Online Conversation: Information Literacy as Discourse between Peers

Author(s):  
Geoff Walton
2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 582-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff Walton ◽  
Jamie Cleland

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a qualitative investigation into whether online textual postings, produced by undergraduate students as part of an undergraduate module, can demonstrate their information literacy (IL) capabilities as a discursive competence and socially enacted practice. It also asks whether these online postings embody power relations between students, tutors and librarians. Design/methodology/approach Foucault’s notion of discursive competence and the separate but complementary concept of practice architectures (specifically focussing on “sayings”) devised by Lloyd were used as thematic lenses to categorise online discussion board postings from a formative online peer assessment exercise created for first-year UK undergraduate students. Online postings were the node of analysis used to identify patterns of language across online conversation. These postings were inductively analysed through manual content analysis. Subject’s responses were initially categorised using open coding. Findings Postings appeared to embody student’s discursive competence and information practice in IL, especially their level of information discernment and what constituted a quality “reference” for an assignment. However, they also demonstrated that the notion of “references” (information artefacts such as a journal article) perform a certain function in reproducing the discursive practices of an academic discipline as an agreed construct between tutor, student and librarian. Practical implications Students were engaged in the process of becoming good scholars by using appropriate online postings to create valid arguments through assessing other’s work, but what they did not do was question received meanings regarding the quality of information they used as evidence. Far from exhibiting the desired outcome of critical thinking (a cornerstone of IL) students who appeared most articulate in discussion tended to emulate the “strong discourse” put forward by their tutors and librarians. Originality/value This research uses practice architectures and discourse analysis to analyse students’ IL capabilities and the context in which they are developed. An approach not employed hitherto. This has practical implications for the ways in which academics and librarians introduce students to the academic discourse of their discipline and the ways in which the production, communication and exchange of information in academic contexts is characterised.


Diagnostica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-157
Author(s):  
Martin Senkbeil ◽  
Jan Marten Ihme

Zusammenfassung. ICT Literacy legt eine performanzbasierte Erfassung mit simulierten und interaktiven Testaufgaben nahe. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, ob mit Multiple-Choice (MC)-Aufgaben ein vergleichbares Konstrukt wie mit Simulationsaufgaben erfasst wird. Hierfür wurden die Testergebnisse zweier Instrumente aus aktuellen Large-Scale-Studien gegenübergestellt, die an N = 2 075 Jugendlichen erhoben wurden: der auf MC-Aufgaben basierende ICT Literacy-Test für Klasse 9 des Nationalen Bildungspanels (National Educational Panel Study, NEPS) und der simulationsbasierte Kompetenztest der internationalen Schulleistungsstudie ICILS 2013 (International Computer and Information Literacy Study). Die Analysen unterstützen die Gültigkeit der Konstruktinterpretation des MC-basierten Tests in NEPS. Im Sinne der konvergenten Evidenz korrelieren die MC-Aufgaben substanziell mit den computer- und simulationsbasierten Aufgaben in ICILS 2013 (.68 ≤  r ≤ .90). Weiterhin ergeben sich positive und für beide Tests vergleichbar hohe Korrelationen mit ICT-bezogenen Schülermerkmalen (z. B. Selbstwirksamkeit). Weiterführende Analysen zum Zusammenhang mit allgemeinen kognitiven Fähigkeiten zeigen zudem, dass ICT Literacy und kognitive Grundfähigkeiten distinkte Faktoren repräsentieren.


2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravich Vanichphat ◽  
Vishnu Kotrajaras
Keyword(s):  

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne Lipu ◽  
Kirsty Williamson ◽  
Annemaree Lloyd

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 117-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nwachukwu V. N. Nwachukwu V. N. ◽  
◽  
ESKAY, M. Eskay, M. ◽  
Ifeanyichukwu, J.N. Ifeanyichukwu, J.N.

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