Directing information literacy in a digital (school) environment James Henri Associate Professor Faculty of Education The University of Hong Kong SLAV 3 September 2004

So what are the issues? What is a digital environment Who ‘owns’ this environment How does that environment redefine school

So what are the issues? What is information literacy & what is an Information Literate School Community (ILSC) How does adoption of an ILSC redefine the curriculum & culture

So what are the issues? What is leadership in a digital environment How does digital redefine the TL role and what is understood by ‘school library’

What is a digital environment Is this a question about infrastructure Is it a question about time & place Is it a question about relationships

Who ‘owns’ this environment Educators or Entrepreneurs or… Teachers or Students

How does that environment redefine school

How does that environment redefine school: Past Isolation, Short Term Budgets, Classrooms, Class Teachers & disconnection, Teaching, Homework, Bricks & mortar

How does that environment redefine school: Future Connectedness, Long Term Budgets, Learning spaces, portability, Facilitators & collaborators, Learning, Homefun

What is information literacy & what is an Information Literate School Community (ILSC) Information is…. Information skills are…. Information literacy is….. Information processing models provide… The information literate school community is….

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC Information is NOT photocopy learning (dead or alive information) What is the highest mountain What is E=mc²

One of Einstein's great insights was to realize that matter and energy are really different forms of the same thing. Matter can be turned into energy, and energy into matter. To find the energy, you multiply the mass by the square of the speed of light, this number being 300,000,000 meters per second

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC Information skills are the ways we learn (are informed) In a traditional classroom what information skills do the participants need --The information skills in the digital world are dominated by visual cues not by text based cues

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC Information literacy is mastery of the processes of becoming informed

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC An information processing model provides a uniform scaffold and shared language for learning

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC Not all IP models are the same –Prescription V Description

Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process Tasks Initiation Selection Exploration Formulation Collection Presentation Feelings uncertainly optimism confusion clarity sense of satisfaction or (affective) frustration direction/ disappointment doubt confidence Thoughts vague focused (cognitive) increased interest Actions seeking relevant information seeking pertinent information (physical) exploring documenting Source:

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC Borrowing from Cooper & Boyd(1995) The information literate school community can be viewed as ‘a philosophy as well as a place; it is a way of being as well as a working model. It is a mindset as well as a map’.

What is information literacy & what is an ILSC ‘A school community that places a high priority (policy, benchmarking, funding, and evaluation) on the pursuit of teacher and student mastery of the processes of becoming informed can be regarded as an information literate school community’. Henri (2000)

How does adoption of an ILSC redefine the curriculum & culture Learning what & learning how (curriculum mapping + process) Or Learning how and learning what (Process mapping + curriculum)

Learning what & learning how (curriculum mapping + process) This has been best practice for decades and means: Curriculum content + Class Teachers are dominant Marginalization of process & specialist teachers

Learning how and learning what (Process mapping + curriculum) This is likely to be best practice of the future: Learning how to learn + whole school collaboration are dominant Photocopy learning a thing of the past Linkages to real world environments

What is leadership in a digital environment Information leadership Information policy + information literacy + knowledge management

What is leadership in a digital environment What is the focus When transportation moved from horse & buggy to motor vehicle the problem wasn’t getting a drivers license it was the redundancy package for blacksmiths

What is the focus Are schools still educating blacksmiths

What is the focus Being comfortable in the digital world Realizing it is the world Not hanging onto the prized icons of the pre-digital world Educating the teachers is as important as educating the students

How does digital redefine the TL role: Lets consider the accepted role statements Curriculum Involvement Services Leadership Teaching Management Literature Promotion

How does digital redefine the TL role: Reward what matters Leadership Curriculum Involvement Teaching KM Services TL? Literature Promotion TL? Management TL?

Consider inhibitors & enablers: Analyse for primary inhibitors and basic enablers n inhibitors – lack of time, confusion of roles, poorly designed learning & assignments (busywork) n basic enablers n team approach to teaching n understanding of constructivist learning n commitment to lifelong learning n competence developing learning strategies (Kuhlthau, 1993)

How does digital redefine what is understood by ‘school library’ Whose library The library in the school or the school in the library - Collection profile - KM -‘Intranet’ - Staffing profile - Links to ICT group - Links to Curriculum group

Leadership a matter of Partnership

Principals should provide leadership

Principals can provide: Vision Motivation Celebration Forgiveness A soap box Resources CPD Policy Whole school perspective

Teacher Librarians are able to Lead In fact everyone can demonstrate leadership

Gain Principal Support Essential, but not sufficient for success

Gain Principal Support How -Expertise -Linkages to school vision & defendable evidence -Planning -Providing options

Gain Principal Support What is your relationship with the P -Communication, communication, communication----early & often What is the P getting out of the relationship

Gain Principal Support! If you are an inexperienced TL -mentorship -networks -expertise

Principal Influence Findings The five tasks identified most frequently as requiring significantly more principal attention by principals and teacher librarians across all participating countries includes:

informs new teaching staff about the importance of collaborating with the teacher librarian encourages the teaching staff to invest time in cooperatively planning and teaching with the teacher librarian actively seeks outside school funding possibilities that can be used to supplement the library resource centre budget

seeks feedback from staff about their impressions of the quality of library resource centre services works with the teacher librarian to develop his/her personal professional development plan

have a powerful impact on the environments in which teaching and learning occur Principals and teacher librarians can

A close alignment among principal & TL visions is important TLs need broad based support and will suffer if seen as part of factional politics TLs must be credible and act as change agents

TLs who seek support of a senior mentor are likely to expand their influence

Gain Broad Staff Support Staff support has to be won because staff influence the principal!

How can success be measured

By agreeing about what is important…. Policy Benchmarking best practice

Suggested Benchmarks: Whole School Focus The school has a set of information policies in place The school has adopted an information technology plan The school has an Internet portal. Learning is the dominant consideration in its design and maintenance

Suggested Benchmarks: Whole School Focus The school has benchmarked information competencies that are expected of students at key points in their school career Information skills are taught/learned across the curriculum and in the context of authentic content learning The process of learning from information ‑ of constructing knowledge ‑ is always the focus of teaching and learning.

Suggested Benchmarks: Principal Focus The principal demonstrates information leadership The principal fosters knowledge management, requires timely information for corporate decision-making, and provides the resources to make this possible Information leaders (ITC coordinator, teacher librarian) are members of the key curriculum committee

Suggested Benchmarks: Teacher Focus The school supports the professional development of staff with respect to information literacy Teachers demonstrate that they are excellent learners Teachers talk, dream, plan and teach as a team rather than as a group of individuals Teachers seek evidence that students are constructing their own meaning

Suggested Benchmarks: Teacher Librarian Focus A significant percentage of school funds are budgeted for the provision of information services The school understands and defends the role of the teacher librarian, as articulated in policy documents The school requires that the teacher in charge of information services be a qualified teacher librarian

Suggested Benchmarks: Student Focus The school requires students build electronic portfolios of evidence of their level of information literacy The school monitors the information work demands that are placed on each student. Careful scrutiny is applied before students are requested to locate information outside school Reporting on student achievement focuses on how the student is maturing as a learner Teachers encourage student collaboration in many aspects of their learning

Suggested Benchmarks: Student Focus Learning contexts are varied & involve students in the meaningful use of a wide range of information resources When students are required to undertake homework that involves a step(s) in the information process, teachers consider issues of social justice, equity, & the domestic demands placed on students Students are encouraged to provide constructive feedback to teachers with respect to information based learning tasks Students are involved in self-assessment

Final thoughts: Communicate the vision Be strategic Insist on policy Play the teacher card Focus on learning not on the technology per se