From Information Literacy to Social Epistemology

Tony Anderson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has undertaken research in a number of areas of psychology, including student learning, critical thinking, communication and human factors (including projects funded by the EU, the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and bodies such as the former Scottish Council for Educational Technology and Learning and Teaching Scotland). In addition to his research activities and many publications, Tony has been an Adviser of Study, and is currently the Senior Academic Selector (i.e. admissions tutor) and the Associate Dean (Undergraduate) in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Strathclyde and therefore has extensive experience of all matters relating to student admissions, learning, progression and retention Bill Johnston is a retired Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, University of Strathclyde. Bill has undertaken extensive research on curriculum development (including projects funded by the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Quality Assurance Agency, and the Australian Learning and Teaching Council). Bill has been invited keynote speaker at international conferences on the First Year Experience of Higher Education, and on Information Literacy. Since retiring, Bill has remained academically active and is currently researching the information literacy experiences of adult learners on a university pre-entry course. He is working on the development of 'Age Friendly Universities', with colleagues in Scotland, Ireland and the USA.

• Section A: Introduction and backgroundChapter 1. Introduction to the book as whole: a) a critical overview of issues and constructs, particularly the digital age, and digital participation; b) the notion of information literacy and the UNESCO human rights model; c) brief overview of epistemological development, critical thinking and metacognition and how these relate to IL and digital participation; d) summary of the structure of the book to follow.Chapter 2 Information literacy in adult returnee studentsSection B: Psychological and educational constructs related to information literacyChapter 3 Epistemological development and information literacyChapter 4 Metacognition, critical thinking and information literacy: here we consider psychological research on metacognition and critical thinking, summarise it and consider its implications for the processes involved in ILChapter 5 Study skills, pedagogy, constructivism, transformational learning, and information literacySection C: The contributions from librarians and library organizations; definitions, models and standards for information literacy; current developments in IL; critique and suggestions from psychology and pedagogy e.g. social constructivism as the theoretical basis for particular teaching practices, approaches; IL and lifelong learningChapter 6 The ACRL revised standards for IL in higher educationChapter 7 Curriculum for IL.Chapter 8 UNESCO formulation of IL and the move to a Media and Information Literacy formulation;Section D From Information literacy to social epistemologyChapter 9 Synthesis and conclusions.

"...a highly informative read that addresses influential organizations in the field of information literacy and includes strong arguments that add psychological components to develop more theoretically and pedagogically effective ways to help individuals understand information literacy concepts and techniques." --ROLE