Category Archives: Coursera

Metaliteracy: Engaging Students Through Assessment as Learning

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Profs. Trudi Jacobson and Tom Mackey delivered the keynote address entitled Metaliteracy: Engaging Students through Assessment as Learning at the Second Virtual Training Session 4th National Meeting of Information Literacy Competencies. This virtual event was hosted by the University of Puerto Rico in February and the presentation is now available as a recording on YouTube.

This presentation explores both the theory and practice of metaliteracy with a particular emphasis on assessment as learning. The following topics are covered:

  • Engaging Students in Learning
    • Developing a Metaliterate Mindset
  • Metaliteracy and Open Learning
  • Metaliteracy and Assessment
  • Integrating Assessment through Metaliteracy in Your Setting

In addition to the recording, feel free to explore the slide deck for ideas about ways to apply metaliteracy to your own teaching strategies.

We welcome any feedback or ideas that you have and when you adapt one of these techniques to your own setting let us know!

Trudi and Tom

Metaliteracy Featured in Two New Articles in Communications in Information Literacy

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The latest issue of Communications in Information Literacy (CIL) features two new articles that focus on metaliteracy.

In the Perspectives section, Trudi E. Jacobson contributes her essay entitled Analyzing Information Sources Through the Lens of the ACRL Framework: A Case Study of Wikipedia. Trudi’s article starts a conversation about the six frames of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education as explored in relation to Wikipedia and through the lens of metaliteracy. As Jacobson (2020) argues:

There are a number of components in Wikipedia that align with the Framework, suggesting that an analysis of Wikipedia might serve as a contained but rich case study of how the Framework can serve as a construct whose utility extends beyond individuals’ information literacy understanding and progress. Individual frames shed light on this resource, and metaliteracy, which influenced the Framework, highlights additional elements of Wikipedia, particularly as an immersive teaching tool.

(Jacobson, p. 374).

The Innovative Practices section of CIL features a new article by Tom Mackey entitled Embedding Metaliteracy in the Design of a Post-Truth MOOC: Building Communities of Trust. Tom’s contribution provides a descriptive analysis of the grant-funded Coursera MOOC Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World based on the metaliteracy framework and one of the key themes to emerge from the project related to building communities of trust. As Mackey (2020) argues:

This descriptive analysis of the Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World MOOC shows how metaliteracy is embedded in the course to prepare learners as informed consumers and ethical producers of information. Participants gain insights about their affective responses to information by reflecting on their preconceptions and conducting research to create a digital artifact. The course-specific learning outcomes in each module are based on the metaliteracy goals and learning objectives and associated components such as the learner roles, learning domains, and characteristics.

(Mackey, p. 357)

We welcome your feedback about these new metaliteracy articles and look forward to being in dialogue with you in 2021!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Tom and Trudi

Metaliteracy Resources for Online or Remote Teaching & Learning

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As educators respond to the COVID-19 crisis and transition to online and remote learning, or expand what they are doing at a distance, consider several metaliteracy resources that are adaptable for these purposes. We’ve seen an increase in the use of our MOOCs during these unprecedented times and would like to highlight those resources and other OER that were designed for teaching and learning with metaliteracy:

iSucceed College Success – SUNY OER Services recently launched this expanded College Success course with a new metaliteracy module to prepare students for the college environment. The Metaliteracy Module is adaptable to K-12 and college environments and provides open content, learning objects, videos, and assignments that are adaptable to your educational setting.

Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World – This was our first Coursera MOOC that introduces metaliteracy and was recently revised with updated content and streamlined to a four-module format.

Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World – This Coursera MOOC addresses the challenges of the post-truth world and is especially relevant now that accurate and reliable information is paramount during this global pandemic.

Metaliteracy Digital Badging – All of the content developed for our Metaliteracy Digital Badging system is openly available to apply online and through remote learning.

Metaliteracy Learning Goals and Objectives – This resource is at the heart of metaliteracy and has undergone revisions to address post-truth issues while expanding to include several new translations to address the international interest in metalieracy.

