Information literacy and the transition from secondary to tertiary education: measuring perceptions

Abstract

How people perceive information literacy and how they think others perceive it can affect how they teach and learn. The transition from secondary to tertiary education offers opportunities to develop information literate students. Variations in perceptions of information literacy in schools and universities in the UK and New Zealand are being investigated using phenomenographic techniques. The research focuses on students studying chemistry or English in their final two years at school and their first year at university, their teachers and library staff.

Keywords:

• Information literacy
• transition
• phenomenography
• perceptions
• schools
• libraries

Introduction

This paper describes the approaches, methodology and underlying ideas from an ongoing project being undertaken as a result of a National Teaching Fellowship award, looking at perceptions of information literacy in schools and universities. Phenomenography was eventually decided upon as the most appropriate methodology to investigate conflicts and congruencies between staff and student perceptions of information literacy in the transition from secondary to tertiary education. The research focuses on students studying chemistry or English in their final two years at school and their first year at university. As the research data is still being analysed, this report is intended to raise awareness and to stimulate interest and debate rather than to provide detailed results and solutions.

Background

As a practitioner rather than an established researcher, the opportunity to step away from a practical role into a research environment was both exciting and daunting. However, I felt it was also true that as a librarian with over twenty years’ experience of higher education, I was in a position to understand some of the key issues that face information professionals as they endeavour to raise awareness of information literacy. It is this blend of theory mixed with practical application that, I feel, gives this research activity a different flavour and may help recommend it to a wider audience.

Definitions or just different perspectives?

What are people thinking of when we talk about information literacy (Moore 2002)? One of the aims of this research is to investigate variations in people’s perceptions of information literacy and to see how this might affect their information behaviour so respondents were not given a ‘definition’ of the phrase. However, readers of this article may find it helpful have a general understanding of the concept as it is perceived by researchers in the field. Information literacy is a term which is still mainly used by librarians, developed from an initial understanding of practical information skills coupled with the less tangible concept of understanding one’s place and responsibilities within the information environment (and, in higher education, the scholarly communication environment). Popular definitions include:

• ‘Information literacy is knowing when and why you need information, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner’ (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals [CILIP] 2005).

• ‘Information literacy is the adoption of appropriate information behaviour to identify, through whatever channel or medium, information well fitted to information needs, leading to wise and ethical use of information in society’ (Webber 2008).

• ‘Information literacy is the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, manage and effectively use that information for problem solving, decision making and research’ (Bruce 1997).

Information literacy, therefore, can be perceived as being about changing individuals’ attitudes to their learning so that they are explicitly thinking about how they use, manage, synthesise and create information, in a wise and ethical manner, to the benefit of society, as part of their learning life (Bent et al. in press). As such, it can be seen an essential attribute for the higher education community; an information-literate university will have a progressive, coherent approach to learning that will enable it to compete in the 21st century.

Information practitioners believe that information-literate people will be better able to study, more employable and ultimately better equipped to progress in their learning. How true is this? Do we have to understand what information literacy is to be information literate or is information literacy just a new tag for a more deeply rooted academic attitude? Is information literacy something we attain and just have for ever — a ‘threshold concept’ (Meyer and Land 2003) — or does it develop and change over time? When might we expect a person to evidence information-literate capabilities? Should they be fully information literate at school, at the start of their university career or when leaving university? Is it possible to separate information-literacy attributes from subject-specific learning, or are the two inextricably linked? Is it easier to be information literate in some disciplines than in others?

Transition and change

The transition from school to university can be a stressful time for students. Heathcote and Taylor (2007) applied Kotter’s change management framework (1995) to student transition out of university into the workplace and suggest mainly sequential phases through which students progress. These phases can equally be applied to the transition into higher education and are helpful as a background to studying information-literacy perceptions. For example, in moving from one identity to another, we need to leave some of the old identity behind to make space to build the new identity. In terms of information-literacy behaviours, this period of change can be viewed as an opportunity to leave behind simplistic perceptions and to start to develop a more complex understanding of information literacy. Timing events to support student transition thus becomes of crucial importance.

Underlying thoughts

Underlying this research is the premise that people see teaching and learning differently (Bruce et al. 2006) and consequently respond differently to concepts of information literacy. The way people perceive information literacy will then have an impact on how they learn. Looked at in reverse, teachers’ conceptions of student information literacy could affect how they teach, and student perceptions of information literacy will affect how they interact with the library. ‘Information literacy demands a different way of thinking about what and how we teach as well as thinking about the impact on learning’ (Moore 2002). Even though they demonstrate information literacy in their own practice, some people may still perceive information literacy as a skill rather than as an essential element in learning (Merchant and Hepworth 2002; Webber et al. 2005). How might this affect how they teach and learn?

Kuhlthau (1996) emphasises the importance of students understanding the process of information-seeking rather than just finding a result. How might teacher conceptions of student information literacy impact on the way in which they provide explicit experiences for students to explore aspects of information literacy and develop both their information literacy and effective learning habits or dispositions (Claxton and Carr 2004)?

