Becoming Information Literate:The Transition from Academia to the

Workplace

James McCloskeyDLA/MLA Conference

May 2016

1. What does IL in the academy have to do with the workplace?

2. What is Workplace IL?3. Why should I care?

Motivating Questions

Texas Lt. Governor Patrick Launches Initiative to Enhance Classroom to Career Transition – Feb 2016

Learning by Doing: The Wagner Plan from Classroom to Career – Peer Review, Fall 2010, 12(4)

OhioMeansJobs K-12 The place to plan your future.

Delaware Department of Education is committed to serving every student and ensuring that all children are career and college ready.

Maryland Career Development Framework

“I am interested in education that takes place between the attainment of the literacies, on the one hand, and the acquisition of a job or vocation, on the other.”Howard Gardner, Psychologist (https://www.edge.org/conversation/howard_gardner-liberal-arts-and-sciences-in-the-21st-century)

“Is there still one skill we can count on, one skill we can master to fulfill our workplace dreams, regardless of what we do? The answer is yes, and that skill is information literacy, which is being able to locate, access, select, and apply information.” Tom W. Goad, organizational consultant, trainer and author from his book

Information Literacy and Workplace Performance (2002)

Content Knowledge Soft Skills

Career Readiness

AACU Survey of Employers

• 68% of employers rate the ability to engage competently with information as one of those “very important” expectations for employability.

• When it comes to “locating, organizing, evaluating information,” 64% of students feel they are well prepared.

• Only 29% of employers, indicating that college graduates are prepared.

"Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success" (January, 2015)

Information literacy and Life Long Learning

Lifelong Learning

Independent Thinking

Information Literacy Digital ILWorkplace IL

Information literacy StandardsANZIL

Learning & Literacy

Employability Skills Standards

Information literacy Skills

Expert Thinking Complex Communication

Information literacy as Process

digginglocatinguncovering

readingevaluating

synthesizingrecalibrating

asking for help

Searching again in a different place

Classroom/Academic IL

Using & Experiencing Information

Information To Learn

Workplace IL Practices

My Question: What is the relationship between information literacy instruction in the academic

realm and the application of information literacy in a workplace experience?

Work-related performances couldn’t be accomplished.

• Career-oriented undergraduate and graduate degree programs for a growing and diverse student population.

• Faculty drawn from the workplace to ensure that the university’s programs prepare students to begin or continue

their career, improve their competitiveness in the job market, and engage in lifelong learning.

Wilmington University Mission

Information Literacy

“Using information in any format to research, evaluate, and ethically utilize information effectively

and with appropriate attribution.”

Wilmington University Graduation Competencies

Information Literacy

“Using information in any format to research, evaluate, and ethically utilize information effectively

and with appropriate attribution.”

Work Integrated Learning Modalities

Service Learning/Student Teaching/Clinical Rotations

Community Service/Volunteer

Apprenticeships/Fieldwork/Practicum

Internships/Cooperative Education

The central place that information creation, production, reproduction, circulation, and dissemination plays in their workplace performance

Work-Integrated Learning Reinforces Academic Concepts (Work-Integrated Learning and Career-Ready Students. Kramer, 2011)

Career-Ready Students: Examining the Evidence

)

Work-Integrated Learning Provides Career Preparation

Achievement of Goals

AACU Survey of Employers

Hiring preference to college grads with skills

contributing to workplace innovation –

95%

Hire college grads who demonstrate ethical

judgment and integrity, intercultural skills, and capacity for continued

new learning – 90%

Colleges should place more emphasis on

critical thinking, complex problem

solving, written/oral communication, applied knowledge in real-world

settings – 75%

Source: It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success2013. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities & Hart Research Assoc

Source: The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2015Higher Education Research Institute, Feb 2016

Greater employment opportunitiesGreater career advancementFinancial reward

Survey of Incoming Freshmen

96% of college and university chief academic officers are confident that their institution prepares students for the workforce.

11% percent of business leaders strongly agree today’s college graduates have the skills and competencies that their business needs

MISALIGNMENT

Novice - needing a set of rules to guide their actions

Expert - someone who is fully engaged emotionally in the situated elements of a community of practice

Community of Practice & “Legitimate Peripheral Participation”

Old-TimersMature Practice

PeripheryNewcomers

to

Situated Learning

Social Practice

Through:• Engagement• Interaction• Collaboration• Learning of

Knowledgeable skills

Full Participation

Boundary (flexible, dynamic)

Lave & Wenger, 1991, 2000

Outside of the library profession “Information Literacy” is a relatively unknown term and not well understood.

Kirton & Barham, 2005Effective Use of Information

Managing Information

Keeping Up to Date

Using Information for Problem Solving

Using Information for Decision Making

Environmental Scanning

Workplace IL places a greater emphasis on:

• Social, informal, contextualized processing of information.

• The transformation of information to knowledge.

• Information creation, packaging, organization

IL in Education & Workplace (Lloyd, et al. 2013)

Educational Setting

Part of the formal learning process. Specific

Assignments

Routine Tasks that are the subject of assessment

practices

Workplace Setting

A learner strategizes and seeks solutions through deep

analysis & multi-tiered application

Assessment practices focused on productivity and

development of expertise.

