Category Archives: Information Literacy

Metaliteracy and BiblioSkill: Introducing the Italian Translation of the 2025 Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives

Posted on by
Reply

by Damiano Orrù

BiblioSkill Blog

Through my BiblioSkill blog, I explore issues related to artificial intelligence, libraries, and information literacy. I see metaliteracy as a dynamic framework that combines critical thinking, digital literacy, and metacognition. This approach is increasingly important in an information environment shaped by artificial intelligence, where librarians, educators, and researchers must help users evaluate, interpret, and responsibly create information. Librarians can organize discussions about AI’s social consequences, including job displacement, algorithmic bias, privacy, and copyright. They can also guide users in selecting responsible AI tools and promote institutional policies for ethical and transparent AI use.

The Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives support the metaliteracy framework and are adaptable to many different educational settings. I recently edited the Italian translation of the updated 2025 Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives. This translation broadens access to the framework, supporting inclusive, multilingual information literacy across the diverse communities connected through our blogs.

For me, an important aspect of metaliteracy is developing metacognitive awareness: learners should reflect on how they acquire knowledge and critically question AI-generated content. Librarians can support this process by helping users compare AI outputs with reliable traditional sources, identify hallucinations and outdated information, and understand the limitations of automated systems.

Metaliteracy also strengthens critical evaluation skills and encourages learners to consider how information is produced and shared. AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes, synthetic media, biased algorithms, and unethical prompt practices require users to assess both the reliability of information and the processes through which it is produced. Teaching with metaliteracy should also address AI’s growing role in academic publishing, including AI-assisted peer review and the risks of predatory or deceptive practices.

Overall, integrating metaliteracy with AI literacy can support more critical, reflective, and responsible engagement with information. By combining reflection, evaluation, collaboration, and ethical awareness, librarians and users can engage with AI as informed and responsible participants.

Damiano Orrù

Damiano Orrù is a librarian and the Head of the Vilfredo Pareto Library, Faculty of Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. He is a member of the AIB’s (Italian Library Association) Information Literacy Observatory and teaches in professional and postgraduate programmes on generative AI, customer experience, machine learning, sustainability, and research data management. He is also the creator and blogger behind BiblioSkill, a professional platform dedicated to exploring the impact of artificial intelligence on libraries, education, and information services. Through BiblioSkill, he publishes articles, reflections, and practical resources on generative AI, metaliteracy, information evaluation, ethical technology use, digital transformation, and the development of responsible AI literacy among librarians, educators, researchers, and library users. 

His work aims to promote critical thinking, professional development, and informed discussion about the opportunities, risks, and ethical challenges of AI in contemporary information environments. His professional interests include AI literacy, critical thinking, fact-checking, FAIR research data management, sustainability reporting, and the indexing of print, multimedia, and digital resources.

Coming up at IFLA WLIC 2026: Metaliteracy, Digital Resilience, and a Meme-Based Response to AI-Driven Disinformation

Posted on by
Reply

by Changhong Wu

As generative AI reshapes the information landscape, the line between authentic and fabricated content grows harder to see. Deepfakes, synthetic text, and AI “hallucinations” now circulate alongside genuine sources, and the familiar cues of credibility — fluency, formatting, the look of authority — are exactly what these systems reproduce so well. In this environment, the retrieval-and-evaluation model of information literacy remains necessary but is no longer sufficient.

At the IFLA WLIC 2026 Information Literacy Section Satellite Meeting in Busan, Republic of Korea, we will share a project that responds to this challenge through the lens of metaliteracy. Our presentation, “Building Digital Resilience through Metaliteracy: A Meme-Based Pedagogy to Counter AI-Driven Disinformation,” builds on Mackey and Jacobson’s framework, treating digital resilience as a capability fostered through metaliteracy when learners face AI-driven disinformation — integrating the behavioural, cognitive, affective, and metacognitive domains of learning rather than teaching isolated skills.

