Education
This chapter could have been arranged in many different ways. For example, I could have looked at prominent issues in different subjects and fields, and illustrated how to do research on them. However, there are legions of such secondary and tertiary sources already available. I will continue with the roles and relationships within education as a sector: students, teachers, administrators and parents. Most of what is discussed is information literacy facilitation in an educational setting; direct seeking and providing, i.e. the Locate dynamic, is touched upon only lightly as has been the case throughout this book.
There are generally three age levels of education: children (primary school), adolescents (secondary school) and adults (college, university). Different ages have different needs. Information literacy accommodation should align with those needs, which are presumably designated in the mission of the institution. Regardless of level or institution, the seekers and providers in education still decide the underlying motivations that define their roles and relationships with information literacy.
Student as seeker
Children
Most children do not have the self-awareness and maturity required for information literacy on the scale discussed in this book, especially rigorous Analyze and Use. However, Identify and Locate can be introduced at basic levels and paired with children’s literature. A school library is pivotal: if it is inviting, then children will have a positive association with it (important for later information literacy pursuits). It is therefore not surprising that most school librarians strive for pleasant and fun environments to stimulate learning.
Adolescents
In addition to Identify and Locate, it is possible for adolescents to Analyze and Use. A good exercise is source differentiation (e.g. books versus encyclopedias; journals versus magazines;.govs versus. coms). Source differentiation also enhances Locate, especially if combined with the different resources used (article indices, Web search engines, library catalogs). Although primary research might be unrealistic, now is the time to acclimate them to secondary research. Many of these students will not pursue higher education; nevertheless, the ability to effectively classify and differentiate information sources and resources is useful in everyday life. Here again is why the school library as a facility is so important – many will have to rely on public libraries if they pursue information literacy.
Probably the most effective way for high-school students to approach information literacy is in a linear fashion. Many students are accustomed to rote learning and standardized testing at this level; therefore, they will probably learn better a little something about the components in a linear fashion as opposed to nothing if presented in a more sophisticated fashion. Granted, Locate is the most adaptable to such instruction, but there are ways that students can still exercise the other three, for example a simple bibliography assignment that requires topic identification and a finite amount of different source types.
Adults
Here is where all four components should be mastered, along with a deeper, independent understanding of information literacy. Some universities strive harder than others in this regard: they include information literacy as a liberal studies core competency, and assessment revolves around the student’s ability to apply the components.
As an educator at this level, I see antipathy as the biggest obstacle to student information literacy, a condition possibly attributable to their high-school standardized testing environments. As in high school, many college students want to be told what to do to earn the desired grade. They want detailed instruction that they can follow to reduce the least amount of individual interpretation. They want to be given a certain grade, not to learn a lesson. An often elusive, intangible concept such as information literacy can be frustrating.
Student as provider
Students provide primary information that teachers, administrators and parents use to enhance and assess their learning. Whether it is answering surveys or taking tests, their answers are the alpha and beta of Locate for the other three roles. In addition to prompted information, students are also independent providers through tutoring, mentoring, advising and simple friendship. However, their provider role has become more prominent with the Web 2.0 era of social networking. Although there is not a lot of algebra instruction taking place on Facebook, there are discussions about topics that relate to news and society that often influence students more than do textbooks. Information provided by students on websites such as RateMyProfessor.com sometimes has more influence than advisors and teachers. Another outlet is campus-supported Web pages: many schools allow students to post assignments on their Web servers. Therefore, when one student does a Google search on a particular topic, if another student has written on it and posted a Web page, then it can appear in search engine results more prominently than something posted by a so-called expert.
These are just a few examples of how Web 2.0 has transformed the student as provider. Recent pedagogical philosophy also recognizes and encourages more student involvement (class discussion, group work, etc.). Whether any of this should be happening is an irrelevant question because it is happening, and there is little that can be done to stop it. Even if a teacher forbade a student to cite a peer’s Web report, the conceptual influences that the report might have are difficult to negate.
