LOUISIANA INFORMATION LITERACY MODEL FOR LIFELONG LEARNING

Students must become competent and independent users of information to be productive citizens of the 21^st century. They must be prepared to live in an information-rich and changing global society. Due to the rapid growth of technology, the amount of information available is accelerating so quickly that teachers are no longer able to impart a complete knowledge base in a subject area. In addition, students entering the workforce must know how to access information, solve problems, make decisions, and work as part of a team. Therefore, information literacy – the ability to recognize an information need and then locate, evaluate, and effectively use the needed information – is a basic skill essential to the 21^st century workplace and home. Information literate students are self-directed learners who, individually or collaboratively, use information responsibly to create quality products and to be productive citizens. Information literacy skills must not be taught in isolation; they must be integrated across all content areas, utilizing fully the resources of the classroom, the school library media center, and the community. The Information Literacy Model for Lifelong Learning is a framework that teachers at all levels can apply to help students become independent lifelong learners.

1. Defining/Focusing: The first task is to recognize that an information need exists. Students make preliminary decisions about the type of information needed based on prior knowledge.

2. Selecting Tools and Resources: After students decide what information is needed, they then develop search strategies for locating and accessing appropriate, relevant sources in the school library media center, community libraries and agencies, resource people, and others as appropriate.

3. Extracting and Recording: Students examine the resources for readability, currency, usefulness, and bias. This task involves skimming or listening for key words, “chunking,” reading, finding main ideas, and taking notes.

4. Processing Information: After recording information, students must examine and evaluate the data in order to use the information retrieved. Students must interact with the information by categorizing, analyzing, evaluation, and comparing for bias, inadequacies, omissions, errors, and value judgments. Based on their findings, they either move on to the next step or do additional research.

5. Organizing Information: Students effectively sort, manipulate, and organize the information that was retrieved. They make decisions on how to use and communicate their findings.

6. Presenting Findings: Students apply and communicate what they have learned (e.g., research report, project, illustration, dramatization, portfolio, book, book report, map, oral/audio/visual presentation, game bibliography, hyper stack).

7. Evaluating Efforts: Throughout the information problem solving process, students evaluate their efforts. This assists students in determining the effectiveness of the research process. The teacher and also other qualified or interested resource persons may evaluate the final product.

This Information Literacy Model for Lifelong Learning provides a basic framework that librariy media specialists and teachers can use in designing instruction to help students become information literate.

The following section presents an elaborated or extended version of the Information Literacy Framework with skills added to each step to further define the information literacy skills.

Louisiana Information Literacy Model for Lifelong Learning Elaborated

The student will…

1. Defining/Focusing

1.1 define the task, issue, or problem.

1.2 recognize the need for accurate and complete information based on current level of knowledge.

1.3 brainstorm to focus the topic and formulate research questions.

2. Selecting Tools and Resources

2.1 determine possible sources of information, including print, non-print, and electronic.

2.2 utilize effective search strategies to locate sources.

2.3 evaluate the appropriateness and select the best sources.

3. Extracting and Recording

3.1 access information within sources (e.g., use table of contents, index, and other parts).

3.2 read, view, and listen to a variety of sources to build background information and in-depth knowledge of relevant aspects.

3.3 skim and scan for keywords and major ideas.

3.4 utilize appropriate note taking skills, summarizing and paraphrasing information to record most relevant facts and details.

4. Processing Information

4.1 determine the accuracy, relevance, and reliability of information and reject misleading and inaccurate information.

4.2 categorize, analyze, and synthesize information for quality and usefulness.

4.3 identify bias, propaganda, cultural diversity, and point of view.

4.4 recognize omissions, errors in logic, and interrelationships among concepts.

4.5 re-engage with sources as needed to complete research.

5. Organizing Information

5.1 sort, manipulate, and logically organize information.

5.2 decide how best to communicate findings (format, organization, etc.)

5.3 apply critical thinking and problem solving to complete a task.

6. Presenting Findings

6.1 apply and communicate information from multiple sources.

6.2 select an appropriate presentation format.

6.3 document sources using an appropriate format.

6.4 re-check project criteria and make corrections as needed.

6.5 make presentation to an appropriate audience.

7. Evaluating Efforts

7.1 conduct an ongoing assessment by revising, improving, and updating the process as needed.

7.2 evaluate the effectiveness of the presentation.

7.3 determine how well the project met the defined needs or resolved the problem.

7.4 evaluate what new skills and knowledge were gained.