Metaliterate Learner Roles – This diagram features the essential metaliterate learner roles and associated questions that spark reflection and online discussion in multiple disciplines.

Metaliteracy and Your Role as a Metaliterate Learner – This resource also features the learner roles and the four domains of metaliteracy and features reflective questions written and shared by Professor Sally Friedman, University at Albany.

Metaliterate Learner Characteristics – This interactive learning object highlights the characteristics that individuals strive toward as they develop as metaliterate learners.

Metaliterate Learner Characteristics Aligned with the ACRL Framework Dispositions – This open model is ideal for faculty and librarians teaching information literacy with the ACRL Framework while incorporating key elements of metaliteracy.

Metaliteracy YouTube Channel– All of the videos we’ve created for our MOOC projects are openly available in one location via the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative YouTube Channel.

Additional resources are available through this blog and if you would like to share any open metaliteracy resources that you have developed be sure to let us know.

Take care and be well during this challenging time.

Tom, Trudi, and Kelsey

Knowing Metaliteracy: A reflective digital story of my metaliteracy journey

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Reflective Digital Story

We thank Mehreen Tahir, Information Commons Librarian at Forman Christian College, for providing this guest posting about Knowing Metaliteracy: A reflective digital story of my metaliteracy journey. Mehreen developed this final project as part of her participation in our Coursera MOOC, Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World. We invite you to do the same!

Greetings Everyone,

I am excited to share that I have successfully completed the Coursera online course Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World by The State University of New York (SUNY). Metaliteracy has always been my area of interest and thanks to the instructors Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson for developing this course with their colleagues at SUNY. This MOOC experience was an amazing learning opportunity for me to explore the concept of metaliteracy, its various learner roles, Creative Commons licensing, creating digital stories, and much more. 

My digital story is basically a reflective journey of my understanding of the different metaliteracy learner roles and the way I identified them during this course. It helped me in recognizing the roles I have been silently playing in my activities online through different social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram on a daily basis, but also urged me to build a creative thinking mechanism to incorporate these roles in the future as well. I feel like developing a sense of being a responsible digital citizen, reflecting upon my own experiences while navigating through these 21st century social media environments. Hoping to learn and explore more in this area.

Thanks,

Mehreen Tahir

Metaliteracy Post-Truth MOOC is Popular and Recommended

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Characteristics of the Metaliterate Learner (Mackey & Jacobson, 2019)

According to Class Central, the Coursera version of our most recent metaliteracy MOOC Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World is one of 2019’s Most Popular Online Courses. The founder and CEO of Class Central, Dhawal Shah noted that his site aggregates MOOCs and collects course enrollment data from MOOC providers as well as data from learners at Class Central to arrive at the list of most popular online courses.

In another recent mention of our Metaliteracy MOOC, Jessica Stillman Contributor at Inc.com recommended Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World in her latest article “20 Online Courses That Will Make You More Successful in 2020.” According to Stillman, she selected “classes in everything from exercise to data analysis that will help you be more motivated, productive and successful this year.” Our MOOC was mentioned along with classes from around the world about such topics as Statistics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Design, Writing and Public Speaking, Critical Thinking, and Ethical Hacking. We join Jessica Stillman in wishing everyone a productive and successful 2020!

Two Revised Metaliteracy MOOCs Launch on Coursera

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AI (Artificial Intelligence) concept. 3D illustration.Two Metaliteracy MOOCs are now available for registration via the Coursera platform. First, our original Coursera MOOC Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World has been streamlined and enhanced with new video content, resources, and learning activities. Learners will be introduced to the metaliteracy model, learn about copyright, intellectual property, and open-licensing through the Creative Commons, and explore digital storytelling as a creative form of information production. By the end of this MOOC, learners will see themselves as content creators and develop a digital artifact or story of their own. Registration for this MOOC is open now for launch on October 14, 2019.

