Digital LIMA Method: Building a European Network in Media and Information Literacy

Author(s):

Simão Elias Lomba(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network

Format:

Paper

Session Information

12 SES 11, LISnet Open Paper Session: OER, Information Literacy, Knowledge Brookering, and Public Libraries

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-25

17:15-18:45

Room:

NM-G102

Chair:

Peter K. P. Meyer

Contribution

Since the beginning of time the human being has used technology to overcome challenges of life, individually and especially in society. Over time technology has been evolving and transforming social organization. The technological innovations of the late twentieth century and the twenty-first century, for the first time enabled a continuous flow of people, goods, energy and information globally. But the first law of Kranzberg states that “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral” and we should not forget criminal acts and other bad things are perpetrated using the same technology as for the development of society. Non-neutrality means that technology shapes social behavior in the direction that society chooses. Leaving the responsibility of European construction to politicians without citizen participation is too high a risk that could lead to failure. The European Union and its values are some of the best civilizational achievements of humankind. To act in education, preparing citizens to understand the technological, social and political environment in which they live, and how to intervene with references to European values seem like good ideas. Individuals and organizations act based on their perceptions of the world and these perceptions come from information about it. Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is a competence that permits dealing effectively and efficiently with information needed by “individuals, communities, and nations about themselves as well as their physical and their social environments” in order to "survive and develop, make decisions, and solve problems in every facet of life" (IFLA, 2011).

With this background we have some research questions:

How important is MIL to the construction of European projects? How do we engage Headmasters, teachers, school librarians and students in MIL subjects across Europe? How do we create, implement and test a model of an MIL Instruction Program?

With this research we intend to create an intervention model about MIL that fits the needs of every school, every teacher and every student from all European countries. This model has five steps: (1) spot - engaging and supporting a teacher through a training course and a professional community of practice, engaging the Headmaster, assessing and giving results back to schools; (2) local irradiation - having an engaged teacher try to engage colleagues with support of a project team, trying to increase the engagement of the Headmaster, assessing and marketing; (3) strong connections - creating an MIL project in school; (4) deepening inquiry on MIL - extending the intervention to a large part of the school and the various curricular areas, deepening knowledge and improving investigative action and evidence-based practice, creating an MIL instruction project for that school, holding MIL events at school; (5) bridges - involvement in inter-school projects at the national and European level, strong marketing, and strong engagement in professional communities of practice.

With this model we intend to make curricular integration of digital technologies and MIL. This competence will be learned in curricular context and not as a new subject. Our MIL Instruction Program will be based on ISP (Kuhlthau, 2004) and on Guided Inquiry Design (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, Caspari, 2007, 2012). Support of the project team, collaboration between stakeholders, especially between teachers and school librarians, and support of management are key elements of this model. In the pilot research we tested two related training courses, one for librarian teachers and another for science teachers. Based on results from this pilot we will make some adjustments in the training courses and we will do the same for other types of training courses for teachers.

Method

This mixed method study will seek to create, apply, evaluate and disseminate a media and information literacy instruction program (MILIP) according to the Information Seek Process model (Kuhlthau, 2004) and Guided Inquiry Design (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, Caspari, 2007, 2012). In this multiphase design, there will be several phases conducted over time. These phases are (1) pilot study - testing a training course where teachers collaborate with school librarians; (2) designing and testing instruments and procedures in a small scale intervention; (3) using research data to re-design procedures and instruments and applying and testing it in a broader intervention; (4) expanding research through new training courses for teachers of different areas; (5) studying interaction on a professional community of practice started in training courses. Phase 2 has a micro-phases design. First (2.1) designing a training course for teachers using a theoretical framework based on ISP and Guided Inquiry. Next (2.2) a comprehensive study about organizations that will welcome investigation. Next (2.3) running two related training courses for teachers in order to test course materials, instruments and procedures. Next (2.4) experimental design with four groups of teachers. One group will attend an MIL course, another group will attend a course of Instructional Design, a third group will attend both training courses, and we have a control group that will not attend any training course. We will compare scholar achievement and production quality of students taught by teachers from different groups in order to understand the impact of MIL instruction program. We will use a survey about digital technologies and MIL for teachers and another survey for students. We will conduct case study interviews with teachers and students. Data from training courses and intervention with students will be used, including teachers’ reflections and testimonies about practices and students’ inquiry journals. We will use Grounded Theory in order to understand how teachers and students apply Guided Inquiry tools and methods.

Expected Outcomes

We expect to understand MIL practices of school librarians, teachers, and students in order to identify, with these actors, things that should be improved. Training courses should be an opportunity for teachers to improve their MIL skills and to design and implement a MIL Instruction Program, integrating digital technologies and MIL in the curriculum. During this intervention students should improve their MIL skills at the same time they learn curricular contents. We also expect that an intervention based on Guided Inquiry could contribute to students gradually becoming self-regulated learners. In assessing students’ MIL competence and comparing it with academic achievement we should verify if the development of MIL could be a way to improve school results. If so, we could use this to influence other teachers and schools to join the program. Promoting a culture of collaboration between teachers and support of Headmasters, we expect to increase teachers’ confidence. A professional community of practice is another way that we expect could contribute to promoting discussions related to curricular integration of digital technologies and MIL. These discussions, and an expected increasing attention to these subjects by all stakeholders, supported by research results, could contribute to deep research and could consolidate Digital Lima Method in the field.

References

IFLA (2011). IFLA Media and Information Literacy Recommendations. http://www.ifla.org/files/assets/information-literacy/publications/media-info-lit-recommend-en.pdf (accessed Dec. 29, 2015) Kuhlthau, C.C., Maniotes, L.K., & Caspari, A.K. (2007). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Wetsport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Kuhlthau, C.C., Maniotes, L.K., & Caspari, A.K. (2012). Guided Inquiry Design: a framework for inquiry in your school. Wetsport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

Author Information

Simão Elias Lomba (presenting / submitting)

Instituto de Educação, Universidade de Lisboa

Lisboa

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