Interview with a South African student: Bruce Stephen
Mr Stephen earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sports Science in 2002 in South Africa, and was pursuing a Master’s in Education at the time of this interview. I asked him to define or describe information: ‘Anything I can use to help learn, gain knowledge of something.’ He added that information is very important to a well-rounded education, and that it is necessary for ‘sieving out’ the unimportant from the important in his field.
I asked if he ever heard of the term ‘information literacy’. He had not, but his Bachelor’s program was research-intensive, and he conducted both primary and secondary research. His secondary research consisted mostly of Internet searching, but he also used the department’s specialized library; rarely did he use the university library. He said that the primary research was much more important, especially ‘hands-on work in the field’.
I distinguished the four information literacy components, and asked if he encountered obstacles with any of them.
Identify
The major obstacle was his lack of theoretical knowledge about the subjects that he studied, especially when he first entered school. Therefore, it was necessary that professors in the program helped him to understand what the major issues were and how he could benefit from studying them.
Locate
There were few problems finding sports science information, be it primary or secondary. In fact, there was a plethora of information, which led to problems with the next component.
Analyze
Although primary research was more important in his experience, the majority of his problems related to secondary research. ‘Finding the correct information’ was a major obstacle that related back to his initial Identify obstacle: his lack of subject knowledge to recognize quality and reliability. ‘A lot of people can write rubbish. It takes a long time to determine whether the information is right or wrong, especially on the Internet.’ Although he also encountered obstacles with primary information, at least he knew where the information originated. ‘On the Internet, anyone can post anything.’
Although he does not view the library as the information center of a school, he does concede that the Sports Science departmental library provided more reliable information than what he found on the Internet. However, it was administered by sports science professionals, not librarians.
Use
The same obstacle as always was encountered: understanding and using the information from secondary sources without adequate subject knowledge. When he worked with professors in the field, they explained why something was important, or how to tackle a particular procedure. However, when he independently read articles or information from websites, he struggled to make sense of them.
I asked: ‘What do you see as the future of information in education?’
He answered that the Internet would probably eliminate the library altogether. The big problem with using the library, he thought, was that it is ‘too specialized and rigid in organization’, as opposed to the Internet which everyone knows how to use because it is ‘easy’. Although he thinks that students should engage in as much primary research as possible, secondary research is still important.
‘The two must work hand-in-hand for a student to get a true understanding of a subject.’
I asked about his role as a student provider in South Africa; he initially stated that he never had such a role, and that no one asked him for information. However, when I described how a student actually is a provider, he affirmed that he did provide information in the forms of test and evaluation responses. When asked if students should have more of a provider role, he said yes, but with limits. ‘Everyone has a point of view, and in an educational setting they should be allowed to share it.’ However, he thought that if the view was harmful or blatantly inaccurate, it should be censored. Additionally, he does not believe that students should provide information that impacts subject matter. ‘Students should not be writing theory or designing curriculum’, but they should have some say in how the subject is taught, especially those with seniority.
When asked what he thought of Web 2.0 products such as MySpace and Facebook that allow students to provide practically any sort of information, he did not see it as a problem: ‘As long as it is not damaging.’ He believes that it is the seeker’s responsibility to determine what sorts of information he or she is going to use, and should carefully consider their sources rather than have something like Facebook forbidden to all students. ‘Because someone is stupid enough to take a commentary out of context doesn’t mean the rest of us should suffer.’
Teacher as seeker
Traditionally, teachers and librarians fill education’s information literacy provider role, but they do have seeking needs. I have already discussed student information (to teach students effectively, teachers must assess their abilities carefully). In addition, though, is subject knowledge. Although standards differ from school to school, many teachers and librarians must be licensed or certified, which involves continuing education and peer observation. Higher education faculty more often apply for promotion or are required to meet certain performance criteria. The two processes are often ongoing, and involve subject mastery over that which they teach, and hence research.