Second, the recently revised Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World MOOC is being offered on Coursera for the first time. Registration is open now for immediate launch. This course explores a wide range of issues related to the post-truth world and empowers learners to think about the role of experts in society, examine false representations in constructed media, reflect on their own biases, and explore ways to build collaborative communities of trust and reinvent a truthful world. Learners will be empowered to raise and share their own voice by creating a digital response to the post-truth world.

Both MOOCs provide dynamic video content, updated links to open readings and resources, discussions, and interactive learning activities. The MOOCs can be explored independently, or in sequence (if new to both MOOCs, you may want to start with the Connected World and move to Post-Truth World, but either sequence is fine). These updated resources are available to teachers, students, librarians, administrators, and lifelong learners interested in applying metaliteracy to a variety of teaching and learning situations and/or everyday life. Metaliteracy supports reflective learning and the active production of new knowledge in collaborative communities.

Recording of Metaliteracy Presentation at LSU Now Available Online

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The recent presentation by Trudi Jacobson and Tom Mackey at LSU entitled Teaching Metaliteracy in a Post-Truth World is now available online via YouTube. If you have any follow-up questions or comments be sure to contact us.

Thanks to Dr. Carol L. Barry, Director of the School of Library & Information Science, and everyone at LSU, for welcoming us to campus as part of the College of Human Sciences and Education’s Quality of Life Lecture Series. Special thanks to Dr. Edward Benoit III, Assistant Professor from the School of Library & Information Science, for working with his team on producing the video.

Metaliteracy Featured as part of ICDE 2017 Panel in Toronto

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Members of the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative participated in the ICDE World Conference for Online Learning Teaching in a Digital Age– Re-thinking Teaching & Learning on Wednesday October 18, 2017. Tom Mackey attended in person and Kelsey O’Brien participated virtually via ZOOM based on a presentation that included contributions from Michele Forte and Trudi Jacobson.

The presentation, entitled Designing for Connectedness and Openness: Advancing Metaliterate Learning through MOOCs and Digital Badging, explored outcomes from the recent paper published by this team in Open Praxis.

Panel presentation at the ICDE World ConferenceThe ICDE 2017 panel presentation was included in the session Badges and Alternative Credentials for Learning and also included Wayne Mackintosh, UNESCO – ICDE Chair in Open Educational Resources, OER Foundation, Burt Lo, Director II of Digital Curriculum & Instructional Technology, Stanislaus County Office of Education, and Alexandra Pickett, Director, Center for Online Teaching Excellence, Open SUNY, State University of New York (SUNY).

New Metaliteracy Article Published in Open Praxis

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Members of the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative have published a new article in the international peer-reviewed journal Open Praxis. Kelsey O’Brien, Michele Forte, Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson co-authored Metaliteracy as a Pedagogical Framework for Learner-Centered Design in Three MOOC Platforms: Connectivist, Coursera and Canvas.

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Open Praxis 2017

Open Praxis is an open access journal that is published by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE). This new research article examines the pedagogical dimensions of metaliteracy in three different MOOC environments, including the original connectivist Metaliteracy MOOC, followed by our Coursera MOOC Empowering Yourself in a Connected World, and the Canvas version, which integrates digital badging,  Empowering Yourself as a Digital Citizen. Metaliteracy is examined in relation to connectivism as a pedagogical model for the development of learner-centered MOOCs that provide the necessary supports for success. We welcome feedback about this new collaborative essay and invite knowledge sharing related to your own MOOC journeys as either teacher or learner.

Metaliteracy Featured at NOLA 2017

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Trudi Jacobson and Tom Mackey participated virtually as part of a panel presentation about metaliteracy and metacognition at the Fourth Annual NOLA Information Literacy Forum, sponsored by the NOLA Information Literacy Collective. In a presentation on August 11 entitled Promoting Metaliteracy and Metacognition in Collaborative Teaching and Learning, Trudi and Tom defined metaliteracy, explored the metaliteracy Learning Goals and Objectives, and discussed metaliteracy competency-based digital badging and metaliteracy MOOCs. The panel also included a learner who participated in the on-demand version of the Coursera Metaliteracy MOOC.