UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies

1. UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies Howard Besser UCLA School of Education & Information http://www.newliteracies.gseis.ucla.edu/ http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/~howard

2. UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies- • The Problem and Issues • Project Dates & Staff • The User • Adaptive Systems • Summit • Policy • More details on going beyond Info Lit & dealing w/Design Issues

3. 21st Century Literacies • Information Literacy • Visual Literacy • Media Literacy • Cultural Literacy • ...

4. The Problem and Issues • If we solve Access Problem (technology, bandwidth, training), other impediments to an informed citizenry still remain • Need critical evaluation of resources (reliability, authoritativeness, thoroughness, recency) • Need skills to pare down from information overload • Need critical thinking skills • Need to deal with different users having different backgrounds and capabilities

5. Project Dates & Staff • Summer 2000-Dec 2001 • $1 million • Co-Directed by Aimée Dorr and Howard Besser • October 21, 2000 Summit (planning involved 20 people from Pacbell & UCLA) • Rest of project primarily UCLA • Coordinator Sheila Afnan-Manns (afnanmanns@gseis.ucla.edu)

6. The User • Evaluative bibliography of literature and projects • Analysis of what we know thusfar from several different perspectives (curriculum design, library services, critical theory, information retrieval, user-centered design, …) • Examining model curriculum

7. Design Issues • Examine factors that inhibit efficient and effective use of an information system • Examine how best to design systems to match the literacy levels, technological capabilities, and other characteristics of the user • Principles, Practices, and Guidelines for Good Design for Facilitating Access (screen design, searching & navigation, metadata & description, info structures & organization, usability testing, …) • Build Adaptive Systems

8. Build Adaptive Systems • Build Systems that adapt the same back-end information to different user profiles (different knowledge bases, different technical capabilities, different cognitive structures) • User profiles may include advanced researcher in a particular subject area, general undergraduate student, high school student, … • Different profiles will need different user interfaces, navigation, searching vocabulary, file formats and sizes, ...

9. Summit (1/2)Oct 21, 2000 • Bring widespread attention to the underlying issues • 360 professionals from education, librarianship, public policy, and industry • 15% Higher Ed faculty, administrators, librarians • 28% K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents • 14% public and K-12 librarians • 33% future practitioners, policy makers, librarians, educators • 8% business community • 3% government (governor’s office, state dept of Educ, …)

10. Summit (2/2)Oct 21, 2000 • Snappy video to highlight the problems (25 unsolicited requests to show video in 1st month after Summit) • Over 2 dozen exhibits and poster sessions explaining related projects throughout the country • Guest speakers (Alan Kay, Marcia Bates, Pat Breivik, Kathleen Tyner, Anna Deavere Smith, Tal Finney)

11. Policy • information literacy standards • issues related to the "Digital Divide” • privacy and ownership concerns • ...

12. Information Literacy:Beyond Users to Design- • Traditional Approaches to Information Literacy • Why is Design of Information Delivery Systems Important? • The UCLA/Pacific Bell Initiative for 21st Century Literacies • The Initiative as a whole • Adaptive Design Systems • What does this all mean for Higher Ed Professionals?

13. Information Literacy Definitions • Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information (ALA 1989) • "the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information to become independent life-long learners" - Commission on Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Criteria for Accreditation. 10th ed. Dec. 1996. http://www.sacs.org/pub/coc/cri70.htm • "the abilities to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, effectively use, and communicate information in its various formats" - State University of New York (SUNY) Council of Library Directors. Information Literacy Initiative. 30 Sept. 1997. http://olis.sysadm.suny.edu/ili/final.htm • "a new liberal art that extends from knowing how to use computers and access information to critical reflection on the nature of information itself, its technical infrastructure, and its social, cultural and even philosophical context and impact" - Shapiro, Jeremy J. and Shelley K. Hughes. "Information Literacy as a Liberal Art". Educom Review. 3.2. Mar./Apr. 1996. http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewarticles/31231.html • "the skills of information problem solving" - Wisconsin Educational Media Association (adopted by the National Forum for Information Literacy). Position Statement on Information Literacy. 1993. http://www.ala.org/aasl/positions/PS_infolit.html

14. Traditional Approaches to Information Literacy (IL) • Individual User assumed to lack skills • Focus is on development of curriculum to train individual users and test competencies

15. Critique of Traditional IL Approaches • Goes beyond the equipment-based approaches to the Digital Divide (Net-Day, TIIAP, state & federal initiatives) • Assumes that all Users need is training • Relies on school-based model where instruction can reach everyone • Often doesn’t account for rapid changes that necessitate lifelong learning/re-education • Assumes that Info Delivery Systems can be clearly understood by a well-trained user

16. Examples of Traditional IL Approaches- • ALA/ACRL Competency Standards • AASL/AECT Standards

17. ALA/ACRL IL Competency Standards for Higher Education • Determine the extent of information needed • Access the needed information effectively and efficiently • Evaluate information and its sources critically • Incorporate selected information into one’s knowledge base • Use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose • Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally

18. AASL/AECT 9 StandardsInformation Literacy • The student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and effectively. • The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and competently. • The student who is information literate uses information accurately and creatively.

19. AASL/AECT 9 StandardsIndependent Learning • The student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests. • The student who is an independent learner is information literate and appreciates literature and other creative expressions of information. • The student who is an independent learner is information literate and strives for excellence in information seeking and knowledge generation.

20. AASL/AECT 9 StandardsSocial Responsibility • The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society. • The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and practices ethical behavior in regard to information and information technology. • The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.

21. Why is Design of Information Delivery Systems Important?-

22. Graphic Layout-

23. Bad Type

24. Fonts/Colors/Backgrounds

25. Colors & Fonts

26. Background Color #D9D900

27. Blinks & Fonts 1=

28. Blinks & Fonts 2=

29. Blinking Drawings=

30. Width Problems

31. Navigation & Choices-

32. Cluttered Choices

33. Clutter

34. Icons

35. More Advanced Navigation, Choices, & Graphic Design-

36. Sliding DHTML Menu=

37. Background & Menu Bars

38. Too Many Pop-ups=

39. Mouse-Up

40. Fancy Motion-

41. Too Much Flash 1=

42. Too Much Flash 2

43. Basic Set-up-

44. Meta Tags

45. Make User Change Browser

46. Contact Information

47. Design Issues (repeat)- • Examine factors that inhibit efficient and effective use of an information system • Examine how best to design systems to match the literacy levels, technological capabilities, and other characteristics of the user • Principles, Practices, and Guidelines for Good Design for Facilitating Access (screen design, searching & navigation, metadata & description, info structures & organization, usability testing, …) • Build Adaptive Systems

48. Good Design Principles • Promote good design practices throughout the Design community • Get the Design community to sign on to a set of Principles for Good Design- • Create Guides & Best Practices Documents-

49. Possible Good Design Principles • Don’t disenfranchise users who have slow processors, older browsers, low bandwidth, visual impairment, etc. • Clearly note the recency of any information resource • Make sure that a user can easily determine what organization/agency created or contributed to an information resource

50. Important Dimensions toGood Design Principles • screen design • searching & navigation • metadata & description • info structures & organization • usability testing • …