Information literacy and diginatives

Is there a Google generation?

The assumption of digital natives’ somehow given knowledge of the digital culture has also been criticized. For example Kupiainen (2013) talks about a ‘diginative myth’, which has had negative influence on teaching: since students are expected to have already mastered the digital culture, they are not taught even basic media skills. This is especially worrying since several studies suggest that the students themselves do not feel as if they are ICT-savvy. For example Kolikant (2010) concludes after interviewing 25 post-elementary students that only a third of the interviewees believed that, in terms of learning, their generation was empowered by technology, with the majority of them feeling their generation was actually worse at learning than the pre-ICT generations before them (Kolikant, 2010: 1389). Another study investigating the extent and nature of university students’ use of digital technologies for learning and socializing did not find evidence to support the view that digital natives adopt radically different learning styles, exhibit new forms of literacies or have any novel expectations from higher education (Margarayan et al., 2011: 438). The interesting thing to notice is the way students actually use digital technologies: several studies suggest that there is a rather strong divide between leisure or social use and potential educational use (see for example Jones et al., 2010; Kolikant, 2010; Margarayan et al., 2011; Tenhaven et al., 2013). While students in general use these tools, they mostly seem to use the largely established technologies such as Google, Wikipedia, mobile phones and media players: at the same time their understanding of what tools to adopt and how to use them to support their learning seems rather limited (Margarayan et al., 2011: 439). These findings are backed up by several Finnish studies indicating alarming variations in the overall ICT skills of Finnish adolescents and young adults, showing a large proportion of them using the computer for recreational purposes, such as games or movies, but not being able to use it as a work tool (Hyytiäinen, 2014; Kaarakainen et al, 2013). An ongoing research project by RoSA is testing over 3000 Finnish adolescents (aged 13 to 20) from different educational sectors to find out their actual ICT skills instead of just recording self-evaluations (RoSA, 2014). The preliminary results show a lack in the skills related especially to information seeking and the use of tools such as word processors or spreadsheets (Hyytiäinen, 2014).

In conclusion, all of the studies mentioned indicate significant variations amongst students in overall ICT skills and use, to the point where a homogeneous, ICT-savvy Google Generation really does seem more like a myth.

Information illiterate diginatives

Being born into the Internet era does not automatically make these generations information literate, either. A recent Finnish study conducted by Carita Kiili (2012) suggests that being used to digital technology is not the same as being Internet or information literate and that these skills are something that needs to be taught. Kiili (2012: 34–36) conducted a number of sub-studies, in which she investigated Internet search actions and information evaluation skills of upper secondary school students as they searched for source material on the Internet for an essay on a given topic. These sub-studies showed substantial variation among the students.

According to the study, the students faced problems in formulating adequate search queries, understanding how search engines work, analyzing search results and regulating search activities (Kiili, 2012: 43). As for the search queries, those including only one term were the most common, accounting for 41% of the queries; almost a third (30%) of the search queries consisted of two terms and 17% included more than two terms. Some students did not include the main concept or used very vague terms, which resulted in unsuccessful search queries: most difficulties were caused by using the whole title of the task as a search term. It was also noted that some students were not able to reformulate their unsuccessful searches appropriately (Kiili, 2012: 37). Kiili points out that although a majority of the students were able to locate relevant information quite effectively, it seems that all students need some guidance for developing their searches and that ‘practicing systematic use of conceptual knowledge in specifying search queries would also prepare students for their university studies where inquiry and research based practices are pronounced’ (Kiili, 2012: 43–44).

The study also found students lacking in the skills relevant to evaluating information. Since the Internet is so frequently used for information seeking in school work, it is ‘exceedingly important that students evaluate what is worth reading and critically ponder what they read’ (Kiili, 2012: 47). However, according to Kiili (2012: 47), students evaluated the relevance of information more frequently than its credibility when reading online. The variance in both relevance and credibility evaluation was substantial, with several students not evaluating the credibility at all (Kiili, 2012: 35).

Implications and challenges for teaching information literacy

Whether or not there really are new generations of digital natives remains an open topic. From academic libraries’ point of view there are, however, certain elements that are valuable to keep in mind when teaching both pre-academic and academic IL skills to current generations of upper secondary and higher education students.

Firstly, as previously indicated, a homogeneous ICT-clever generation of digital natives does not seem to exist; instead we have a very heterogeneous group of students whose skills and knowledge in both ICT in general and information skills in particular vary greatly. Teaching and other forms of guidance will benefit from not assuming every student has similar skills, or knows how to use ICT tools and the Internet in learning; students actually expect to be taught these things (Margaryan et al., 2011). It would also be useful to clearly define which basic ICT skills students need to have before entering IL lessons, so that the time could be used effectively on IL instead of teaching basic computing skills. This of course needs to be done in close co-operation with the educational institution’s other curriculum planning.

