Reinforcing information literacy through cognitive awareness
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Type of Presentation
Workshop (1 hour and 15 minutes)
Conference Strand
Ethics in Information
Target Audience
Higher Education
Location
Room 212
Relevance
N/A
Proposal
ACRL defines information literacy as “a survival skill in the Information Age,” defining it as the ability “to recognize when information is needed.”[1] Yet this recognition requires a level of cognitive awareness that learners may only realize when they are thinking deliberately and logically, and ignoring emotion and intuition. In other words, using the language of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the information literacy process requires moving beyond System One thinking and engaging System Two.[2] System One is fast, automatic, and effortless. System Two is slow, serial, controlled, and flexible. When making a difficult decision System Two is where you want to be. However, our brains don’t want to use more effort than needed, so our default reaction when making decisions is System One. This has a myriad of adverse outcomes within information literacy. Students use System One processing subconsciously, and this leads to bias and one sided information seeking. Additionally, when students find information, System One nudges them into believing it regardless of its quality or source.
[1] http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential
[2] Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.
Presentation Description
In this active workshop, we will discuss these decision making flaws in our cognition and how to help students combat this when interacting with information. The presentation will challenge how instructors teach, discuss, and interact with information literacy. Participants will walk away with an understanding of cognitive traps and how to teach students to work within (or in spite of) the limitations of their cognition. Schedule: 15 minutes: Introduction to literature/theory (Marlee Givens) 5 minutes: Participant pair discussion 15 minutes: Deep dive into WYSIATI concept with example search (Seth Porter) 5 minutes: Participant activity interpreting sample search results 15 minutes: Deep dive into availability heuristic concept (Seth) 5 minutes: Participant interactive poll activity 15 minutes: Q&A
Keywords
Information Literacy, Cognitition, Confirmation Bias, Cognitive Traps
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Givens, Marlee and Porter, Seth, "Reinforcing information literacy through cognitive awareness" (2018). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 105.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2018/2018/105
Reinforcing information literacy through cognitive awareness
Room 212
ACRL defines information literacy as “a survival skill in the Information Age,” defining it as the ability “to recognize when information is needed.”[1] Yet this recognition requires a level of cognitive awareness that learners may only realize when they are thinking deliberately and logically, and ignoring emotion and intuition. In other words, using the language of psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the information literacy process requires moving beyond System One thinking and engaging System Two.[2] System One is fast, automatic, and effortless. System Two is slow, serial, controlled, and flexible. When making a difficult decision System Two is where you want to be. However, our brains don’t want to use more effort than needed, so our default reaction when making decisions is System One. This has a myriad of adverse outcomes within information literacy. Students use System One processing subconsciously, and this leads to bias and one sided information seeking. Additionally, when students find information, System One nudges them into believing it regardless of its quality or source.
[1] http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/whitepapers/presidential
[2] Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.
