Defining Workplace Information Fluency Skills For Technical Communication Students

Information fluency refers to the ability to recognize information needs and to gather, evaluate, and communicate information appropriately. In this study, I treat information fluency as both an overall competency and as a collection of knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study is to explore the specific workplace information fluency skills valued by employers of technical communicators, to find out how instructors perceive and teach these skills, and to suggest how these findings can inform our teaching practices. Within the framework of qualitative methodology, this study employs two data-collection instruments, including a content analysis of online job recruitment postings and a survey of technical communication instructors across the United States. The study discovers that when hiring technical communicators, employers require candidates to have skills in information processing, information technology, and critical thinking. Candidates must be able to identify their information needs, and must know how to use specified tools to gather, evaluate, and communicate information. It also reveals that although information fluency is a new terminology to a majority of instructors, the skill sets that constitute information fluency already existed in their knowledge. The study\u27s last finding suggests that the opportunity for an internship is perceived as the most helpful in students\u27 acquisition of information fluency skills. This dissertation concludes with a list of specific employer-valued information fluency skills, recommendations for program administrators and instructors for implementing information fluency, as well as recommendations for future researches on this subject

Zeitgeist: information literacy and educational change

Information literacy is a mosaic of attitudes, understandings, capabilities and knowledge about which there are three myths. The first myth is that it is about the ability to use ICTs to access a wealth of information. The second is that students entering higher education are information literate because student centred, resource based, and ICT focused learning are now pervasive in secondary education. The third myth is that information literacy development can be addressed by library-centric generic approaches. This paper addresses those myths and emphasises the need for information literacy to be recognised as the critical whole of education and societal issue, fundamental to an information-enabled and better world. In formal education, information literacy can only be developed by infusion into curriculum design, pedagogies, and assessment

Technology Solutions for Developmental Math: An Overview of Current and Emerging Practices

Reviews current practices in and strategies for incorporating innovative technology into the teaching of remedial math at the college level. Outlines challenges, emerging trends, and ways to combine technology with new concepts of instructional strategy

Establishing Twenty-First-Century Information Fluency

In an effort to infuse information fluency into programming and curriculum, consideration of the learning environment and methods for integrating technology is essential

Towards information fluency: applying a different model to an information literacy credit course

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine information literacy, critical thinking, and computer literacy in higher education and discuss the application of the information fluency model, created by the Associated Colleges of the South, to the Purdue University Libraries one-credit information literacy course, GS 175 Information Strategies. Design/methodology/approach – The case study has a two-part focus. The first examines information literacy, critical thinking, and computer literacy in higher education through a review of the literature. The second part discusses the pilot GS 175 Information Strategies course, shows how the information fluency model was applied, and analyzes the overall success of the pilot. Findings – Today, employers and professors expect graduates and students to exhibit critical thinking, analysis, research, and technology skills at a fairly high level. Universities are responding with a more rapid integration and adoption of technology and creating a higher emphasis on information use and retrieval. Increasingly, student research projects are being displayed, presented, and contained in a variety of formats. Library instruction programs and courses need to evolve and adapt to these changes as shown through the successful modification of the GS 175 Information Strategies course. Practical implications – The article provides ideas and concepts for enhancing the critical thinking and technology components of an information literacy course or program as well as touches on what to avoid when modifying assignments and projects. Originality/value – The application of the information fluency model is a fairly new model to the library profession. This case study shows one way information literacy credit courses can be modified to accommodate the changing educational landscape and the expectations of Generation Y. It can be used by instruction librarians and their faculty partners to explore alternatives to their current instructional programs

Information and digital literacies; a review of concepts

A detailed literature reviewing, analysing the multiple and confusing concepts around the ideas of information literacy and digital literacy at the start of the millennium. The article was well-received, and is my most highly-cited work, with over 1100 citations

The challenge for librarian skills: Transforming professional competencies

Academic libraries and information services must continually evolve in response to challenges in the wider organization and environmental context. Key trends include rapid development and convergence of digital technologies, massive growth in non-specialist interaction with information and technology, and the evolution of the network society as a participatory culture. New concepts and models have emerged, such as blended librarianship, embedded informationists, inside-out collections, the participatory library, and space-as-service. The shift from a support service mindset to collaborative working and multidisciplinary partnerships has significant implications for competency development, giving rise to calls for T-shaped, Pi-shaped, and comb-shaped people. New frameworks are needed to articulate the breadth and depth of specialist and generic knowledge, skills, and abilities required for boundary-spanning roles in the 21st century. Professional preparation programs and continuing education activities must focus on key areas where enhanced capabilities are important and urgent, including technological fluency, relationship building, and reflective practice

But I Am Computer Literate: I Passed The Test

Generic terms such as “computer literacy,” “computer competency” and “technology literacy” have been used for decades as measures of one’s aptitude with computer and information technology.  Many disregarded the ambiguity of these terms while erratic exposure to ever-changing computer technology rendered itself as computer literacy.   With an increasing focus on organizations now administering technology literacy tests, educators need to be more cognizant of the computer and information literacy assessments and the implications of these assessments for the core information systems course in business schools

Lighting the way through the home: development of early braille literacy

Emergent braille literacy is the earliest phase of language development where children, from infancy, are exposed to 'direct, repeated and meaningful interactions with braille literacy materials and events' (Rex, Koenig, Wormsley, & Baker, 1995, p.10). Activities such as shared reading of tactile books, scribbling on the braille machine, joint engagement in nursery rhymes, songs and chants help infants acquire cognitive concepts and develop physical skills to engage in braille. The process leads to the early development of literacy concepts including speaking, listening,reading and writing, as a foundation for braille literacy (Drezek, 1999)