Category Archives: learner as producer

Metaliteracy and Its Role in Self-Directed Learning

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In a Prestige Lecture presented as a virtual event for North-West University (NWU) in South Africa, Profs. Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson explore the topic of Metaliteracy and Its Role in Self-Directed Learning. This talk is based on their new book for ALA Publishing Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers. Tom and Trudi presented as part of their honorary appointments as Extraordinary Professors in the Research Unit Self-Directed Learning, Faculty of Education, North-West University (NWU), South Africa. They appreciate the invitation from Elsa Mentz, Director of the Research Focus Area Self-Directed Learning and Professor in Computer Science Education and Jako Olivier, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and OER and Professor in Multimodal Learning at NWU. The entire presentation is available online via YouTube. Registration is open for their next Prestige Lecture scheduled for Tuesday 8 March 2022 8:00AM-9:00AM (Eastern time). Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X5X1rwdRQ02n2DpjdSqNGw

Connecting Metaliteracy, Open Pedagogy, and Wikipedia Editing

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Trudi Jacobson has written a post for the WikiEdu blog under the title above. In it, she very briefly explores these elements as they are explained in the new book she wrote with Tom Mackey, Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers (ALA/Neal-Schuman, 2022). She mentions that in chapter 3, the authors show how ”metaliteracy provides a comprehensive scaffolding and framework for the learning, and indeed the teaching, that takes place in open pedagogical environments” (p. 85). Chapter 4 includes course-based case studies, one of which is centered on the educational Wikipedia editing program offered by Wiki Education.

Image credits: Jfhughesus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Illustrated by Jasmina El Bouamraoui and Karabo Poppy Moletsane, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Metaliteracy Featured in Two Prestige Lectures at the Invitation of Northwest University (NWU) in South Africa

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Profs. Trudi Jacobson and Tom Mackey have been invited to present two Prestige lectures as part of their honorary appointments as Extraordinary Professors in the Research Unit Self-Directed Learning, Faculty of Education, North-West University, South Africa, These virtual events explore themes from their new book for ALA Publishing Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers and are available to everyone.

Picture of the cover for the book Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers

Register for either or both lectures at the links below:

Prestige Lecture 1: Metaliteracy and Its Role in Self-Directed Learning (SDL) with Profs. Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson

Friday 11 February 2022 8:00AM-9:00AM (Eastern time). Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mj8jdegwSpCTJRnbqPuXtA

This first lecture will trace the origins of the metaliteracy framework in relation to changing conceptions of information literacy and revolutionary changes in the social information environment. We will explore the evolution of metaliteracy as a distinct model with core components that include a focus on learning domains, active learner roles, associated characteristics, and reinforcing goals and learning objectives. 

Prestige Lecture 2: Open Pedagogy and Metaliteracy with Profs. Trudi Jacobson and Tom Mackey

Tuesday 8 March 2022 8:00AM-9:00AM (Eastern time). Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_X5X1rwdRQ02n2DpjdSqNGw

The use of open pedagogy provides students with the opportunity to engage deeply in their own learning, but the responsibilities involved may be unfamiliar and stressful. The metaliteracy framework provides scaffolding that encourages student success. This lecture will delve into how metaliteracy and open pedagogy can work hand-in-hand.

Join us for both lectures exploring the metaliteracy framework and its application in pedagogical situations.

In 2019, Tom and Trudi presented a Prestige Lecture in person at NWU in South Africa at the invitation of Jako Olivier, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning and OER and Professor in Multimodal Learning about Exploring the Foundation of Metaliteracy in Theory and Practice.

We hope to see you at the newest lecture series available online! Be sure to register today!

Tom and Trudi  

Metaliteracy in a Connected World Book Published by ALA Publishing!

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The new book co-authored by Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson entitled Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers has been published by ALA Neal Schuman! The idea of learner as producer is foundational to the metaliteracy framework and is explored in depth in this new publication.

The book’s Foreword is written by Jako Olivier, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning, and OER Professor in Multimodal Learning, North-West University, South Africa.

According to the press release from ALA Publishing, the new metaliteracy book “offers an overview of the development of the metaliterate producer through metaliteracy’s goals, learning objectives, learning domains, active learner roles, and associated characteristics” and “explores the ways in which metaliteracy provides scaffolding for open pedagogical settings, encouraging students to understand and embrace their active roles,” among other highlights.

The new book examines metaliteracy in relation to such timely and relevant themes as self-directed learning, multimodality, open pedagogy, digital citizenship, and developing a growth mindset. Metaliteracy in a Connected World is organized into six related chapters:

Chapter 1: Metaliteracy for Empowering Learners as Producers

Chapter 2: Engaging Metaliterate Producers through Multimodal Learning

Chapter 3: Metaliteracy and Open Pedagogy

Chapter 4: Developing Metaliterate Producers Using Open Pedagogy

Chapter 5: Designing an Online Metaliteracy Course to Engage Informed Producers

Chapter 6: Developing Productive Metaliterate Citizens with Growth Mindsets

This is the fourth book about metaliteracy and presents a fully realized model that has developed considerably since we first introduced the concept in 2011. We look forward to your feedback and welcome the opportunity to engage with audiences about the themes examined in each chapter!

Tom and Trudi

Metaliteracy Discussed on The Academic Minute—Again!

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Trudi Jacobson is featured on a segment for NPR’s The Academic Minute that was first presented on December 15, 2021: Renewable Assignments, Wikipedia, and Metaliteracy.

