WIIFM – Information Literacy
This activity makes use of a kind of thinking that I have to do each time I prepare a class session. Most times I’m visiting a class, there is little context for the students as to why I’m there so I tend to build it into my lessons. I typically make it quite specific to the discipline they are in, and the assignment requirements they are asked to complete. At the end of a class, I have had some success in asking students how they think what we just learned will be useful for them in assignments and once they graduate. I always get some really great answers!
This time, I tried to think more generally about university students in general and why information literacy is important. This is an exercise I have done with colleagues before in planning for curriculum integration and other more general promotion of library instruction to faculty. Here are the key points I came to:
- Assignment Success: Coursework often requires some form of research/information gathering. Knowing how to find, evaluate, and use information effectively and ethically is critical to the successful completion of research projects and papers at the university. Building these skills will also make searching more efficient, saving time in the research process.
- Critical Thinking: This term appears in a lot of course and program learning outcomes and is directly linked to information literacy. Being able to discern the credibility and reliability of information sources in a variety of different contexts is a key component of thinking critically, forming well-informed opinions, and sound decision-making. Professors are looking for evidence of critical thinking in assignments and information literacy helps encourage that skill.
- Workforce Preparedness: Students who develop strong information literacy skills will be able to successfully analyze data and evaluate information to make informed decisions and opinions in the workplace.
- Avoiding Misinformation: We have more access to information that ever before, and more and more tools are being created which make harder to discern accurate information and mis/disinformation. Information literacy skills empower students to critically assess sources and be better at recognizing misleading or incorrect information.
- Digital Citizenship: Information literacy makes it possible to be a responsible digital citizen. Students are better equipped to understand and protect their privacy online, and understand the social and ethical implications of sharing information online.
Normally I target my “why” to the particulars of an assignment within a course, so this exercise was great at getting me to think more broadly about why information literacy in general is a benefit to students as they navigate post-secondary education and their life beyond graduation.
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