To best provide for a student’s information literacy, teachers should know as much about their subjects as possible. Hopefully, the foundation for this knowledge is attained during higher education, but it does not end there: they need to stay abreast of the subject. Conferences and workshops are useful for peer-to-peer sharing.
Librarians are no different from other teachers. However, for them advancement is more to do with skill development. One skill in particular is the ability to understand how users actually use and need the library, especially teachers: an effective librarian seeks information about the pedagogical and curricular approaches to the subjects the library needs to support. Additionally, it helps if they expand their knowledge of the subjects that the school teaches. To do this, they need to do more research about the subjects. Librarians cannot master all of them, but they can seek specific information about them that is useful for facilitating information literacy as a process.
Teacher as provider
Primary-school teachers and librarians focus little on specific information literacy components, unless it is in subtle ways that revolve around the curriculum (i.e. reading, writing, arithmetic). It is too difficult for teachers to make children understand exactly what information literacy is and how its components work. However, school librarians sometimes work with the children’s librarians at public libraries to cultivate a relationship that reinforces the role of a library to a person’s learning.
At the secondary-school level, some schools focus more on information literacy and its components, albeit in a linear fashion. Teachers must begin to help students understand the importance of information, and its place in their own thoughts before they do research. Such understanding is more important now with Web 2.0. Information overload is no longer only a problem for scholars; the Internet offers an enormous amount of information to all, and students need to be able to distinguish and appreciate source authority and relevance in relation to their own needs.
It is in higher education where teachers should really instil the importance of information literacy in their students. As already discussed, in many institutions information literacy is an actual competency that must be attained, although definitions and assessments of it vary.
A perceptional shift is occurring at many colleges and universities concerning who is responsible for information literacy. Traditionally, librarians have been the gatekeepers. However, due to the emergence of information literacy in accreditation processes, other departments and programs have increased interest in the subject. Regardless of the final decision on who is in charge, faculty and librarians need to work together, not only for the benefit of students, but also their own. Teachers already need to pursue professional development, including undertaking research, while librarians should be aware of what teachers require of their students for research assignments. Both can reciprocally help one another in these areas: they can combine their skills and knowledge to best meet professional demands, and most importantly, the needs of the students.
Information literacy should not be the sole responsibility of the library, and faculty should not boycott the library. Unfortunately both scenarios are not uncommon. Librarians must acknowledge that they are dependent upon faculty to serve students, and faculty should realize that they are not universal research experts, and that when it comes to secondary information, they are best served procuring librarian support, especially Locate for themselves and information literacy facilitation for their students. Here are three recommendations in this regard.
Curricular development
Librarians shudder at the ‘treasure hunt’ assignment. ‘Find such and such information from such and such sources in the library.’ These are strictly Locate exercises that involve very little thought on the student’s part. Although librarians are usually not subject experts, they should be involved with development of the curriculum (at least for programs or colleges that have information literacy outcomes) to avoid such wastes of time. Not only can librarians help to develop meaningful lessons, they can also help with assessment.
Scheduling
This is related to curriculum development: the traditional time to schedule library instruction is at the beginning of the term. If it is only for a building tour, then this is fine; however, if faculty want their students to utilize library resources for research effectively, then the instruction should be scheduled after students know what it is they must research. That usually happens later in the term. As a librarian, I too often hear ‘I’ve got to do research’. When I ask what the topic is, the answer is sometimes ‘I don’t know’. Treasure hunt over.
Team teaching
Too often the librarian does all the talking in a library instruction session. Most students could not care less about what the librarian, ‘who has no control over my grade’, has to say. When the teacher is actively engaged in the instruction, however, it better motivates students to pay attention. Additionally, from a pedagogical standpoint, it is often more engaging to listen to dialogue than to monologue. This also supports the idea of more student/provider contribution: it is they who will do the research, and only they truly understand what it is that they need, at least in higher education.