Our approach turns abstract metaliterate objectives into something students can see, make, and remember: internet memes. Through a meme-based pedagogy developed at the library of Northeast Normal University, a Chinese “Double First-Class” institution, students decode, create, and reflect on memes as tools for recognising and resisting disinformation. Drawing on a survey of 183 undergraduates, we found balanced competence across all four metaliteracy domains and, encouragingly, a clear tendency to verify rather than to trust at a glance when confronted with the very artefacts generative AI now makes so easy to produce.

The full satellite meeting programme is available online. The presentation will be delivered in person in Busan by Changhong Wu, with Tom Mackey joining remotely to discuss the metaliteracy model.

Opening slide for Building Digital Resilience through Metaliteracy, an IFLA WLIC 2026 presentation by Changhong Wu.

We look forward to sharing our full findings in Busan—and to continuing the conversation here on Metaliteracy.org.

Changhong Wu is an Information Literacy Librarian at Northeast Normal University (NENU), China, where her teaching and research focus on information literacy, metaliteracy, and AI literacy. She serves as a Standing Committee Member of the IFLA Information Literacy Section and as a Board Member of the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), and has been a Visiting Scholar at George Washington University.

She teaches a range of credit-bearing courses at NENU— including Historical Data and AI Agent Applications, Data Processing and AI Agent Applications, Digital Curation and Display of Cultural Heritage, and Historical Sources and Information Literacy. Her work on AI literacy and metaliteracy has appeared in leading journals, and she has given keynote and invited talks at venues including IFLA, iSchools, and ALA. She also shares AI-literacy ideas with a public audience of more than 90,000 followers online.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Teaching and Learning with AI through Metaliteracy

Posted on by
Reply

The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning is seeking submissions for a special issue on Teaching and Learning with AI through Metaliteracy.

Prof. Thomas P. Mackey and Prof. Nicola Marae Allain from Empire State University have been invited to serve as guest editors for this thematic collection, which celebrates the 21st anniversary of this peer-reviewed international journal from South Africa. The journal brings together researchers and educators from around the world to share scholarship that advances teaching, learning, and educational practice.

We invite submissions of original research and reflective scholarship that explore how metaliteracy can inform teaching and learning with artificial intelligence. Contributions may examine theory, pedagogy, classroom practice, assessment, learner engagement, ethics, creativity, self-directed learning, or interdisciplinary applications across multimodal contexts.

As artificial intelligence continues to influence teaching and learning, and the production and sharing of knowledge, metaliteracy prepares learners for evolving information environments, including those mediated by AI. The metaliteracy model emphasizes learner agency through interconnected learning domains, learner roles, and learner characteristics. We welcome submissions that explore how these core components of metaliteracy can inform teaching and learning with AI across a wide range of educational settings.

Please see the full Call for Papers for submission guidelines, important dates, and the complete list of suggested topics. A downloadable PDF of the call is also available for sharing with colleagues.

Nicola and I look forward to bringing together a diverse collection of scholarship that explores innovative approaches to AI and metaliteracy from international perspectives.

IJTL call for paper 22(1)_2027Download

New AI and Metaliteracy Book to be Published in Early 2027

Posted on by
2

The manuscript for the new edited book by Drs. Nicola Marae Allain and Tom Mackey, AI and Metaliteracy: Empowering Learners for the Generative Revolution, has officially moved into the production phase at Bloomsbury Publishing. Scheduled for publication in early 2027, the volume features a Foreword by Distinguished Librarian Emerita Trudi E. Jacobson and appears in Bloomsbury’s Innovations in Information Literacy series, for which she serves as series editor. As generative AI continues to transform teaching and learning, the collection offers timely perspectives on empowering learners to engage critically and ethically with these technologies.

The new book includes a framing chapter by Allain and Mackey entitled, The Aura of the Image: Embedding AI and Metaliteracy in the Digital Media Arts. The chapter integrates media theory and metaliteracy with adaptable case studies, including examples from Empire State University’s Digital Media Arts program, to explore how metaliteracy can support creative inquiry, reflective learning, and ethical engagement with artificial intelligence.