Secondly, the alleged challenge posed by digital natives to the current forms of teaching and learning should also be viewed critically (Jones and Shao, 2011). A mounting body of evidence suggests that students entering higher education do not have any special demands regarding the use of new technologies in teaching; on the contrary, students are reported to persistently prefer moderate use of ICT in their courses (Jones and Shao, 2011: 3). According to Margaryan et al. (2011: 436), when students were asked for ideas on how technologies could be used to support teaching and learning, most of them had difficulties in suggesting any. This brings us to another important issue: it really is not as much about the tools as it is about the content. If students are finding it hard to understand the potential usefulness of ICT and the Internet in their learning, then the use of technology in teaching should not be based solely on the students’ current ICT preferences and use. On the contrary: as stated by Margaryan et al. (2011: 439), decisions regarding teaching should be based on a deeper understanding of how these technologies could actually improve the process and outcome of learning. This cannot be achieved without the staff actively experimenting with different technologies. In our view this is also something that could be done together with the students. Later in this article I will give some suggestions for this potential student co-operation.

Thirdly, as already suggested, there seems to be a gap between how students use new technologies in leisure and in learning. Kolikant (2010: 1389) talks about students living within two value systems, wherein on the one hand the Internet is seen as a user-friendly, fun and easy way to access and retrieve information, yet on the other hand when facing a ‘serious’ or ‘important’ assignment, students felt they should incorporate books, since using only the Internet was seen as lazy and reflecting a cursory job. From a library’s point of view this ‘book-orientation’ is interesting and actually something that can be witnessed daily: students usually ask for printed books on a certain subject rather than digital material, unless their teacher has specifically advised them to look for digital articles from the library’s databases. As Kolikant (2010: 1389–1390) sees it, the reason for this lies within the different values and practices students face in and outside school, wherein school encourages in solo learning (i.e. attempting to hold the information in one’s head) as opposed to the collaborative ways students use ICT outside school by sharing content and innovatively using what is already there. The faculty’s role cannot be ignored either: teaching is still relying heavily on printed course books, instead of using versatile digital resources. This is something in which an academic library can really take up a significant role, not only making digital collections available but also offering relevant guidance and teaching in their use. I see this both as a challenge and an opportunity for IL teaching: to bridge the gap by educating both students and staff alike that ICT and the Internet can be used effectively in learning when you know how and where to look.

In conclusion, it is both a responsibility and an opportunity for academic libraries to make use of their special expertise by offering the kind of teaching, tutoring and guidance that students equipped with different levels of information skills need. Versatile teaching and access to personally tailored guidance are key elements in supporting the gradual development of the students’ IL skills from upper secondary school onwards. In the following sections I will give practical examples of how the Joint Higher Education Library in Lahti offers these services to both students and staff at three different educational levels.

Advantages of a joint library

A joint library is a library for one or several independent universities and independent polytechnics (or Universities of Applied Sciences), with its operation based on a contract between its parent institutions (Palonen et al., 2013: 224). The Joint Higher Education Library in Lahti is stretching this definition by also co-operating with the region’s educational institutions at both vocational and upper secondary levels. The Information and Library Services (2014) are developed and maintained in collaboration with Lahti University of Applied Sciences (LUAS), Salpaus Further Education and Lahti University Campus with units of three different universities (Helsinki University, Aalto University and Lappeenranta University of Technology). The Learning Centre Fellmannia, ² home also to the library, was founded in 2011 and is located in the city centre, which makes it easy to access. The whole concept of the Learning Centre was developed for learners of different ages and levels of education from upper secondary level onwards, making it an attractive learning environment for all learners. In addition to Fellmannia, the Joint Higher Education Library has several smaller information centres in the Lahti region, reflecting the subject interests of their users and thus forming a multi-disciplinary network.

The collaboration of different educational institutions has several advantages. Students entering the Salpaus vocational or upper secondary education will immediately become familiar with the higher education library services, as each group of new students will be welcomed to the library by a short tour and introduction. Printed collections and most of the services as well as local use of the digital resources are available to all students, as well as guidance in their use. ³ The Joint Higher Education Library offers IL teaching to both students and staff of all educational levels. As a result the library staff has gained extensive experience and expertise in IL teaching, making it possible to further develop teaching and guiding methods and tailor them to best meet the needs of the different student groups, as well as bearing in mind the whole study path from upper secondary to higher education, whether it be polytechnic or university. The information and library services are therefore an integral and natural part of the whole educational continuum.

