Some Views

Kuhlthau's writings are based on research completed in schools and identifies the emotions related to the different information literacy skills that students worked through to complete an assignment.While this is helpful on a level of understanding the learning environment it reveals one of the obstacles the TL should be aware of when collaborating with teachers and working with students. As I read through the range of emotions identified by Kuhlthau I realise that they describe perfectly the emotions I have progressed through since beginning this course earlier this year. The emotions are the same, despite the age of the learner! I'm not sure that it helped me complete better research, though. At this point I'd describe information literacy as a set of skills needed to work through a defined process but I reserve the right to change my mind. The NSW Model is straightforward and the six steps are logical but I prefer the Big6 skills, each with its set of two sub skills. This is a much more detailed structure and can be easily adapted to include technology skills at any stage of the process. Many of the other models contain more than 6 steps or skills and Because of this I think they become u unwieldy and too complex for students to keep track of. I agree with Herring (2006) that digital literacy skills are not instead of, or in addition to, information literacy.This is where the Big6 meets our needs. We need to teach students to view all information, whether it's in a book or on a website, with a critical eye. It comes back to teaching students how to think about the task at hand and how to use the tools available. The research project involving Yr 9 students who were issued with the PLUS booklet yielded some interesting results. While they mentioned that the TL was freed up to work with students with differing learning styles, what of the students who have not mastered literacy skills? The two are co-dependent. I would like to read about a research project conducted in a primary school using any of the models to note how the huge difference in literacy skills is catered for.