Conference Agenda

Information literacy is something that all libraries strive to provide for their patrons, students, and community members. What most people don’t think about is that information literacy is something that we all do every day, whether it is watching television or getting information from social media, we consume information constantly. While we constantly consume, we often also do not think of how to accurately assess information through the lens of information literacy. Though social media has been something people have used for several years, it can be argued that within the last couple of years the ability to understand and digest information through social media has become crucial for internet users. In their paper “Investigating the Relationship Between Information Literacy and Social Media Competence Among University Students” Zhu et al discuss how social media has changed information literacy stating, “The growing use of social media, such as microblogs, social networks, bookmarking sites, community blogs, or video sharing sites, has not only changed the way people communicate, but has also triggered considerable changes in peoples’ information behavior”. It is only through adjusting the way we teach and explain information literacy that people’s ability to discern credible information via social media can be improved. They go on to explore information literacy through three stages. 1. The “germination stage” which was before the 1970’s where library skills were a type of information literacy. 2. From the 1970’s to the late 1980’s where the idea of information literacy “shifted from simply emphasizing literature retrieval…to encouraging the use of information tools” and 3. From the 1980’s to the end of the 1990’s where the “ability to criticize and evaluate information was valued” (Zhu et al, 2021). It can be argued that from the 2010’s to now, a new type of information literacy is needed, that of competent information gathering skills where credible information is emphasized. Zhu et al discuss this need stating “due to a lack of relevant legislation, social media have witnessed an increase in problematic behaviors, such as sharing misinformation, which might be disguised as ‘breaking news’ or factual information” (Zhu et al, 2021). This emphasis on credibility and misinformation is something that libraries should focus on, especially university libraries.

This presentation looks at social media and explores students behaviors towards it and information gathering through a class presentation assignment. Each student should use TikTok, Instagram Stories, Facebook Reels, or YouTube shorts to explore the idea of credible information relating to their desired topic. Through this assignment, students needed to explore social media that they use every day (mainly TikTok) and should be able to articulate whether the information presented to them is credible or not. This assignment not only allows for gathering information on how students think about information literacy without being exposed to formal information literacy training, but it also allows for talk about how we consume media and information and how we organize the information we consume constantly. This is a best practice because it approaches information literacy from a social standpoint instead of purely from an academic standpoint. It allows for better discussion of information and social media, and how we navigate the rocky road of information literacy.

References

Zhu, S., Yang, H. H., Wu, D., & Chen, F. (2021). Investigating the relationship between information literacy and social media competence among university students. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 59(7), 1425–1449. Retrieved from https://doi-org.lib-e2.lib.ttu.edu/10.1177/0735633121997360

As a result of the growing number of alternative media, the rise of distrust in the media, and fears of possible hybrid attacks, gaps in media literacy have become a societal problem (Haider & Sundin, 2022). Media literacy development is both increasingly important and highly underestimated in the Czech Republic’s educational system.

Interactive Courses for Secondary School Students and Senior Citizens

The paper will present the project “Media Literacy Interactively and for All” (https://medgram.cz/), which is being developed in cooperation with the Library of the Czech University of Life Sciences, the Faculty of Education of Charles University, and the University of South-Eastern Norway. The project focuses on the two most vulnerable groups regarding media literacy levels – high school students (jsns.cz, 2018) and senior citizens (Moore & Hancock, 2022). The project also connects them and tries to increase understanding between generations.

A Synergy of Knowledge and Potential of Several Universities

Libraries, in general, are a natural environment to educate the public in media literacy. This education has also been declared as a key theme for Czech libraries for 2022 – 2024. University libraries in the Czech Republic have great opportunities to contribute to the promotion of media literacy. However, they have not yet made much use of it. This paper will present how we have taken advantage of the opportunities provided by inter-university cooperation and present outcomes that can be used in more than just the Czech Republic.

In the project, we use not only the contacts we have as universities through a network of cooperating secondary schools and a network of centres for lifelong learning but also modern teaching methods and software tools. The main core consists of two MOOC courses designed to meet the needs of each group. The courses use a newly developed system of interactive electronic learning e-books and come with detailed methodologies and tutor guides. In addition, we create an escape game that links general media literacy topics with real-life examples.

References

Haider, J., & Sundin, O. (2022). Paradoxes of media and information literacy: The crisis of information. New York, NY: Routledge.

JSNS.cz. (2018). Mediální gramotnost středoškoláků a jejich postoje k mediím: Research report. Praha. Retrieved from https://www.jsns.cz/nove/projekty/pruzkumy-setreni/medialni_gramotnost_zaku_2018.pdf

Moore, R. C., & Hancock, J. T. (2022). A digital media literacy intervention for older adults improves resilience to fake news. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1-9.. Retrieved February 1, 2023, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08437-0

In many frameworks, information literacy skills are seen as part of a much broader set of skills: digital skills. Although information literacy also includes non-digital skills, it is evident that digital competence is an important part of the information literate student (Leaning, 2019).

Consequently, in many educational institutions in the Netherlands, skills education has now broadened to include digital skills. Following a previous project in which IL educational materials were shared, the Dutch IL working group has now taken the initiative for nationwide sharing of digital skills educational materials via the national Dutch search portal Edusources.

To create optimal support, the IL Working Group sought cooperation with six other national library working groups. This makes the project unique.

Such cooperation prevents many parties from doing the same thing through different platforms. Cooperation is also important in defining a common scope that has translated into a Digital Skills taxonomy. As a basis for that taxonomy, all major digital skills frameworks, such as DQ framework and Digcomp 2.2 (DQ Institute, 2019; Vuorikari, Kluzer, & Punie, 2022) were compared and analyzed. Based on that, a first draft was developed that became final after incorporating feedback from a broad spectrum of relevant working groups and stakeholders. That taxonomy will have a place in the edusources search portal to increase retrievability and thus promote reuse.

During this presentation we will briefly discuss the relationship between information literacy and digital literacy and you will get an idea of the different facets of sharing (DS) educational resources.

References

DQ Institute. (2019). DQ (Digital Intelligence) Global Standard on Digital Literacy, Digital Skills and Digital Readiness. DQ Institute, Global. Retrieved from https://www.dqinstitute.org/global-standards/

Leaning, M. (2019). An approach to digital literacy through the integration of media and information literacy. Media and Communication, 7(2), 4–13.

Vuorikari, R., Kluzer, S., & Punie, Y. (2022). DigComp 2.2: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens - With new examples of knowledge, skills and attitudes (EUR 31006 EN, JRC128415). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/115376

If students are doing independent research projects for their thesis, basic data management skills should be part of their curricula. Also reusing existing data requires understanding of data citation and management. Both Bauder (2021) and Marzal and Prado (2013) consider data literacy as part of information literacy. Bauder continues that data related skills are a good fit in the 2016 ALA Information Literacy Framework even more substantially than textual literacies. Data literacy as part of information literacy is important as so-called transferable skill that will greatly benefit those students that leave academia and enter the workforce. Smits and Teperek (2020) noticed in their study of Master students that data management often comes up piecemeal, for example, in the context of method studies or thesis seminars, but was not treated in a coherent manner. There is a need for systematic data management guidance also on the undergraduate and graduate or Master level.

Helsinki University is a multidisciplinary research university, largest in Finland and ranked 110 in the THE University Ranking. Helsinki University Library has had a data management team since 2009 and has been teaching data management planning and other skills for researchers since 2017. The education so far has reached researchers and administrative staff, but not bachelor and master students. Also, since the changes in the data privacy legislation namely the EU GDPR, the demand for timely data management education for all levels is genuine.

When teaching undergraduates an obvious challenge will be the sheer scale of students that need to be addressed. How to address the right group of students at the right time? Who will teach? Could data management teaching for undergraduate level be embedded in thesis seminars or will the academics be reluctant to take on new responsibilities? It is vital MA students know how to handle personal data according to GDPR requirements before they start their projects, so that they don’t just start collecting data and forget to inform the research participants correctly. Students also need to know what the special categories of personal data are and how not to cause risks to these vulnerable groups with how they handle this kind of data.

In Helsinki University Library we figured that we need more than one approach to reach the students. As starting points we are preparing a short self-study guide in simple language on data management for undergraduates and a test form for personal data – “Do I handle personal data in my thesis?” To deepen the learning more in context of the thesis seminars we concluded a pilot with a Master program together with the responsible University Lecturers. With simple exercises aimed at first just recognizing data features in publications of selected research groups the students took the first steps in learning the different dimensions of data management. Our data management team is also developing a data management introductory wizard tool with CS students. Data Support team is working together with the library Pedagogical Team responsible for Information Literacy teaching to further embed data themes into student resources.

References

Bauder, J. (2022). Teaching research data management. American Library Association.

Calzada Prado, J. & Ángel Marzal, M. (2013). Incorporating data literacy into information literacy

programs: Core competencies and contents. Libri, 63(2), 123–34. https://doi.org/10.1515/libri-2013-0010

Burress, T. (2022). Data literacy practices of students conducting undergraduate research. College and Research Libraries 83(3), 434–451. https://doi.org/10.5860/crl.83.3.434

Smits, D. A. B. & Teperek, M. (2020). Research data management for master’s students: From awareness to action. Data Science Journal, 19(1). Retrieved from https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85106864849&doi=10.5334%2fdsj-2020-030&partnerID=40&md5=387b83348a741146c3fb46eda6df251e