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The Obstacle of Ignorance

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 10 months ago

 

The Obstacle of Ignorance

 

in the Creation of an

 

Information Literacy School Community

 

Katie Day

katie.appleton.day@gmail.com

 

Charles Sturt University

May 2004

 

 

Education is the acquisition of the art of the utilization of knowledge. This is an art very difficult to impart.


Culture is activity of thought, and receptiveness to beauty and humane feeling. Scraps of information have nothing to do with it. A merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God’s earth.

 

Alfred North Whitehead

The aims of education (1929)

 

 

Whitehead’s (1929) definitions of education and culture can be considered early takes on information literacy (IL), a term now slowing entering mainstream discourse. It featured in two articles in the New York Times earlier this year – in contrast to only two occurrences in the previous nine years. Nunberg (2005) calls IL a phrase whose time seems to have come, while Zeller (2005) reports on the new information and communications technology (ICT) literacy assessment test now available in the U.S. (see also ETS 2005).

 

The extended concept – an information literate school community (ILSC) – may follow suit, but, for now, while the term might generate a multitude of hits in Google, searches of the New York Times and the BBC news archives produce nothing. Apparently it is still germinating within school library circles, nutured mainly by teacher/librarians (T/Ls) at the moment.

 

This paper will explore the concepts of IL and an ILSC, T/Ls’ role in creating such a community, and a major obstacle to this role at Dulwich International College (DIC), the 18-months-to-18-years British international school in Thailand, offering the UK National Curriculum, somewhat modified for international students, as well as the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma – where I am the primary librarian.

 

 

IL is widely recognized by governments as an important attribute for citizens in the modern world – an era usually distinguished from the Industrial Age with some epithet relating to information, e.g., the Information Age (Langford 1999b) or the Communication Age (Kapitzke 2003b) – which supports movements toward lifelong learning, a learning society, and knowledge generation (Darling-Hammond 1997, cited in Asselin 2004). Less than a month ago a thematic debate on IL held by UNESCO (2005) asserted that ‘information literacy should be a basic human right in a digital world’.

 

The adjective ‘21st century’ is often associated with IL – stressing its importance to the future. Note, for example, the title of a recent article, ‘21st century learning and information literacy’ (Breivik 2005), and the recent announcement that the American Association of School Librarians, the leading proponent of student IL in the U.S., has joined the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2005), a prominent advocacy organization of business, education, and policy-making entities.

 

Back in 1989 the American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy confirmed information literacy as a survival skill in the Information Age and offered up a basic definition of an information literate person that has also survived: ‘to be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information’ (ALA 1989). It still echoes in the most recent IL initiatives of other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand (Bundy 2004) and the UK (CILIP 2004b; Armstrong 2005).

 

Definitions of information literacy vary – falling onto a spectrum, with concrete, literal, demonstrable skills at one end and abstract, metaphorical, mental concepts at the other (Langford 1999b; Kapitzke 2003b; Behrens 1994). Some stress IL as a process (Kuhlthau n.d.), while others argue for a relational and experiential approach (Bruce 1997a, 1997b).

 

IL is often discussed in the same breath with other literacies, competencies, and skills (notably critical thinking and ICT skills) and is best envisioned as a broad ‘umbrella’ concept incorporating the other literacies, e.g., computer, library, media, network, and visual (Breivik 2005). The highly valued critical thinking or critical literacy, leading to metacognition, is generally considered a subset of IL (Breivik 2005; Langford 2000), though some argue for a critical information literacy leading to hyperliteracy – or literacy about literacies (Kapitzke 2003a, 2005).

 

There is also a range of social dimensions to IL. A common definition of IL is knowing how to learn (ASLA & ALIA 2001) and learning theorists like Vygotsky and other social constructivists argue learning always occurs as a social process (Kim 2001). Another general definition of IL is that it is about functioning well in society (Langford 1999a), which begs the question of what functioning well means – learning how to conform, or how to challenge the status quo? Kapitzke (2005), for one, argues that IL cannot be a neutral skill – it must lead to a self-awareness and critique of society and the role of information in that society.