Interview with an Indian Professor: Dr Jacob Beedicayil
Professor Beedicayil, MD, specializes in surgery and pharmacology education. He has 13 years of higher education teaching experience, and currently teaches at Dr. M.G.R. Medical University in Chennai, India (approximately 2000 students). According to Dr Beedicayil, the emphasis of the university is on patient care. His students are primarily doctors to whom he teaches diagnostic and treatment techniques.
Dr Beedicayil himself is engaged in scholarship, and thus needs timely and authoritative information. As his university serves as a patient care facility, he conducts a considerable amount of primary research. However, he also needs to keep track of what is happening in his fields outside of the university, and therefore he also does secondary research, especially using PubMed.
He is familiar with information literacy, and believes information is very important to a scholar/teacher: ‘information and knowledge are synonymous’. Additionally, to achieve information literacy, he recommends that a seeker ‘start with tertiary information then go to secondary’. Although he associates information literacy more with secondary research, he agrees that the same components also apply to primary research.
He believes that information literacy is going to be more of a factor in education in the future: ‘We live in a knowledge-based society.’ In addition to education as a sector, information literacy will be just as important to the actual subject disciplines being taught, especially because: ‘New medicine and new approaches come every day … don’t know how to use, get left behind.’ He thinks the main skill an educator will need is the ability to navigate the Internet, specifically specialized databases that are Web based (e.g. PubMed), but also improved computer ability in general. Although he distinguishes between information and computer literacy, he thinks that in the future, it will be more difficult to have the former without the latter.
According to Dr Beedicayil, at Dr. M.G.R. University primary research is emphasized more than secondary (e.g. diagnosing patients, observing the treatment approaches of colleagues). However, it is during the secondary research where he believes his students need the most help, particularly with Identify (which corroborates with Bruce Stephen’s thoughts). Dr Beedicayil must help his students understand what is worth researching and why, including concepts that they do not even realize apply to the class or their professions. Once this is accomplished, he does not think that the other components are difficult for students to grasp.
Dr Beedicayil established what he calls ‘journal clubs’ to help students identify new problems and topics for research. Additionally, he offers class seminars that delve into these new topics, and also provides research tips for Locate. Although he uses the library a lot, and is respectful of the librarian’s expertise, he thinks it is more the teacher’s responsibility to guide student research than the librarian’s. In his discipline, in particular, ‘it is difficult for someone without medical training to do effective research in medicine’.
Although he observes that all of his colleagues approach information literacy differently, most have a great deal of appreciation for its importance to education. Additionally, his university as a whole encourages it by providing library resources and monetary support for research.
Administrator as seeker
Administrators are mostly information literacy facilitators. To do so, however, requires that they seek information about the school. They need primary information that provides insight about students and their needs. Secondary information is helpful in terms of peer institution case studies or methodologies. Ultimately, though, it is specific information about the school itself that drives administrative policy.
It is teachers who deal with learning first-hand, and know best about their students’ information literacy needs; therefore, administrators should seek information from faculty to develop policy. Again, secondary sources such as ‘best-practice’ guides are useful, but teaching and learning are not clear-cut processes; because teachers and students are the individuals engaged in the actual learning, it should be they from whom administrators seek answers (observations can be very effective here).
Administrator as provider
Administrators must establish policy and procedure to provide information effectively and facilitate information literacy. This includes providing faculty development opportunities, effective facilities and learning environments for their students and, for children and adolescents, parental involvement.
Parental involvement is key at primary- and secondary-school levels. Although facilitating specific information literacy lessons to children and adolescents might be counterproductive, a program geared towards the parents could be beneficial. Providing access and service, which includes the school’s library, would be an excellent step in this direction. If parents had access to school resources, then they might pursue information that would help cultivate understanding of their role in their children’s education. Locating relevant information can help parents provide better learning environments at home, and also support the curriculum and teachers’ pedagogies.
Different issues and missions dictate how and what administrators facilitate. For example, although safety is a concern at all age levels, it is especially so for children. They must be taught not to trust unknown adults at any time or place (especially those who hang around schools and online). In addition to teaching prevention and providing safeguards, administrators must make clear to students and parents that they are safe at school; however, concern for safety should not become a learning distraction. Clear and thorough policy and procedures, and orientations for parents about what the school does to keep students safe and what they can do to support are ways to balance safety with learning.
