and can follow
up on questions and have conversations.)

18. Example of an assignment
 Ask students to conduct original research based on
qualitative interviews, a form of research where people
are permitted to answer questions for themselves and
in their own terms.
 The interview-based assessment that is set requires
students to interview someone who was or who had
been involved in crime or the criminal justice system.
 Students will be taught to learn new ways of
investigating an issue
 They will value the possibility of discovering social
worlds about which they knew little
 May also use the opportunity to explore their own
social milieu.

19. 3.Authority of texts is
Contextual and Constructed
 Authority may be seen as the degree of
trust that is assigned to the source of
information
 Depends on the origin, information need
and context within which information will
be used

20. Markers of Authority ….
 external indicators such as peer reviewed
articles and credentials of the author
 origin, context and suitability for the
information need of the moment
 Authority is contextual in that the
information need may help determine the
level of authority required.

21. Authority as Contextual
 Check currency rate of eg. UK and RSA
 Quick currency convertor check – no need to
test the authority of the source
 But a dissertation on the Economics of Inflation
– study of currency – investigate the credibility
of the source

22. Authority as Contextual…
Scholarly Facebook page or
Scholarly peer - reviewed
publication?

23. Authority is Constructed…
 The “authority” of different information
sources tends to be determined by
disciplinary communities
 Acknowledges that certain voices are
elevated through established rules and
systems – social construction of knowledge
 All sources are not created equal,
authoritative voices exist in specific
categories of knowledge and
 Whereas the novice learner may rely on
superficial indicators of authority, the expert
recognises schools of thought or paradigms
within the discipline

25. 4. INFORMATION CREATION AS A PROCESS

26.  Scholarly communication is evolving and
knowledge is shared in different ways
 Each source of information has constraints and
capabilities. These characteristics as well as the
particular information need will determine how
the product is used
 The novice learner should understand the
importance of the creation process of each
information source. This will enable them to
make informed choices when matching the
source with the information need
 The expert researcher is able to recognise that
information sources are valued differently in
different contexts – academia or workplace

27. Format of Information How is it Created? How can I locate
information in this
format?
Newspapers
(online + print)
Interviews, reports,
investigations, research
Online via newspaper
websites.
Reading newspapers
Books Research, interviews Print copies( libraries,
bookshops)
Podcasts Audio recording Podcasting sites online
Journal Article Reading , research, thought,
debate, drafts, formal peer
review. May have been shaped
form a conference
presentation
Online or in print
Blog Online Blog websites

28. 5. Searching as Exploration
 Search strategy is not straight-forward and
sequential
 Involves inquiry, discovery and serendipity
 Discovery of one source can lead to other
sources or avenues of inquiry
 Basic and advanced search strategies,
interview techniques
 Should be able to match information need
and search strategy with appropriate search
tool

29. DATE RESEARCH
RESULTS AND
FINDINGS
THOUGHTS ON MY
PROGRESS
08/18 I found a Web site about
asthma and downloaded
information about the
causes of the illness. I also
visited in a chat room with
another teen who has
asthma.
So far, so good. Getting
information has
been easy. I’m finding out
a lot.
08/23 I wanted to interview Dr.
Anders, my asthma
specialist, but she is going
to be out of town for a few
days.
I think I waited too long to
call Dr. Anders. Now I’m
not sure if I will have
time to interview her and
still get the paper done.
Next time, I’ll start the
interviews early!
08/24 A packet of information
that I requested from one
of the online groups came
in today’s mail. It has a lot
of information about
athletes who have asthma
and still play sports.
This is great information! It
answers some of my
research questions. Best
of all, I got some tips on
how to play sports and not
get too short of breath.

30. 6. Information hasValue
 “Information possesses several dimensions of
value – as a commodity, as a means of education,
as a means of influence, and as a means of
negotiating and understanding the world”
(ACRL,2014)
 Students should understand their obligation to
cite and acknowledge the ideas of others
 Understand the differences between copyright,
open access and public domain
 Commerce acts as a barrier – students should
understand how their research strategy may be
affected by toll access.

31. Acknowledge the ideas of others…

32. Roles
 Library to work closely with relevant role-
players
 Teaching staff: application of 6 frames in
their coursework
 Framework offers a problem-based learning
pedagogy with several sample assignments
 Library to support lecturers by working with
Teaching and Learning Specialists - designing
learning outcomes and learning activities and
assessments

33. Our story so far…
 Faculty Librarians have been trained to understand and
apply the new IL Frames
 Library drafted Guidelines for the Embedding of IL in
Teaching and Learning at UWC
 Shared Guidelines and held presentations on the 6 IL
Frames with all Faculties atTeaching and Learning
Committee meetings, Board meetings and seminars
 Positive feedback from Faculties - Invited to offer
workshops/consultations at departmental level to
discuss and design how IL may be embedded via
learning activities and assessments