Research methodology

The research takes a phenomenographic approach, aiming to map results onto the relational model proposed by Christine Bruce (1997) in The Seven Faces of Information Literacy. Phenomenography, described by Marton (1981), investigates how people think about or experience different things and allows us to study the variation in these experiences or perceptions in order to describe them in a limited number of categories. The importance of phenomenography is the way in which it allows us to examine the relationships between a person and a specific phenomena. Bruce et al. (2006) use variation in the way information-literacy education is implemented to illustrate how perspectives of teaching and learning influence interpretations of and attitudes to information literacy. Limberg (1999) used phenomenography to study the variation in students’ learning outcomes and to compare this with variation in their information-seeking and use. Using phenomenography for this research enables a comparison of the differences in the way in which different groups of people perceive information literacy. As similar techniques have been used by Bruce (1999) and Webber (Webber et al. 2005), some comparative analysis of results may also be possible.

Working with a group of both state and independent schools and two universities, this research is investigating what information literacy means to teachers, students and librarians and how they perceive other people’s understanding of the concept. This adds a second layer to the phenomenographic map, as we are not only considering how a teacher’s experience of information literacy might affect how they teach it but how their understanding of how their students experience it affects their teaching. To put this in more general terms, how do variations in perception impact on information-literacy interactions and behaviours? When we think about students moving from secondary to tertiary education, how might such perceptions be important in the transition from school to university?

The research is also informed by Williams and Wavell’s work on teachers’ conceptions of student information literacy and how that impacts on their teaching (Williams and Wavell 2006). Issues around linguistic understanding and making meaning, which Williams’ research highlights, are also reflected in works on retention and employability in higher education (Yorke 2004, Bowl 2003).

Data has been collected using semi-structured interviews with teachers and librarians in schools and focus groups consisting of upper-sixth English and chemistry students, alongside a perceptions-ranking exercise. Interviews were conducted in two private and six state schools in County Durham during 2007. The Bristol Online Surveys software (University of Bristol) was used to collect data from university students and staff in Newcastle University in the UK and the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Perceptions-ranking exercise

The perceptions-ranking exercise presented participants with sets of statements relating to conceptions of information literacy, which they were asked to rank in order from most to least meaningful to them. The exercise was repeated, with participants giving their perception of their students’ and teachers’ and friends’ and colleagues’ views. The statements are designed to map onto Bruce’s seven conceptions of information literacy. School teachers, librarians and students completed this survey as a paper exercise prior to a face-to-face interview, but university staff and students used an online version, which included some of the interview questions as well as the ranking exercise.

Interviews

Following the ranking exercise, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff and focus groups with students, discussing their understanding of information literacy as well as more practical ideas of responsibilities and solutions.

Outcomes

As no detailed analysis of the results has yet taken place, only broad generalisations can be drawn from the data; however, the initial analysis of the results in schools is highlighting some interesting variations in perception between teachers’ and students’ views. Students appear to be demonstrating a more sophisticated understanding than had initially been expected, contrasting markedly with the views of their teachers. Comments from students support this variation:

• ‘Well, I guess I’m just basically lazy, you know, we just don’t have to do any more to pass the exam. It’s not that I don’t know what I should be doing, I just don’t have to.’

• ‘Mrs [Chemistry Teacher] does go on about this kind of stuff but she talks like we never came across any of it before, like we’re just kids.’

A high percentage of students appear to have a sophisticated understanding of information literacy as a phenomenon, and most students perceive themselves to be information literate, but there is a gap between what they say and what they do, based on immediate need. The overall impression is that students actually have a clear understanding of what it means to be information literate and can articulate their shortcomings in terms of search skills, but they choose not to develop their information-literacy abilities as there is no need for them to do so to succeed.

In the interviews, the majority of schoolteachers appeared very comfortable with the concept of information literacy, even if they had never heard the term before and, in contrast to their students, described themselves as not information literate, usually expressed guiltily:

‘I don’t really use the internet very much really. Well, it’s difficult to find the time, and we don’t have it at home. I much prefer to use books. I think in English that’s still the best way, so I expect I’d have to say that if information literacy is about using the web, then, well, I’m not really.’

Conclusions

The aim of this paper is to raise awareness and to stimulate debate about the issues surrounding understandings of information literacy and its importance for students when transferring from school to university. The research itself has stimulated much interest within the participating schools, opening up opportunities for outreach work from the university library and initiating new information-literacy activities in several schools. Concentration on the first year experience in higher education at present and a wider appreciation of the difficulties of the transition process for students may also offer opportunities for information professionals to work more closely with teachers to integrate information-literacy principles into the curriculum. Librarians and teachers make assumptions about student perceptions, concentrating on skills rather than initiating a conversation about information-literacy attitudes and behaviours. Perhaps what we really need to be doing is talking to students and raising their awareness about higher-level information-literacy attributes, rather than just teaching them lower level skills? A more detailed analysis of the research results and outcomes will be published at a later date.

The author

Moira is Science Librarian at Newcastle University and a National Teaching Fellow. In 2002 she won the CILIP UC&R Innovation Award for a project on using a VLE for staff development and is the joint holder of a University Teaching Fellowship studying the integration of information literacy into the chemistry curriculum. She chairs the UK Universities Science Librarian’s group and is a member of the CILIP UC&R Northern Committee, the SCONUL Working Group on Information Literacy, the SCONUL Access Group project on international students and the LIMES information literacy Community of Practice. As a mentor for candidates applying for chartered librarian status within CILIP she is also very interested in career development for librarians. Moira has given many conference presentations and has published several journal articles, a book and a book chapter.