Key Differences?

Key Workplace IL Differences

Less emphasis on search skills and

finding information

People are key

information sources

No Need for

everyone to have all

IL skills

Information processing a shared activity

Learning Transfer as metaphor for the IL Experience

Academic IL Skills

Near Transfer

Far Transfer

Workplace Civic/Home Settings

Information Literacy is more than just an academic skill…

…is much more than an understanding of the student research process or the development and application of information skills.

…is not confined to formal learning environments but is part of every human activity including the social processes that shape information and how it is used within a given context.

Engaging team members during research process

Retrieving information using a variety of formats

Finding patterns and making connections

Exploring a topic thoroughly

Employer identified information competency gaps

Is social and socially iterative

Seeks Patterns

Synthesizes a variety of

sources and formats

Requires persistence

and openness to continuous

learning

Workplace Information Literacy (Project Information Literacy)

Information Use in the Workplace

• Social process: People learning together to develop collective & common understandings

• Aligned with workplace culture & profession-specific practices

• Transformative

Lloyd, 2010

Information Literacy Skills include…

The ability of an ER Nurse to tap

in to and use instincts built up

over time

Learning the rules of a sport and then using

that information to play the game more effectively

Knowing the essential human

and other relevant sources for developing practical skills

Reflecting on the information experience

The process of becoming information literate

Requires the whole person to be aware of themselves within the world

Leads to an experience of context-specific information opportunities

Recognizes that these experiences contribute to learning

Helps one develop information practices enabling negotiation of context

Takes into account the constraints of a context’s practices on information use

ACRL Info Lit Standards• The standards are focused more on academic settings and

centered upon the measurement of changes in user behavior against expert models.

• emphasis on the individual’s acquisition of generic information skills

• The focus on measurement that is inherent within behaviorist research often leads to an assessment of individual actions (and actors) within new settings

Addison C, Meyers E. Perspectives on information literacy: A framework for conceptual understanding. Information Research 2013; 18(3): 1–13.

ACRL Info Lit Standards

In the light of the Drefus Model, this approach works best at the Novice or Advanced Beginner

levels.

New ACRL Info Lit Framework seems to embody the social dimension of workplace IL

Situates information literacy within real life experiences

Seeks to provide spaces for creative, integrative, flexible thinking about the dynamic

information ecosystem in which all students live, study,

and work.

Focuses more attention on the vital role of collaboration and

its potential for increasing student understanding of the

processes of knowledge creation and scholarship.

Emphasizes student creativity and participation, highlighting

the importance of their contributions made possible

through many formal academic experiences as well as many

daily non-academic experiences

“The contextuality of actual work processes severely curtails naıve expectations of

unproblematic generic transfer.”

Hager (2009), p. 625

The concept of transition may provide an alternative way to think about being,

becoming and the development of knowing within information literacy practice

Hicks & Lloyd, 2016

Lave & Wenger 2012

Dreyfus, 1980

Using a Rubric to Sequence the IL Experience through to the workplace

Gen Ed Discipline Workplace Community

Information Literacy Program Outcomes1. Students will be able to frame a research question.

2. Students will be able to access needed information effectively

and efficiently.

3. Students will be able to evaluate information sources and

content.

4. Students will be able to use information for a specific purpose.

5. Students will understand ethical and legal issues affecting the

use of information.

6. Students will be able to use technology to communicate

information.

Using a Rubric to Sequence the IL Experience through to the workplace

Competency Novice Developing Competent Proficient AccomplishedProfessional/Workplace Information Practices: Students will engage with information in ways they will be expected to on the job in order to provide more concrete and situationally determined opportunities to develop those information practices proper to the specific contexts of the workplace landscapes.

Uses immediately available information with little discrimination. Limited awareness of important/relevant information and how to navigate the information culture of a workplace.

Can seek out and locate critical information with minimal support. Does not always discriminate effectively between sources of information.

Usually able to locate, understand, organize, and evaluate information from familiar and unfamiliar sources using criteria most relevant to the task and setting. Has awareness that authority is a type of influence recognized or exerted within a specific organization.

Independently seeks out and locates required information. Understands that authority of information is based on culturally-specific influences. Is selective and discriminates between sources of information. Adopts effective processes for storage and retrieval of information.

Makes significant contribution to the organization through judicious use of academic and context-specific information. Understands how information based decisions are influenced by corporate or workplace culture. Is frequently called on to explain to, or assist others in locating, understanding, organizing, or evaluating the quality and relevance of information from multiple sources.

Using a Rubric to Sequence the IL Experience through to the workplace

• Consider developing an assessment plan that will provide evidence of the impact and outcomes of your efforts.

• Authentic – reflect real world expectations

• Not many employers measure success through multiple choice tests

• What are employers expecting of graduates?

• What do faculty and students think they need?

Assessing

• A time to rethink our implementation of an information literacy program in the context of this Framework

• Reconfigure team-based assignments

• Revise library reference services

• Include the use of people as “sources.”

