Our project aims to improve students’ information literacy competencies and learning across the senior secondary and tertiary sectors.  By partnering with teachers and librarians to develop new collaborative relationships, plan and implement instructional approaches, and design resources that prioritise the critical use of information literacy, we will support students’ information literacy acquisition and, thus, enhance their learning.

Why this research is important

Information literacy is central to learning in the digital age, a meta-literacy of the knowledge society. If the next generations of New Zealanders are to become effective citizens within the knowledge economy, they must be equipped to engage with an ever-changing information landscape.

We have identified a clear gap between the aspirations of policy makers, schools, and tertiary providers to develop students’ information literacy expertise and the problems of understanding how to do this in practice in changing and complex learning environments.  Our research addresses this gap between intention and practice with positive outcomes for student learning.

Where we are now

We have come to the end of the third year of our three-year project funded by the TLRI (Teaching and Learning Research Initiative). We are in the consolidation phase, writing up and evaluating our findings from collaborations with teachers and librarians. We will put together our final report over the coming weeks, and then start looking ahead to where to from here. It’s by no means over, there’s much more work to do!