Knowledge Maps for E-Literacy in ICT-Rich Learning Environments

Abstract

The Web-based information and communication technology (w-ICT) has become a powerful means for delivery and dissemination of digitised information among the emerging virtual learning and business communities. The w-ICT has engendered a growing cybersphere paradigm to accommodate a huge mass of e-resources cast over the Web. Such abundance of available e-information has definitely far exceeded the ability of the e-users to reach the target-interesting e-sources, which in turn has brought about such unwelcome phenomena as “information overload” and “information search anxiety.” This challenge has been accompanied by a pressing need for the integration of varying e-literacy scenarios to extenuate the discomforting information-seeking process. The two meaningful approaches currently being used are knowledge map (K-map) and information literacy (IL). K-map and IL are considered essential tools for a successful adaptation to inevitable paradigm changes in educational landscapes due to powerful impacts of the w-ICT on the learning processes. This work blends the theoretical references of Eisenberg and Berkowitz's Big6TM, Ellis's model, information-seeking theories, and ACRL standards to illustrate a relevant model that possibly represents the spatial interrelationships of the core concept of the e-literacy. The e-literacy model ultimately aims at providing the end-user with necessary abilities to locate digital information in a variety of formats, as well as to evaluate such information.

Key Words:

• K-maps
• information-seeking behaviour
• e-literacy
• Web sources
• search tactics
• retrieval