There are several things that higher education administrators can do to facilitate information literacy. Many accrediting agencies already have an information literacy component on which they evaluate member schools. Administrators should ask: How is that component being taught and assessed? It is easy to correlate information literacy success with quantitative data (e.g. 15 new computers were added to the Library’s Cyber Café; 512 freshmen attended a library instruction session in the autumn term). However, these numbers alone have little meaning. How successful were students in Identifying, Locating, Analyzing and Using? Numbers are helpful, but there must be more substance and evidence that information literacy is achieved than what statistics are capable of showing.
It is not as important for administrators to assess information literacy; more important is that they provide faculty with the means and incentives to achieve it. They should assess how much they themselves do to facilitate it: for example, evidence of information literacy commitment to rank and tenure evaluation; additional librarians.
The last example is important. To undertake comprehensive information literacy programming, it is helpful to have sufficient library personnel and resources, even if it is decided that the library will not be the ultimate information literacy authority. For example, a school starts a Freshman Seminar program in which one of the outcomes is attaining information literacy. There are 600 incoming freshmen, and it is deemed that they will each need three library instruction sessions to achieve the information literacy outcome. There are two instruction librarians. If the 600 are broken into classes of 30, that means there would be 60 sessions that term, and that each librarian would have to do 30 – and that in addition to their regular reference and instruction responsibilities. This is unfeasible for quality instruction, yet not unrealistic in many schools. Understanding that the library is pivotal to student success and retention is key to administrative information literacy facilitation. Too often support departments such as the library are dismissed because they are not revenue generators that attract prospective students; however, to retain that revenue, they had better be properly funded and staffed.
Interview with a Chinese high-school Vice Principal: anonymous (anonymous translator)
The administrator interviewed earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Shanghai Normal University, and now serves as Vice Principal at an urban secondary school that has 34 classes, 2348 students and 147 teachers. The school’s mission statement is to ‘Cultivate students for responsibility, correct cultural judgment and healthy psychology.’
She defines information as ‘… the existent forms of things’. She considers information literacy to be ‘… one kind of basic capability that people must have. It includes not only the judgment of when one needs the information, but also the understanding of how one can gain the information, and appraise and effectively use the required information.’ She considers information literacy to be important to her school’s curriculum and students’ success after graduation; she therefore feels a strong responsibility to facilitate it. She believes an obstacle to effective policy in this regard is China’s college entrance examination. The time necessary to prepare for the examination takes away from information literacy. Partly for this reason she does not believe that her school does enough for information literacy; it is not by choice, but necessity.
Although she believes that ‘information literacy will play a very big role in the future of education’, she fears that the obstacle to its facilitation will be the inability to ‘cultivate or develop information literacy consciousness’, again stemming from the emphasis on a standardized test. Regardless, the skills that administrators will need to facilitate it properly include: ‘Subjective attention to learn first; others include skills in accessing, analyzing and processing information.’ ‘The administration must design the corresponding curriculum, teachers and parents must have the corresponding consciousness, and students must be willing to spend time on learning.’
Parent as seeker
Involvement of parents in information literacy is key, and sometimes a legal obligation. However, the legal minimum involvement is rarely ideal. Parents should go beyond mandatory parent/teacher conferences, or simple ‘what did you learn at school today?’ questions. They need to become active participants in the education process (e.g. school boards, teaching assistant, parent reader). Most parents are unqualified to decide educational policy; however, through involvement they can learn about some issues that are important to their children’s well-being (e.g. student discipline, class selection). The more informed and involved the parent, the more benefit to the school district.
The role changes when students enter higher education. Most college students are considered adults, and parental involvement becomes the student’s prerogative. For example, in the United States, parents cannot access their children’s school records without the child’s permission, even if they pay the tuition. Most parents can be very helpful to students (especially if they themselves are educated), but their children will decide how involved they want them to be.
