This post is part of an eight-part series introducing the The B.C. Post-Secondary Digital Literacy Framework. Each post will provide ideas and resources for implementing one of the eight thematic digital competencies outlined in the framework. You can read more about the framework on the Digital Literacy: Tools and Resources for VIU blog post. We are happy to be working in collaboration with VIU Libraries on this blog post series.
What does Information Literacy mean?
From an information literacy perspective, a digitally literate person will use critical thinking skills, which includes understanding how online information is produced, prioritized, and presented. A digitally literate person will also recognize that online information can provide different perspectives and ways of knowing and is aware of biases within online content and technology.
How can you implement this competency?
Go beyond the textbook. Provide multiple perspectives by curating information from digital sources such as the web, the library and open educational resources (OER). The library provides access to subscription-based scholarly materials, but students won’t always have access to these after graduation. Teaching with diverse information sources—including general web searches, digital archives, news, and blogs—helps prepare students for real-world research. Take advantage of VIULearn as a hub from which you can easily share this content.
Engage with the Library. “Information literacy (IL) is at the centre of what VIU Library does in the University” (VIU Libraries). Librarians are committed to supporting faculty and students with this work. Faculty can:
- Request library instruction workshops in your courses
- Consult with librarians on assignment learning outcomes
- Encourage students to reach out through drop-in research help, appointments and online chat services
Talk about GenAI. Use the recent arrival of generative AI to talk about information literacy skills. Tie these topics to content in your course so that students get the opportunity to explore how information is used and generated in your discipline. Some questions to consider include:
- How do AI tools shape the information students encounter?
- What biases exist in AI-generated content?
- How can AI be used responsibly for research and learning?
Check out the CIEL’s GenAI blog series from the CIEL for more ideas and details.
Develop activities that ask your students to analyze different sources of information in your discipline.
Ask your students which tech tools they use to seek out information and ask them to explain how they use them. Encourage them to reflect on and evaluate these tools for their reliability. Explore discipline-specific research tools along with general search engines to contrast differences in scope, content, and bias.
Scaffold Assignments that involve research and information gathering. By breaking research assignments into smaller steps, such as topic exploration, source evaluation, annotated bibliographies, and proposal feedback, faculty can guide students through the research process before they submit a final version. This encourages deeper reflection and intentionality with information literacy skills and metacognition… This provides the opportunity for you to provide guidance and feedback on the information sources being used before the final version of the assignment is handed in.
This page is part of a Digital Literacy Toolkit designed for faculty at VIU. All content in this toolkit is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY).