In June we presented a webinar on metaliteracy for the ALA Editions eLearning series. The slides are now available on Slideshare. This presentation features several new pieces in support of our new book Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners.
Last week we presented a collaborative keynote address at the IL Summit at Moraine Valley Community College in Illinois. The conference was sponsored by DePaul University Library and Moraine Valley Community College Library and focused on the theme Into the Next Generation: The Future of Information Literacy. We also presented a collaborative workshop entitled Designing Digital Badges to Generate Engaged Learning. We enjoyed our time at the conference and greatly appreciated the opportunity to engage with all of the participants. Our keynote examined Changing Models, Changing Emphases: The Evolution of Information Literacy and is available on SlideShare.
New Metaliteracy Book
Our new co-authored book Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners (April 2014) has been published by ALA Books/Neal-Schuman! The book features seven chapters that range from theory to practice, expanding the concept of metaliteracy with an emphasis on metacognition, exploring current trends in social media, describing the learning objectives required to support metaliterate learners, and analyzing global trends in emerging literacies. We also present the results of a preliminary survey about metaliteracy and related issues, and then close with two case studies from our own teaching in the classroom and online. The book includes visual models of the metaliteracy framework and the metaliterate learner and several figures in support of our survey chapter. Sheila A. Webber, Director of the Centre for Information Literacy Research at the Information School, Sheffield University wrote the Foreword to the book. ALA is currently providing a sample of the book and Facet Publishing is distributing the book internationally. The new publication is also available via Amazon and other online booksellers. The official press release from ALA Publishing is available as well: Using Metaliteracy to Empower Learners. We are excited about the new book and appreciate all of the interest that has been expressed in the metaliteracy model. We look forward to continuing the conversation now that the book is officially available! Feel free to post comments about the book via this blog or Twitter using #metaliteracy. We will be discussing the book as part of our upcoming keynote presentations and can’t wait for the dialogue about these ideas! -Tom and Trudi
Cover image of CIL 7.2
The new thematic issue of Communications in Information Literacy is out! It is called Reflecting on the Standards, and the 15 articles that it contains reflect a range of viewpoints and focused interests. The image of Janus on the cover is particularly apt, as the pieces look back to the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards published in 2000, noting both the good and the not so good about those standards, and forward to the new model currently under development. The authors express hopes and potential concerns about the new framework. And some offer sage advice: the two introductory paragraphs in Benjamin Harris’s The New ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards: Revising Reception are particularly thoughtful in this regard.
This issue contains articles by a number of well known individuals in the field. These include Carol Kuhlthau, Stanley Wilder, and Patricia Iannuzzi (who chaired the group that developed the 2000 Standards). Some of the 15 articles use the Prospectus for Revision that was issued by the current Task Force to try to determine what might or might not be included in the new version. This was an early document, and does not fully capture current discussions. The draft will be available for review in mid February.
We were delighted to find that our contribution, Proposing a Metaliteracy Model to Redefine Information Literacy, was selected as the lead article. We encourage you to read it, and all the articles in the issue. Speaking of which, let me get back to the few I’ve not yet read…
Metaliteracy.org 