How Do You Know What I Want to Know? A Democratic Take on Information Literacy
Type of Presentation
Individual paper/presentation
Conference Strand
Critical Literacy
Target Audience
Higher Education
Second Target Audience
K-12
Location
Session 7 Papers
Relevance
This project discusses ways in which Information Literacy is instrumental in empowering students by providing them with ownership and active roles in their intellectual and academic pursuits.
Proposal
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss how inquiry-based and student-led approaches to research provide an opportunity for marginalized students to see their identities valued and respected.
As a university professor, researcher, and schoolteacher, I engaged students with diverse backgrounds in academic inquiry. In this presentation, I will share strategies and actionable plans to support students’ scholarly and individual pursuits. I will focus in particular on the importance of establishing a shared purpose and “buy-in” on the students’ part. I will also describe challenges that I commonly found in my practice.
My preliminary findings indicated that students responded positively to open-ended, self-selected research tasks when they received intentional and targeted support in an apprenticeship one on one or small group modality. As students shifted from a passive to an active decision-making role, they began to find value in the information they discovered and realized the importance of understanding both the tools and the language. In this context, key issues I found were the lack of familiarity with academic language and extensive reading practices, even at the collegiate level; I also found that students were often reluctant to engage with the task unless they felt they could be successful. The latter issue may be related to the fear of negative repercussions or concerns about choosing “the wrong topic.”
As we witness racial and socio-economic disparities in our society, we have a professional and ethical obligation to open the academic space for dialogue and empowerment.
Short Description
In this presentation, I will share my experience as a university professor, researcher, and former schoolteacher working with a diverse body of students. I will focus on strategies to foster students’ curiosity and sense of ownership. This approach provides opportunities for discourse and for bridging the gap between the language of academics and the “real world.”
Keywords
Information Literacy, Identity, Inquiry
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Zucca-Scott, Laura, "How Do You Know What I Want to Know? A Democratic Take on Information Literacy" (2023). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 30.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2023/2023/30
How Do You Know What I Want to Know? A Democratic Take on Information Literacy
Session 7 Papers
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss how inquiry-based and student-led approaches to research provide an opportunity for marginalized students to see their identities valued and respected.
As a university professor, researcher, and schoolteacher, I engaged students with diverse backgrounds in academic inquiry. In this presentation, I will share strategies and actionable plans to support students’ scholarly and individual pursuits. I will focus in particular on the importance of establishing a shared purpose and “buy-in” on the students’ part. I will also describe challenges that I commonly found in my practice.
My preliminary findings indicated that students responded positively to open-ended, self-selected research tasks when they received intentional and targeted support in an apprenticeship one on one or small group modality. As students shifted from a passive to an active decision-making role, they began to find value in the information they discovered and realized the importance of understanding both the tools and the language. In this context, key issues I found were the lack of familiarity with academic language and extensive reading practices, even at the collegiate level; I also found that students were often reluctant to engage with the task unless they felt they could be successful. The latter issue may be related to the fear of negative repercussions or concerns about choosing “the wrong topic.”
As we witness racial and socio-economic disparities in our society, we have a professional and ethical obligation to open the academic space for dialogue and empowerment.