Bringing together an international community of scholars and practitioners, the collection demonstrates how AI and metaliteracy can foster learner agency, strengthen visual and digital literacy, promote digital citizenship and social justice, and advance ethical engagement across educational and information contexts. Additional chapters examine applications in STEM education, financial literacy, digital workspaces, the metaverse, and library and information settings, while also addressing issues of accessibility and inclusive participation. Collectively, these contributions illustrate the broad applicability of AI and metaliteracy across disciplines and professional environments. The case studies offer innovative approaches that can be adapted and transferred across disciplines, institutions, and learning environments.

In addition, Mackey contributes a chapter co-authored with colleagues from the Intercultural Perspectives on Information Literacy and Metaliteracy (IPILM) virtual exchange team. The chapter examines how information literacy and metaliteracy can be combined with AI education to foster intercultural understanding and global engagement in team-based learning environments.

As publication approaches, we look forward to sharing additional details about the volume and to continuing the conversation about the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence, metaliteracy, and learner empowerment in digital environments.

Chinese Translation of First Metaliteracy Book is Published

Posted on by
Reply

The first book introducing the metaliteracy framework, Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners (2014) by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson, has now been translated and published in Chinese, making the metaliteracy framework more accessible to students and educators across higher education and library communities in China. The translation was initiated and completed by Changhong Wu (Bella Wu), Information Literacy & AI Literacy Librarian, Subject Librarian for History, and Instructor at Northeast Normal University. This is the first of a series that will also include the Chinese translation of Metaliteracy in Practice (2016) and Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World (2018).

Changhong Wu launched the project in 2023 and coordinated the collaboration among the authors, Northeast Normal University Press, and American Library Association Editions to secure publication permissions and guide the translation process.

The publication was highlighted in an IFLA news announcement that noted:

This project reflects Northeast Normal University Library’s ongoing efforts to align with international standards and foster a culture of critical, reflective, and participatory learning among students. We believe that the metaliteracy framework will empower Chinese learners to become not only discerning consumers but also responsible creators of information.

As noted in the IFLA newsletter, the Chinese edition has also been included in the New Education Library Series of Northeast Normal University and will serve as a course text for the credit-bearing class Social Media Literacy and Metaliteracy Capabilities.

This translation represents a significant milestone in the continued international development of metaliteracy as an established framework. It reflects the growing global interest in learner-centered approaches to metacognitive reflection, collaborative learning, and ethical participation in digital environments.

We are deeply appreciative of Bella Wu’s leadership, commitment, and scholarly work in making this translation possible and helping extend the reach of metaliteracy to new academic and professional communities.

-Tom and Trudi

Register for the AI & Metaliteracy Workshop at SUNY CIT 2026

Posted on by
2

Generative AI is reshaping how we design assignments, support student learning, and think about authorship and participation. The question is no longer whether to engage with AI in our teaching—but how to do so in ways that are ethical, reflective, and effective.

At the Conference on Instruction & Technology 2026, we invite you to register for a hands-on preconference workshop focused on applying the AI & Metaliteracy OER Toolkit in your own teaching.

Learn to Apply Ethical, Effective Learning with AI Using Metaliteracy
🗓 Tuesday, May 26, 2026
🕒 2:30–5:30 PM ET
📍 SAC 304, Stony Brook University

This interactive session will also mark the official launch of the AI & Metaliteracy OER Toolkit, developed through a SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grant by a collaborative team at Empire State University. The project is led by Principal Investigators Nicola Marae Allain and Thomas P. Mackey, with Alena Rodick serving as Project Manager and Eugenio Solis de Ovando leading digital video and AI avatar development. It also includes collaboration with Kathleen Olmstead and Logan Roth, Ph.D., both at SUNY Brockport.

This is a working session designed for direct application. Participants will explore the AI & Metaliteracy OER Toolkit, identify sample assignments and rubrics to adapt for their own courses, and revise those materials for their specific teaching context. Participants will also have the option to use AI as part of this process, modeling reflective and ethical engagement in their design choices. We encourage you to bring a learning activity you would like to develop or revise for your instructional setting.

Participants will leave with practical strategies for integrating AI through the metaliteracy framework, along with adapted assignments they have developed for their own course. They will also gain access to a wide range of resources from the AI & Metaliteracy OER Toolkit, including customizable assignment templates, guidelines, rubrics, learning modules, and implementation strategies. The workshop will also provide opportunities to connect with colleagues engaged in this work, with the potential to continue sharing ideas beyond the session.