 

IL is currently being promoted within different social communities. For example, the general public is being targeted by the ALA’s (2001) ‘Library Advocacy Now!’ program for information literate communities, and in the business world there is the ‘learning organization’ movement, popularized by Senge and others (Lee 2005; Brown & Sheppard 2005).

 

 

An ISCL refers to communities centered in primary/secondary schools. Henri (2005), who coined the term in 1995, defines an ILSC as a school community that actively pursues mastery of the processes of becoming informed on all levels and in both philosophy and practice. (Beyond the ILSC, there will someday be the ‘information literate university’, as Johnston & Webber (2004) envision it.)

 

Schools have two unique attributes which (theoretically) give them a significant advantage over other kinds of communities pursuing IL.

 

One is the philosophy of inquiry-based learning (also known as resource-based learning, problem-based learning, experiential learning, etc.), which is generally recognized as the most effective learning framework (McGregor 1999). It is a perspective on learning that parallels the process approach to IL, defined as the construction of meaning from the experience of seeking and utilizing information (Kuhlthau n.d., 2004).

 

However, despite its age and reputation, the concept of inquiry-based learning has yet to become an unconscious competency for most teachers (to use Rose’s terminology (1995, cited in Bonanno 1999)) – much less the assumed mode of education in the minds of parents and students. To create an ILSC is to create a community of inquiry – where the inseparability of teaching and learning is recognized – and this demands a change in thinking in most schools and in many teachers (Langford 1999a; Wineburg & Grossman 1998).

 

The other important attribute of schools is the presence of T/Ls – and the good news is that T/Ls are in an excellent position to ensure the implementation of authentic inquiry-based learning by helping the institution to use IL to understand and guide itself in its quest to provide the best education for 21st century students (Johnston & Webber 2004).

 

The creation of an ILSC is the broad mission statement of a T/L and it can be argued that all the recommended roles and responsibilities of T/Ls – whether assisting in teaching and learning, providing leadership, becoming involved in curriculum development, managing, providing services, and promoting literature (SLASA 2003) – relate to the development of IL and an ILSC.

 

Herring (2000) distills the most important functions of the 21st century T/L down to educator, information manager, and expert advisor, which are not that dissimilar to ASLA’s (2001) three: curriculum leader, information specialist, and information services manager. A trio of more catchy titles is information coach, learning consultant, and reading guru (Champlin, Loertscher, & Eib 2004).

 

If only one role can be highlighted, which should it be? When Loertscher (2004) looks into his crystal ball, he sees a knowledge team leader as the most important function of T/L of the future. Ahles (2000) opts for a single metaphor – T/L as search engine of the school.

 

A more poetic image is that of a symphony conductor – where the T/L is coordinating the music of meaning amongst students and teachers performing (pursuing) different patterns on different instruments in the attempt to create something never heard before – which affirms the notion of IL as process to create new meaning (Kuhltahu n.d.). In this sense, an ILSC is one that collaboratively creates community performances greater than its individual instruments.

 

It has been said that ‘schools cannot become exciting places for children until they first become exciting places for adults’ (Wineburg & Grossman 1998) and the UNESCO (2005) debate recognized that ‘teachers are a barrier in creating more information literate students and therefore education programmes must be directed at them in the first instance’. Therefore it is as a teacher of teachers – empowering them to become inquirers about IL and their own teaching/learning practice, and hopefully building a community of teacher researchers (Joyce & Showers 2002, cited in Schmoker 2004) – that T/Ls can have the greatest impact; it is a process they are ideally situated to instigate via the information seeking process itself.

 

 

A major obstacle at DIC is ignorance of the concepts of IL and an ILSC. IL is not a set phrase in the UK National Curriculum; instead ICT is a separate subject, and “Thinking Skills” and “Key Skills” are cross-curricula aspects which cover many of the attributes of IL, e.g., creative thinking, enquiry, evaluation, information processing, reasoning, communication, information technology, and problem solving (National Curriculum Online 2005).

 

Ignorance is an information need and the solution to this information problem is to enlighten staff about IL via the IL process itself, e.g., the information search process (ISP), as outlined by Kuhlthau (2004). It’s a bootstrapping issue – akin to the Big Bang (the universe must start somehow!). The goal is to help teachers develop a ‘fair definition of the aims of IL’ (Moore 1999) and they need to use the IL process to determine an answer that suits the context of their school. In other words, IL is both the means and the end.

