Information Literacy: a learning-focussed approach

1. Information Literacy: a learning-focussed approach Sharon Markless King’s College London Senior Associate, Information Management Associates Independent Consultant

2. “It makes no sense to decide how one is going to teach before one has made some study of how people learn.” (Eric Sotto When Teaching becomes Learning 1994) and yet... much information literacy work is planned for teaching rather than for learning.

3. Sessions I have seen • Start from lists of skills and strategies that users ‘need’ to know/use • Content heavy; “we only get them for a short time” • Structured according to the logic of the content and in the image of the librarian • Based on ‘listen, watch, repeat the steps’; a transmission model of teaching; librarians claim to support independence and activity but deliver passive learning • Ignore students’ own conceptual frameworks and strategies; expect them to graft on new information

4. What are we trying to achieve? • analytical and critical information users • problem-solvers, applying strategies, skills and concepts appropriately • Synthesisers, able to see connections • Constructors of new understanding and meaning • flexible thinkers Is all this possible using a transmission model? How do people learn to behave like this?

5. “We teachers and others are in the grip of an astonishing delusion. We think we can take a picture, a structure, a working model of something constructed in our minds out of long experience and familiarity, and by turning it into a string of words or actions transplant it whole into the mind of someone else…” (John Holt, in Sotto q.v.)

6. The way forward? A shift in emphasis from teaching to learning • understand the magnitude of the changes you want - what sort of learning? • genuine curiosity about how learners think about and do things; start with them • understand that people learn new strategies/ behaviours in different ways but there are some basic structures/principles • interactions to reflect appropriate theories and principles (what is your role?)

7. Some particular challenges in enhancing Information Literacy • learners’ interactions with information are complex and not fully understood • the search process has cognitive and emotional, as well as behavioural, aspects • confusion, hesitation and uncertainty must be acknowledged as part of the search process • students need to own the search process: it must fit into how they think and operate

8. What we need to know about learning • What factors support effective learning? How can we influence them? • How does learning occur? (Key learning theories e.g. construction, problem-solving, building on experience, deep v surface) • Different approaches to learning (styles, preferences) “There is nothing so practical as good theory.” (Michael Fullan 1991)

9. Influences on effective learning: • Relevance • real needs/ real consequences • timeliness • clear achievable goals • active engagement/challenge • feedback answers ‘what can I do to improve?’ • feeling valued and respected • ownership/choices/responsibility

10. Building on key factors • engage students in discussion about their expectations of the library • work to meet the information needs and problems that students have at the time • involve students in looking at how they currently find things/use information • focus on how students can become more effective and efficient

11. Learning theories 1 Behaviourist Focus on skills and behaviour Highly structured Small sequential steps Feedback/reinforcement Teacher control What is this theory useful for? What are we trying to achieve?

12. Learning theories 2 Cognitive Focus on meaning and understanding Active participation and enquiry Problem – solving Constructing knowledge from information Resource rich Teacher sets up problems/tasks

13. What theory underpins your sessions? Skinner – fixed world of knowledge; transmission to learners; bolt-on Vygotsky/Piaget – scaffolding; zone of proximal intervention; conceptual development; built in/embedded Bruner – construction of meaning; discussion; review and reflection; integrated

14. Implications of learning as construction for session design • Rich, problem-solving environment • Authentic contexts and tasks rather than predetermined instructional sequences • Reflective practice • Focus on knowledge construction not reproduction (deep versus surface learning)

15. Surface learning v deep learning Surface learning: recall, recite, repeat • structure based on content • transmission of lots of knowledge • didactic strategies Deep learning: critical analysis, understanding/insight, application of knowledge, problem solving • participation/ activity essential • Recap, summarize, choose key learning points • careful structuring to include reflection and analysis ‘Different approaches for different ends.’

16. Experiential learning cycle The experiential learning cycle

17. Scaffolding “The most important single factor influencing learning is what the learner already knows; ascertain this then you can determine where the gaps are and teach him accordingly” (Ausubel: 1968) “Establish what meanings and concepts the learner has already generated from their backgrounds, abilities and experiences and then find ways of helping them generate new meanings and concepts. This is where teaching starts.” (Wittrock: 1986)

18. Problem solving “Adults learn from problems rather than from subjects. ” (Daines: 1992) “A good teacher will be able to clarify the nature of the problem and have the generosity to give learners the opportunity to discover the solution for themselves. The only way of really learning something is to grapple actively with it … a teacher’s task is to tell learners what to look for, without telling them what to see…” (Sotto, op.cit.)

19. Setting Problems • devise questions to which learners seek answers using their experience, existing strategies and extra high quality support material that you provide (e.g. instructions, worksheets, diagrams, information on search engines). • encourage learners to discuss answers in order to clarify their ideas, analyse their strategies, or formulate questions to ask you • choose questions/tasks carefully and monitor • resist the urge to get in there and do something

20. Learning approaches and preferences • Research into :learning styles :cognitive styles • ‘A useful tool for reflection on one’s own teaching practice and beliefs about ‘good’ teaching and learning - how individuals prefer to learn can heavily influence how they teach. • ‘A framework to think about the range of teaching strategies used and why things might not be working; a basis on which to introduce more variety into teaching.’

21. Learning preferences Activist Reflector Random learners; open ended; self-directed Pragmatist Theorist Logical sequential learners; clear structure and direction

22. Approaches to learning Abstract ……………… Concrete Diverger ……………… Converger Scanner ………………. Focuser Holistic ………………. Serialistic Reflective …………….. Impulsive

23. Promoting the educational role of the librarian • Planning for learning • Real evaluation/reflection on how students have learned • Action research • Analysis of e-learning materials

24. “Key principles of learning provide an exciting basis from which a library programme can be developed. They define the functions and roles of the library team…; they become the basis of criteria for the development of resources; they shape the allocation of physical space…” Ross Todd, Virtual Paper at IASL conference, 2001