In addition to the primary information involvement will bring, secondary information is also useful. Researching what is happening in other school districts can give parents good ideas to help their own children.
Parent as provider
Parents offer a wealth of information to educators, and do not have to do much to provide it, other than be honest and involved. It is at the primary-school level where parents have the most opportunity to provide. There are a lot of differences among school systems, but two direct provider roles include parent reader and teaching assistant, although opportunities in these capacities lessen as the curriculum becomes more specialized.
Parents can also help their children with homework, but are limited by their own ability. Those who are not well educated may do more harm than good; while those who are very well educated could still undermine the pedagogical process the teacher wants the child to follow (e.g. arithmetic shortcuts). While in seeker role, they should understand the teachers’ approaches and expectations, and accordingly provide and facilitate in support rather than try to ‘help’ their children advance.
Probably the most important information is provided outside the classroom. By attending and speaking at teacher conferences and school board meetings, parents provide invaluable information.
In higher education, it becomes nearly impossible for a parent to have an opportunity to provide with the exception of admissions orientations. Before the child enrolls in college, parents can directly provide to administrators and teachers, as well as indirectly in terms of representing a particular demographic set for analysis. Information providing beyond that treads a legal line. For example, in the United States, parents cannot provide professors with personal information about their children, no matter how good the intention because it is a violation of privacy.
Interview with a Japanese parent: anonymous (translated by Sanae Takagi Lombard)
The interviewed Tokyo father has three children, one in secondary school and the other two in primary school. He defines information as ‘data or facts to understand something’. The most important examples of it for his role as a school parent include: safety, discipline, health and ‘educational information about decisions on the course to take after graduation’.
He had never before heard the term ‘information literacy’, but considers it ‘very important’ to fulfilling his role. Although he takes responsibility for his children’s education, he believes that the schools have equal responsibility to ensure parents are information literate in this regard. ‘Use of various information from media such as the Internet, TV, radio or library is essential knowledge.’
He considers the schools his children attend are effective in their provider roles: ‘The school takes measures … such as usage of the library and PCs, poison site information, and lectures.’ He believes that ‘lies and unnecessary information’ are the biggest obstacles to information literacy, and that it is critical for parents to be able to differentiate them from the ‘good’ information that is needed. ‘[We need] power to identify lies and also poisonous information.’ For this father, the most important aspect of information literacy relates to his children’s safety.
Issues
Student lack of subject knowledge
The Bruce Stephen interview highlighted numerous experiences I have had in the library working with students. I believe the initial lack of knowledge of a particular topic, i.e. Identify, is the biggest obstacle to information literacy for a given project in education, not Locate sources. This might sound absurd: the whole reason for doing research is to learn about the subject. If a student already knew about the subject, why bother with research? The point of research is to learn about a topic. However, ‘researching’ a topic and ‘information literacy’ are two different states of being. An expert on a topic can apply his or her expertise to new literature; for a novice, there is little to draw upon.
Therefore, it is important that both faculty and librarians guide students through the information literacy process. This includes scheduling library instruction at pivotal times, and cultivating participatory dialogue during the session. The teacher and librarian need to combine their knowledge and skills and present them to students in an understandable way. The instruction needs to be more than a library field trip; it should be a regular class period. Additionally, library research time should follow library instruction, and both the teacher and the librarian should be available to answer specific questions and provide unsolicited insight. This teacher/librarian collaboration should take place during all four components. Perhaps if Mr Stephen’s professors had approached his secondary research the way they did his primary (i.e. direct involvement), he would have a better opinion of the library as an educational resource and of secondary research in general.
Standardized testing
As demonstrated by the Chinese vice principal, the emphasis on standardized tests in education is an obstacle to information literacy. Although tests differ, they are all product-oriented. In such an environment, the teaching often matches the product orientation. Instead of teaching students how to think, some teachers teach how to succeed at taking standardized tests, a linear pedagogy.