 

There is another dimension to the ignorance: the British state educational scene does not recognize or require T/Ls and even the presence of qualified librarians is limited, e.g., as of 2004, less than 25% of secondary schools had a qualified full-time librarian (CILIP 2004a). The librarian’s lack of teaching qualification eliminates the beneficial mirror image effect, as described by Brown & Sheppard (2005). It also lessens the use of the library as a focal point for even basic literacy development, much less IL. The general assumption of teachers is that information is covered by the IT teacher and that literacy is covered by the English teacher. IL as the domain of a T/L would be a foreign concept to them.

 

At DIC, I am one of those librarians without a teaching degree –though I do have a library science masters as well as a masters in children’s literature. Fortunately/unfortunately the secondary librarian is a qualified teacher – but not a qualified librarian. In that sense we are two halves of a whole and collaboration between the two of us is required. There are several other implications arising from this situation because the ideal ‘teacher of teachers’ role is not possible at the moment.

 

First of all, enlisting the help and support of others is absolutely critical, starting with the principal (or primary headmaster). The crucial role of a supportive principal is reiterated in the literature (see, for example, Oberg & Henri 2005). The next person to be approached would be the ICT teacher.

 

Second, it might be better to approach the subject of IL – at least initially – from a non-teaching angle. An ILSC is a form of a learning organization, and techniques from that movement, as well as knowledge management, might be applicable and effective. For example, one might start with the technique of swarming – described as shining a bright light and seeing what gets attracted to it, e.g., starting up listserv discussions, or announcing some one-off book talks/discussions (with a glass of wine as an incentive) (Snowden 2002). From such initial encounters, a grass-roots community of practice (COP), defined as ‘working fellowships’ (Brown 1999), dedicated to exploring IL and its establishment in the curriculum and school, could be fostered.

 

A book discussion group might read a few books related to social/cognitive theories, learning organizations, and change management – and apply the ideas to the project of creating an ILSC. For example, Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point (2000) suggests three critical human roles in the virus metaphor of social change – ‘mavens’, or knowledgeable and compulsive marketers; ‘connectors’, or people who know everyone and pass the virus; and ‘salesmen’, who clinch the deal. A discussion might consider which staff members might be suited to these roles in the ongoing ILSC game plan.

 

Another interesting read might be Gardner’s recent book, Changing Minds (2004), which outlines the critical dimensions of change, including seven levers affecting the tipping points of mental change – reason, research, multiple re-representations, real world events, resonance, resources, and resistances.

 

Offers of collaboration would be the next step, along with any number of smaller – but no less important – activities, such as the ones listed by Henri (1999).

 

The lack of a full-fledged T/L might be a blessing in disguise, not allowing community members to assume that IL is the domain of the T/L alone (Kapitzke 2001). Instead everyone will have to be involved in exploring and integrating IL throughout the curriculum – and in creating and supporting an ILSC.

 

If the T/L role of orchestra conductor is not yet possible, perhaps a more primitive kind of conductor, e.g., enabling energy and enthusiasm to flow through the school, might suffice in the meantime, with the next step up being the equivalent of a train conductor, getting and keeping everyone on track and on time. An analogy of these growing roles might be the progression through ages – from the Industrial Age to the Information Age to finally the Conceptual Age (Pink 2005), the age of creators, empathizers, and meaning makers of artistic and emotional beauty – the music of IL.

 

Whitehead (1929) was right: utilizing information is an art very hard to impart, and scraps of information have nothing to do with culture. Instead a culture – a community – is a byproduct of the processing of information and the meanings constructed from that activity. To be called as a conductor of such a community is a great honour and one that I look forward to fulfilling.

 

Bibliography

 

 

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ALA. See American Library Association.

 

ALIA. See Australian Library and Information Association.

 

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http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=infolitb&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=35792

 

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ASLA. See Australian School Library Association.

 

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CILIP. See Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.

 

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ETS. See Educational Testing Service.

 

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SLASA. See School Library Association of South Australia.

 

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Produced for Charles Sturt University ETL 401assignment  in May 2004 by Katie Day

 

 

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