To further promote the development of pre-academic information skills, we have recently teamed up with Lahti’s Kannas Upper Secondary School’s new International Baccalaureate (IB) programme which, with its critical, innovative and scientific focus, is an excellent starting point for learning the information skills needed in later academic studies (Kannaksen lukio, 2014). This collaboration will support the study paths of students from the IB programme to universities and make sure their knowledge and skills in IL are gradually developing together with other areas of their studies.

Offering access and supporting knowledge creation

Availability of digital collections is directly linked to the support of knowledge creation. As a joint library we are in a unique position to offer our users local access to the licensed digital resources of three universities: Lahti University of Applied Sciences, University of Helsinki and Aalto University. This gives our users an opportunity to expand their information seeking to include resources they otherwise would not be able to access.

Of course simply offering access to resources is not enough: in order to really support knowledge creation, libraries must also offer easy access to guidance. One could argue that in the last few years the role of the information specialist has changed from a more traditional role of librarianship into that of a coach, not giving ready-made answers but helping and encouraging users in finding the answers themselves. This is also why the focus of our services is in teaching and guiding information skills, source criticism and using the digital collections. As an example, our Information Skills Clinics offer personal, tailored sessions where information specialists help users in accessing databases and finding sources relevant to their subject and level of study, give guidance in assessing information quality and help in citing digital information. These clinics are especially popular among the undergraduate students writing their theses.

The Information Skills course is one part of studies at Lahti University of Applied Sciences and is worth one study credit. All LUAS students will attend a two-hour lecture, complete a source criticism assignment and finally take the information skills test; alternatively they can participate in an online course. The aim is to make sure students have the needed competence in IL and in using the available resources. It is advisable for students to complete the course during their first year of study. ⁴

The Joint Higher Education Library is also developing eKnowledge and eLibrary services as part of the FUAS Virtual Campus. ⁵ As the number of virtual campuses is increasing, academic libraries must find ways to best serve their users online. The aim is to integrate information and library services with the virtual campus and also develop innovative new online services. Teaching students and staff in information skills and using the digital collections plays an integral part in this development, as well as promoting the educational use of these collections. Library services must also be made available and usable for those users who can only access them online (Kiviluoto and Blinnikka, 2013).

Promoting and encouraging the educational use of the digital collections took a giant leap forwards when the new Masto-Finna Online Catalogue was launched in autumn 2014. This new interface allows users to find both printed and digital material available at the Joint Library with just one search, whereas before two separate interfaces needed to be used. Remote access to licensed digital resources is available to LUAS students and staff and the staff of Salpaus Further Education. The new Masto-Finna is a localized version of the national digital library interface, with the Joint Higher Education Library in Lahti being amongst the first higher education libraries in Finland to adopt this new user interface. ⁶ The experiences gained from Masto-Finna in IL teaching and other guidance have so far been very encouraging, with students finding the new interface convenient and easy to use.

LINKKU: Putting information literacy on wheels

As discussed earlier, offering access both to information resources and guidance in their use is a critical part in supporting knowledge creation and the development of both pre-academic and academic IL skills. But what about upper secondary school students and other potential users, who are living and studying in the more remote areas of the region? Although Lahti is the regional centre of the Päijät-Häme province, only half of the region’s population actually live here, with the other half scattered around the province. To promote equal opportunities for these users to benefit from the services of a joint library, we have decided to make these services literally mobile by putting them on wheels.

The project SmartBus tests a multipurpose, mobile service unit in the Päijät-Häme region. The project, financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is being administered by Lahti University of Applied Sciences and implemented in cooperation with Salpaus Further Education, Learning Centre Fellmannia and several of the region’s social and healthcare service providers. The project is running until 31 March 2015, after which the SmartBus will stay in operation for a minimum of five years.

LINKKU, as the SmartBus is called, started piloting its services in autumn 2014, visiting several smaller towns and villages in the Päijät-Häme region with a regular schedule, providing different services on different weeks. LINKKU is designed to be easily modified to adjust to the needs of several different services, so it can function for example as a mobile healthcare unit, a dental clinic, an ICT classroom or a mobile polling station (Lahden ammattikorkeakoulu, 2013; LINKKU, 2014).