• Incorporate social media into research assignments

• Go beyond coursework

• Consider developing an assessment plan that will provide evidence of the impact and outcomes of a new program.

IL and Experiential Learning

Information Use

Gives form or shape to...

Learning

“I think one of the things I loved the most about being here was the feeling that anything was possible. Just infinite choices ahead of you.

You get out of school and anything could happen…”

• CUNY Working Document for Developing IL guidelines across the disciplines

• Student Skill Acquisition

• Information Literacy at the juncture between education and employment

• Do employers want information literacy skills?

• Information Literacy meets Employability

• Introduction to communities of practice

• ‘Industries of the Future’: Alec Ross Unveils the Winners

• What America Needs to Know About Higher Education Redesign

• Project Information Literacy

• Patricia Benner's Theory

Links

• Bruce C. (1999). Workplace experiences of information literacy. International Journal of Information Management, 19(1), 33-47.

• Farrell, Robert. (2013) “Reconsidering the Relationship between Generic and Situated IL Approaches: The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition in Formal Information Literacy Learning Environments, Part II. Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal). Paper 1049. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1049

• Hager, P. & P. Hodkinson. (2009) Moving beyond the metaphor of transfer of learning. British Educational Research Journal 35(4), 619-638.

• Hall-Ellis, S. & Deborah Grealy. (2013) The Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition: A Career Development Framework for Succession Planning and Management in Academic Libraries. College & Research Libraries 74(6); 587-603.

• Hicks, Alison (2015) "Drinking on the Job: Integrating Workplace Information Literacy into the Curriculum," LOEX Quarterly: Vol. 41(4), Article 4. Available at: http://commons.emich.edu/loexquarterly/vol41/iss4/4

• Hoyer, J. (2011). Information is social: information literacy in context. Reference Services Review. 39(1), 10-23.

Bibliography

• Ipperciel, D & Samara ElAtia. (2014) Assessing Graduate Attributes: Building a Criteria-Based Competency Model. International Journal of Higher Education. 3(3); 27-38.

• Jackson, D. (2013). The contribution of work-integrated learning to undergraduate employability skill outcomes. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education 14(2), 99-115.

• Jastram, I., et. al. (2014). Situating information literacy within the curriculum: Using a rubric to shape a program. Portal: Libraries & the Academy 14(2), 165-186.

• Kirton & Barham. (2005) Information literacy in the workplace. The Australian Library Journal Vol. 54 (4).

• Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (2008). Situated Learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

• Lloyd, A. (2010). Framing information literacy as information practice: Site ontology and practice theory. Journal of Documentation, 66(2), 245-258.

• Lloyd, A (2012). Information literacy as a socially enacted practice: Sensitisingthemes for an emerging people in practice perspective. Journal of Documentation 68 (6) 772-223.

Bibliography

• Lloyd, A (2013). Building information resilient workers: The critical ground of workplace information literacy. What have we learnt? European Commission for Information Literacy: Communications in Computer and Information Science. Vol 0397, Springer

• Lloyd, A. and Hicks, A. (2016). It takes a community to build a framework: Information literacy within intercultural settings. Journal of Information Science. Special Issue – i3 Conference – Abderdeen.

• Lundh, A, Limberg, L., Lloyd, A (2013). Swapping Settings. Researching Information literacy in workplace and in educational contexts. Information Research, Vol 18 No. 3, C05.

• Monge, R. & E Frisicaro-Pawlowski. (2014). Redefining information literacy to prepare students for the 21st century workforce. Innovative Higher Education 39 (1), 59-73.

• Morgan PK. (2015) Pausing at the threshold. Portal; 15(1).

Bibliography

• Moring, C. (2011). Newcomer information practice: negotiations on information seeking in and across communities of practice. Human IT, 11(2), 1-20

• Moring, C. & Lloyd A. (2013). Analytical implications of using practice theory in workplace information literacy research. Information Research, Vol 18 No. 3,C35.

• Weiner, Sharon A., "Information Literacy and the Workforce: A Review" (2011). Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research. Paper 86. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_fsdocs/86

• Widén, G., Steinerová, J. and Voisey, P. (2014). Conceptual modelling of workplace information practices: a literature review. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Leeds, 2-5 September, 2014: Part 1, (paper isic08). Retrieved from http://InformationR.net/ir/19-4/isic/isic08.html

Bibliography

• Monge, R. & E Frisicaro-Pawlowski. (2014). Redefining information literacy to prepare students for the 21st century workforce. Innovative Higher Education 39 (1), 59-73.

• Morgan PK. (2015) Pausing at the threshold. Portal; 15(1).

• Mornig, C & Lloyd A (2013). Analytical implications of using practice theory in workplace information literacy research. Information Research, Vol 18 No. 3,C35.

• Weiner, Sharon A., "Information Literacy and the Workforce: A Review" (2011). Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research. Paper 86. http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/lib_fsdocs/86

• Widén, G., Steinerová, J. and Voisey, P. (2014). Conceptual modelling of workplace information practices: a literature review. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Leeds, 2-5 September, 2014: Part 1, (paper isic08). Retrieved from http://InformationR.net/ir/19-4/isic/isic08.html

Bibliography