In this new segment, Trudi discusses the value of renewable assignments, i.e., assignments in which students create content that is useful to others, not meant simply for their professors’ eyes alone. Such assignments help individuals to become metaliterate learners and responsible digital citizens. Her example involves editing content in Wikipedia and the important scaffolding that metaliteracy can provide. If you get a chance, listen (or read it, the text is provided). The Academic Minute is produced for NPR by our local WAMC public radio station.

This is the second time metaliteracy has been featured on the program. Tom Mackey’s segment, Metaliterate Learners, aired on May 18, 2020.

Information Has Value: Engaging Students as Wikipedia Editors

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Trudi and Jackson Grey, a student in her fall 2021 Information Literacy in the Humanities and Fine Arts course, presented at the virtual 2021 WikiConference North America in October. This course uses a combination of the Wiki Education program, metaliteracy, and frames from the ACRL Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education to encourage students to see themselves as ethical and responsible information producers.

The Wiki Education program provides excellent training for novice Wikipedia editors, but a conceptual understanding of the value of information, as well as scaffolding to recognize themselves as information producers, can provide a rich underpinning for this new set of skills, a background that will help them to see the value of their contributions, and encourage them to continue as metaliterate Wikipedia editors.

Jackson, a senior at the University at Albany majoring in philosophy, provided a student’s viewpoint in such a learning situation where It is possible to share growing knowledge in a field of study. He also explored the differing values of information, inherent vs. as a means to an end, and the disconnect between the availability of information and its importance.

The presentation is available on YouTube as part of a day of programs. It starts at 6:05, and this link is set to start at that point.

Metaliteracy Presentations at SUNY Virtual Conference on Instruction & Technology (CIT)

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This year’s SUNY Virtual Conference on Instruction & Technology (CIT) 2021 featured two metaliteracy presentations. Prof. Trudi Jacobson presented Scaffolding Student Learning: The Role of Metaliteracy in Open Pedagogy. Trudi’s presentation examines the relationship between the core concepts of open pedagogy and metaliteracy with a focus on student creations that resulted from this approach.

In a second metaliteracy presentation, Prof. Tom Mackey collaborated with Prof. Sheila Marie Aird on Collaborating to Teach Global Digital Storytelling Online. Tom and Sheila’s presentation explores how they applied metaliteracy to the design of a Digital Storytelling course they co-teach at SUNY Empire State College as a fully online international experience. Their slideshow is available via their Global Digital Stories blog.

The Roles of Metaliteracy and Wikipedia Editing in Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

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“Anyone could make edits, and anyone could challenge those edits…This helped me feel less like an outsider trying to fit into a conversation and more like one of a million voices that were working together towards a shared goal of information creation and consumption.”

It is not only illuminating, but also vital to hear from learners about the impact of their encounters with metaliteracy. Asking them to write reflective pieces is one way to find out how components of metaliteracy may have had an effect on their learning. A recent Wiki Edu blog post by Corrin Baker, a graduating senior at The University at Albany, provides such insight. Corrin expanded a wonderfully written course reflection for this post about a course taught by Prof. Trudi Jacobson.

In describing metaliteracy’s producer role, Ms. Baker wrote:

The shared roles of producer and consumer were present in every step of the course. I was fully engaged in locating and evaluating sources, and then finding ways to make that information both understandable and accessible. I felt a great sense of responsibility to the audience and to the authors whose work I was using. I was also far more aware of diversity in a global audience, especially as I found myself struggling to find non-male authors to cite. 

The course, which lasts just seven weeks, is challenging for students, but aims to have a lasting effect on their understanding of information and their roles in producing and sharing it. Corrin’s reflection testifies to the incredible impact that the blend of metaliteracy, information literacy, and the wonderful Wiki Education program can have.

Read the full post here: Overcoming imposter syndrome by editing Wikipedia

Wiki. edu logo by David Peters of EXBROOK for Wiki Education Foundation – Wiki Education Foundation, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33179189

New Metaliteracy Book to be Published in Summer 2021

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The new metaliteracy book written by Tom Mackey and Trudi Jacobson will be published by ALA/Neal Schuman in summer 2021!

The fourth metaliteracy book in a series is entitled Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers and will focus specifically on the metaliterate learner as informed and ethical producer of information in collaborative social settings. The Foreword to this book will be written by Jako Olivier, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning, and OER Professor in Multimodal Learning, North-West University, South Africa.

In this newest book in their series, the authors carefully examine the central role of learners as producers of information, a foundational idea for the metaliteracy framework and one that’s more important than ever in our current media and information environment. They emphasize the active role today’s learners play as individual and collaborative metaliterate producers of information in various forms, including writing, digital stories, digital artifacts, and multimedia productions. The authors explore a range of connected social settings from online courses to social media to open learning environments. 

(https://www.alastore.ala.org/mlitproducers)

We are excited to announce the forthcoming publication of our next book and will provide updates via Metaliteracy.org as we get closer to the publication date so stay tuned!

Best,

Tom and Trudi

Metaliteracy Presentation During SUNY Online’s Open Education Week, March 1-5

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SUNY Online has just published their schedule of events for 2021’s Open Education Week.There are a number of presentations from Monday, March 1 to Friday March 5, several of which fit in well with the very metaliterate idea of learner as producer.

On Tuesday, March 2 at 10:00 ET, Trudi will be presenting “Enhancing Student Engagement Through Scaffolded Non-Disposable Assignments,” in which metaliteracy will be playing a starring role! At least one of her current students plans to participate, providing his views as a counterpoint.

Perhaps you will be able to attend one or more of the sessions. The registration link is available on the schedule of events page.