LINKKU is also a new kind of learning environment on wheels, with advanced mobile telecommunications technology and networks making the licensed digital collections of the Joint Higher Education Library available to students, teachers and other learners in the whole Päijät-Häme region. Expert services such as the Information Skills Clinic will be made available either physically with an information specialist on board or virtually as an online service. The focus again is on teaching and guiding information and media literacy skills and creating an equal opportunity for learning these skills regardless of where one is located. It should be noted that LINKKU will not be a traditional mobile library, since those services are already well provided by the region’s public libraries. Our aim is to complement the already existing services by bringing something new from an academic library’s viewpoint, delivering essential services to support a knowledge-driven economy.

In addition to the new mobile learning environment and already existing services, we are developing new ways of teaching pre-academic information and media literacy skills to upper secondary school students. The aim is to make learning these skills more interesting and appealing to the ‘Gaming Generation’ by using serious gaming and participatory design.

Learning by gaming

Andrew Walsh (2013) sees similarities in the skills developed by gaming and the skills needed in IL; both require problem solving, planning and critically considered strategies to achieve one’s goal. According to Walsh, increasing numbers of people are identifying themselves as gamers, which makes game-based learning easier both to implement and to be accepted also by information and library services users. It should also be noted that although the ‘Gaming Generation’ is often used as a synonym for digital natives, the average age of a gamer is now 37 (Walsh, 2013). Adult learners should therefore be taken into consideration as a potential user group for IL learning games, although these games are usually developed for younger students.

Why then should academic libraries use gaming in IL teaching? As pointed out by Van Meegen and Limpens (2010: 272), the number of teaching hours assigned for IL teaching is usually limited, which means information specialists have a relatively short time to teach students the necessary skills. It is therefore reasonable to argue that any means to make the most of these few teaching hours should be employed to ensure learning. Interactive elements and games are already being used by many academic libraries to enhance IL learning, and the first reactions have been positive (Van Meegen and Limpens, 2010: 275). A research project by the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam compared the effectiveness of a web-based IL tutorial and an online IL game, concluding that students who played the game got higher scores than those who followed the web-based tutorial (Van Meegen and Limpens, 2010: 285). According to the study, the result suggests that students playing the game are more actively engaged in the task from the beginning until the end, and the more active students get, the faster they will learn. Games are one way of introducing interactivity to learning, but not the only one; interactive elements could also be used in other forms of teaching. As Van Meegen and Limpens conclude (2010: 286), ‘the clue is to engage students in their learning, to get them to actively participate and understand the content within the short period of time libraries have to teach information literacy’.

Anna-Liisa Holmström and Katja Karevaara from LUAS have developed a new model for game-based IL learning. This model draws parallels between Carol C Kuhlthau’s information-seeking process (Kuhlthau et al., 2004) and gaming, and its basic concepts include pervasive learning, scaffolding, immersion and the flow experience (Holmström and Karevaara, 2014: 196–197). The role of pedagogical scaffolding is emphasized, since students need support in utilizing mobile technologies and learning games, both at the beginning and during the game. The idea of the model is to utilize the emotions, thoughts and actions evoked by gaming and aim them at information seeking; at its best, students can get so immersed in IL gaming that they actually experience the flow. By making information seeking into a game, students may feel less uncertain about starting the information-seeking process and get a real feeling of accomplishment when succeeding in the task, which in turn can nurture the upper secondary school students’ budding interest in doing (pre-academic) research (Holmström and Karevaara, 2014: 205).

To test this new model, we are planning to launch a new initiative to create a futuristic and mobile Information Skills Clinic together with the students of Kannas Upper Secondary School’s IB programme. As part of their studies, the IB students themselves will participate as developers and testers of this new service. The Mobile Information Skills Clinic will pilot several new learning games developed in LUAS, including ROX Role Play and INTACT Information Battle.

In ROX Role Play, the student chooses an alias (for example a researcher, a chemist or a historian) and will interact with the virtual information specialist in this chosen role, trying out different strategies for searching and evaluating information as if she/he actually was a researcher, a chemist, etc. This will give students an opportunity to use their imagination and get a real working life experience in information seeking. Feedback and assistance will be given online by the information specialist (Holmström and Karevaara, 2014: 199–200).

In INTACT Information Battle students will practise academic debating. The debate will be over a given topic and the winner is the one with most credible arguments, which need to be based on scholarly articles. The aim is to learn how to find peer-reviewed, scholarly articles from different databases and use them in argumentation, getting students acquainted with source criticism and other academic practices. To add more challenge, non-Finnish information sources will also be used. The battle can take place in an online environment, with an information specialist as the game master (Holmström and Karevaara, 2014: 204).

These learning games will be available online, so anyone can participate regardless of location. In addition, LINKKU will take the digital collections of the Joint Higher Education Library to the region’s more remote upper secondary schools, giving an opportunity to use these collections in serious gaming as well as other studies.