Information literacy, information technology fluency
Dr Alan Bundy
University of South Australia
Paper: 1/2 hour
Convergence & Continuity
The first (2001) edition of the Australian Information Literacy Standards notes the report of the US National Research Council which promotes the concept of 'fluency' with IT and delineates several distinctions useful in understanding relationships within information literacy, computer literacy and broader technological competence.There are differences between information literacy and IT fluency as it is understood in K-12 and higher education. Among these are IL's focus on recognition of need, content, communication, analysis,information searching, evaluation and application, whereas IT fluency focuses on understanding of technology and graduated use. IL is an intellectual framework. Whilst IT fluency requires more intellectual capacity than the rote learning of software and hardware associated with computer literacy, the focus remains on the technology itself. The working through of these issues in the context of the rapid acceptance of the Australian IL Standards,the current preparation of their second edition, a project to develop a self evaluation methodology for the information literate individual, and the development of the Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy will be described. (other papers are at www.library.unisa.edu/papers/papers.htm#ab)
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