Some teachers do protest, but public opinion (or antipathy) and political pressure rule the day. Here is where administrators can really exercise their facilitation role: take a stand and push for educational reform in line with what faculty deem best on this issue. As it is, I observe more assuaging of bureaucracy than informing. As information literacy providers, it is crucial that administrators inform the public about the best ways to educate students. Rather than succumb to outside pressure, administrators should serve as advocates on behalf of their teachers and students, and be prepared to battle. The alternative is that nothing will change.
Assessment
Information literacy is very difficult to determine in any sector, but especially in education. Although it is a process (in terms of the component approach), it is often assessed like a product. For example, if information literacy is a class outcome, the teacher might determine it based on the quality of a final research paper. Did the student earn an ‘A’? If so, then he or she must be information literate. Anything lower and the student is that much less literate. This is hard to justify. Can there be levels of information literacy, or is it only that one is information literate or illiterate? That must be decided before anything else. Also, the student may not be a good writer: they effectively Identified, Located and Analyzed, but their Use (in this case the actual paper) was not well composed. Does that mean the student is not information literate about the topic or needs to improve their writing?
This definitely needs to be assessed at a student level, but can it be assessed at an institutional level? There can be standardized tests of component ability (again, Locate is the popular one), but it is difficult to get a measure across the board due to the different disciplines being taught, not to mention different students.
I recommend an individual, qualitative approach that revolves around student self-assessment. It is difficult to imagine any school being able to do such a thing comprehensively, but its best shot would probably be more accurate than some of the current methods. What is more important, comprehensiveness or accuracy?
Mission
Views on mission may conflict at a school, especially in higher education: ‘Are we a research university or teaching college?’ Advocates of the Boyer Model understand that the two enhance one another, but it seems faculty are sometimes held to conflicting standards. It is unreasonable to expect a person to both publish many articles and teach many classes at optimal levels.
Decide what is the institution’s mission and consistently operate according to it. Students, faculty and administrators should all be of one understanding. If a teacher is more focussed on getting published than teaching, then he or she will be unable to provide the students their best opportunities for information literacy. Again, due to initial subject unfamiliarity, the teacher’s insight and involvement is vital, but like blood, one cannot get time out of a stone.
The business model
Many view education as a business, and apply the so-called business model to its administration. The results are often fiscal year short-sightedness coupled with data-driven, binary assessment. Education should be based on a learning model that rests on long-term vision and qualitative assessment: anything less will hamper information literacy. Educators are not sellers and students are not buyers, at least not in the business sector sense; therefore, the business model is a poor fit for education.
Tips
For the student
Learn for the sake of learning. For many students in primary and secondary schools, the attitude is ‘I’m here because I have to be’. The same is true in higher education, along with the increasingly popular ‘because I want a job’. Education has become an assumed part of culture rather than the opportunity for individual learning. Information literacy, not explicitly linked with grades or jobs, can be boring and is undervalued (forget that we live in an Information Age). Students need to take ownership of their learning, and think more about why they are being taught the lessons rather than how to simply get them done. The Chinese principal referred to this as a form of ‘consciousness’.
For the primary- and secondary-school teacher
Focus. Education is becoming more ‘student-centered’; along with this is more emphasis on pedagogical technique rather than subject knowledge. This should be reversed. Although it is effective to understand and be sensitive to student learning styles, the actual lessons that need to be taught should not be compromised. In addition to the best way to teach the students, consideration of the best way to teach the subject needs be determined. Additionally, many of these student-centered best-practice guides make generalizations about students: students, like any other group of people, are individuals. Making assumptions about them when teaching can be disastrous.
For the administrator
Remember your role: facilitator. In some schools, administrators make the decisions and teachers follow. A good teacher is best qualified to determine how and what to teach their class. Rather than treat teachers as ‘labor’, treat them as educators. Academia is not a business: although solid business practices such as finance and management are very helpful (facilitation is dependent on them), they should be geared to enable learning, not the other way around.