Advancing Learning andTransforming Scholarship
in Higher Education: KwaZulu-Natal IL
perspectives
Information Literacy Framework for
Higher Education LIASA HELIG Presentation
by Dr S Neerputh
31 August 2016

Re-visiting the role of the Librarian
•IL framework actively transforms the role of the Librarian
to educator
•Integrating the library into the mission of higher
education – teaching, learning and research

Re-defining IL
•Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities
encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the
understanding of how information is produced and
valued, and the use of information in creating new
knowledge and participating ethically in communities of
learning

IL Practices in KwaZulu-Natal
• Stand alone models of IL teaching – student centred point of need
• Embedded approaches – Faculty and Librarian develop and design content relevant for
curricula needs/ outcome oriented approach
• E-learning approaches – Librarian as facilitator / instructor on Learning Management
systems ; Building towards a Collaborative model for enhancing student learning
• Re-positioning the Library from stand alone IL teaching to becoming student-centred
embedded IL teaching and learning approaches
• Infusing IL for inquiry based learning – collaboration and content design; creating
blended learning approaches for IL teaching- Building IL towards enhancing Learning
rather than mere teaching
• Looking at the Flipped classroom models of IL and moving teaching of IL towards
pedagogical theories and frameworks which support student centred learning

ACRLThreshold Concepts as a strategy for
enhancing learning
• Concepts - in any discipline that focuses on developing curricula
• Portals to enlarged understanding - information ecosystem
• Metaliteracy – renewed vision of IL as an overarching set of
abilities in which students are consumers and creators of
information
• Behavioral, affective and metacognitive engagement with the
information ecosystem

6 Frames or Lens of IL
•Authority is Constructed and Contextual
•Information Creation as a Process
•Information hasValue
•Research as Inquiry
•Scholarship as Conversation
•Searching as Strategic Exploration

Adapting ACRL to the South African Context
•Creating an embedded IL approach
•Librarian and Faculty can choose the most appropriate
frames that overarch their university curricula strategy
and develop these within a knowledge practice and
learner disposition context - stipulated in the ACRL
Framework document
•Engaging with Academics and collaboratively
designing an infused IL strategy to respond to curricula
needs.

1. Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
Knowledge Practices:
Use research tools and indicators of authority to determine the credibility of
sources, Understand that many disciplines have acknowledged authorities in the
sense of well-known scholars and publications.
Dispositions:
Motivate learners to find authoritative sources, recognizing that authority may be
conferred or manifested in unexpected ways
Develop awareness of the importance of assessing content with a skeptical stance
and with a self-awareness of their own biases and worldview

Acknowledgement
ACRL. 2015. Framework for Information Literacy for
Higher Education. American Library Association
(online). www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
(Accessed 31 May 2015)
Images taken from Google Scholar