Chapter 9: Research and Evidence

9.2: Informed Learning

Informed Learninga pedagogy that focuses on learning subject content through engaging with academic or professional information practices (Maybee, Bruce, Lupton, & Rebmann, 2013).

Informed Learning or Informational Literacy are terms that explain pedagogy (the teaching process) that focuses on how combining subject content through academic practice can result in academic and professional application. Research is applicable to all areas of study at Indiana State University and it is an important connection to educational, personal, and professional learning. These connections boost confidence so that students perform a higher level of comprehension and delivery of content. ISU students recognize that being informed means selecting content for review, building connections, practicing, and implementing higher standards to reading, reviewing research, and demonstration of work.

The goal from a student perspective is that informed learning locates resources and evaluates those resources based on conceptual realities mirrored in real life, whether it be family decisions about finance or workplace etiquette. Revising the way you approach learning and including an informed perspective is advantageous for numerous reasons.

Informed learning skills allow students to save time, simplify or clarify reading and assignments, promote connections between ideas and perspectives, encourage participation in the learning process, and facilitate skill development.

Information Literacy Model

There are various information literacy models.  One Information Literacy Model consists of four components that aid in comprehension of information in various forms.  The four components include library skills, media skills, critical literacy, and information ethics.

  • Library Skills:Library skills develop literacy by increasing understanding of disciplines of study. Being able to search within different branches of learning allows you to begin to build a foundation of knowledge to understand areas within your educational pursuits and designated career. Building connections between disciplines create bridges that support a more holistic approach to learning, utilizing search options, keyword and subject search, catalog and database access.
  • Media Skills:Media skills develop the ability to utilize resources that combine text, graphics, and other combinations of media. Visual media has always had a strong presence with varied websites offering videos of tutorials and news. Computer generated media are widely becoming a new way to create information. Lastly, social media allows sharing of information more easily than before in the Digital Age.
  • Critical Literacy:Critical Literacy activates long term memory, including critical reading, critical thinking, and synthesis. Critical reading is reached when main ideas are determined, interpreted, and evaluated. Critical thinking is reached when analysis, critique, and response motivate observation, experience, and deep learning. Synthesizing is reached when ideas are summarized and a furthered approach to learning is met by combining ideas.
  • Information Ethics: Information Ethics teaches you to consider ethical and moral obligations in research, including copyright, security, and privacy. Research conducted and presented in any format requires an understanding of how to properly evaluate, cite, and attribute sources.


Model of Information Literacy

Exercises

  1. In your own words, define informed learning.
  2. With a group of classmates, identify strategies, techniques, or tools you have learned that help you approach or apply library skills, media skills, critical literacy, or information ethics.

 

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Introduction to Public Communication by Indiana State University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book