AI is not just a new tool—it is reshaping how learners engage with information, create content, and participate in knowledge production. This workshop focuses on how metaliteracy can guide that work in practice, supporting learners as reflective, responsible, and active contributors in AI-mediated environments.

This work also reflects a broader commitment to open and collaborative dialogue about teaching and learning with AI, and we look forward to sharing additional updates as the toolkit becomes more widely available.

The session will be led by Dr. Nicola Marae Allain, Dr. Thomas P. Mackey, and Dr. Eugenio Solis de Ovando.

Please bring your own device and come ready to work with your own course materials.

Register today to join us at the workshop!

From Information Literacies to Metaliteracy: Learner Agency in an AI-Mediated World

Posted on by
Reply

An invited virtual keynote was delivered by Tom Mackey of Empire State University, exploring the intersection of AI and metaliteracy. The presentation focused on the shift from information literacies to metaliteracy and examined how learner agency is understood within an increasingly AI-mediated information environment. The keynote opened iConference 2026, hosted by the iSchools Organization—a global network of universities advancing research and teaching on the role of information, technology, and society across disciplines.

The conference theme—Information Literacies, Authenticity and Use: The Move Towards a Digitally Enlightened Society—foregrounds key questions about how individuals and communities engage with information in complex digital contexts. It also reflects on how Enlightenment ideals of reason, education, and the ethical use of knowledge continue to inform—and are being reinterpreted within—contemporary information environments. The virtual academic program took place March 23–26, 2026, followed by an onsite event in Edinburgh from March 29 to April 2, hosted by Edinburgh Napier University.

Tom’s keynote, From Information Literacies to Metaliteracy: Learner Agency in an AI-Mediated World, was presented on Monday, March 23, 2026 and engaged a global audience in examining how metaliteracy offers a comprehensive and human-centered framework for learning in relation to artificial intelligence.

“This keynote argues that evolving approaches to information literacy, AI literacy, and digital authenticity require a shift beyond discrete or skill-based methods toward a more comprehensive and reflective model of learning. Rather than positioning AI as a standalone competency, metaliteracy operates as a holistic pedagogical approach that centers the self-aware learner. It is grounded in metacognition, ethical reasoning, and active participation in AI and emerging technology environments.”

The recorded keynote is available via Vimeo and is embedded below. It explores the implications of AI and metaliteracy for teaching, learning, and participation in digital environments.

The accompanying slide deck is available as a resource for exploring the core components of metaliteracy and AI-related learning activities in greater detail.

As metaliteracy continues to evolve in response to AI and emerging technologies, this keynote invites further reflection and application. Readers are encouraged to consider how these ideas might inform their own teaching and learning contexts—whether by integrating metaliteracy principles into course design, developing new learning activities, or engaging students as active and ethical producers of knowledge. The embedded materials—including two Slido surveys, reflective prompts, and examples of assignments—offer opportunities to explore these concepts in practice and to extend the conversation across diverse educational settings.

We encourage readers to apply these ideas in their own contexts and to share examples of their work with us for possible feature on the Metaliteracy blog.

-Tom and Trudi

Watch the Workshop Recording: Advancing OER with Metaliteracy and AI

Posted on by
Reply

The interactive workshop Advancing OER Through Metaliteracy and AI Integration, presented by Prof. Tom Mackey of Empire State University, explored the application of metaliteracy and artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the design of Open Educational Resources (OER). ​This online session was organized by Prof. Dorothy Laubscher, UNESCO Chair at North-West University (NWU) in South Africa, and was featured as part of the NWU OER Fellows and the SADiLaR Digital Humanities OER Champions Project.

The workshop introduced key concepts from metaliteracy and emphasized the updated Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives to address the challenges and opportunities of AI for teaching and learning. ​ Participants engaged in several interactive surveys and two workshop activities that emphasized ethical, creative, and collaborative applications of AI in open learning environments. ​The session illustrated how careful planning and inclusive engagement reinforce the learning experience through the development of sustainable OER. ​

Real-world examples from the Digital Media Arts program at Empire State University illustrated how metaliteracy supports self-directed and multimodal learning in AI-driven environments. ​

The video recording from the session is now available:

Video recording of OER + Metaliteracy + AI Workshop

Watch the video to learn how to integrate AI and metaliteracy to support effective OER development. Try the workshop activities or adapt them to your OER projects. ​ We invite you to share the outcome of your work via this blog, and we’ll gladly support you in doing so. If you have any questions, let us know!

Tom and Trudi

Metaliteracy Examined at the Faculty360.org Global Summit on AI

Posted on by
Reply

At the Faculty360.org 2025 Summit, hosted virtually by Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, Tom Mackey delivered a presentation titled “Developing Metaliterate Learners for Generative AI.” The summit theme, Beyond the AI Hype: Faculty Futures in a Changing World, provided the context for a session that introduced metaliteracy as a holistic pedagogical framework for teaching and learning with generative AI. The presentation examined how the model supports critical thinking, knowledge production, and collaborative learning in AI environments.

The talk outlined the key elements of the metaliteracy framework and illustrated how its learner domains, roles, and characteristics guide effective engagement with generative AI. The 2025 revision of the Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives was discussed as a transferable resource for educators seeking to support ethical, reflective, and empowered engagement with AI across disciplines.

Several examples of learning activities from the Digital Media Arts program at Empire State University illustrated how the integration of AI and metaliteracy can foster creativity, critical reflection, and informed decision-making. The session also introduced new versions of the metaliteracy diagrams, offering updated visualizations that show how the framework enhances multiple modality learning in a wide range of educational settings.

The slide deck from this presentation is now available and can be accessed below.

If you would like to contribute your own take on these ideas, particularly as they relate to the metaliteracy framework and the updated Metaliteracy Goals and Learning Objectives, we would be glad to work with you on a guest blog post.

Tom and Trudi

Humans in the Loop: Advancing Metaliteracy for Generative AI Learning Environments

Posted on by
Reply

This year’s 2025 European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL) hosted in Bamberg, Germany featured an international panel that presented on Humans in the Loop: Advancing Metaliteracy for Generative AI Learning Environments. The presentaton took place on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 and explored how metaliteracy provides a holistic framework for responding to the global opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI).

Framed around the idea of learners as “humans in the loop” (Wu, et. al., 2022), the session highlighted diverse case studies that offered practical strategies for empowering individuals to engage with AI critically, ethically, and collaboratively.

Representing the team in person were Matt Moyo (North-West University, South Africa), Kristine N. Stewart (Zayed University, United Arab Emirates), and Tom Mackey (Empire State University, USA), (all pictured above). The panel also drew on the important contributions of Brenda Van Wyk (University of Pretoria, South Africa), Megan Eberhardt-Alstot (Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology, USA), and Kristen Schuster (University of Southampton, UK).

The case studies showcased during the session reflected a wide range of perspectives and areas of inquiry, including Generative AI and the Metaliterate Learner, Responsible Use of AI in Postgraduate Research, Misrepresentation in AI, Inclusive Curriculum Design, and the Ethics of AI in Digital Media Arts. Together, these themes underscored the value of metaliteracy as a framework for engaging with AI while emphasizing the human capacity for metacognitive reflection, ethical responsibility, and collaborative knowledge construction.

As part of her Information Literacy Weblog, Sheila Webber blogged about our session: Humans in the Loop: Advancing Metaliteracy for Generative AI Learning Environments.

The conference also featured a second panel related to AI and Metaliteracy based on a paper co-authored by the IPILM Project Team, entitled “Combining Information Literacy and Metaliteracy to Advance Transnational Group Learning about AI. Learning Process and Learning Outcomes, Results from a Case Study.”

If you would like to share your own explorations with AI and Metaliteracy, feel free to reach out to us and we would be happy to share via our Metaliteracy.org blog.

Tom and Trudi

Reference

Wu, X., Xiao, L., Sun, Y., Zhang, J., Ma, T., & He, L. (2022). A survey of human-in-the-loop for machine learning. Future Generation Computer Systems, 135, 364–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2022.05.014