Metaliteracy

Introduction

While the rest of this course focuses on information literacy, there are other literacies extant, including metaliteracy, digital literacy, visual literacy, and media literacy. You probably have several others to add to this abbreviated list. This module will focus on metaliteracy, which had an influence on the ACRL Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education. In this module, you will learn about the nature of metaliteracy and the overlap between metaliteracy and information literacy.

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain three key differences between metaliteracy and information literacy
• Identify learning objectives from metaliteracy that would be appropriate for one of your teaching situations
• Develop a strategy to incorporate elements of metaliteracy into your teaching
• Choose a potential assessment plan for student metaliteracy learning

The Metaliteracy Model

Metaliteracy is a pedagogical model that focuses on an individual’s method of learning and participating in today’s complex information environment. It is an overarching literacy that emphasizes the impact that Web 2.0 and social media in particular have had on learning and literacy, including increased opportunities for collaboration. In Greek, one of the meanings of “meta” is after: metaliteracy is what is needed after, or beyond, the basic literacies of reading and writing. As we know from daily life, reading and writing are critical, but they are not enough when we are so active in online information environments.

The relationship between metaliteracy and information literacy is an evolving one. Metaliteracy was originally developed in 2010 to address the dramatic changes in the information environment that were not, at that time, a part of either the 1989 standard definition of information literacy then in use in the United States nor the 2000 ACRL Information Literacy Standards. Metaliteracy highlights the impact of learners’ new information-related roles and responsibilities–and when you think about it, these are pervasive roles. Metaliteracy foregrounds the idea that evolving information sources, including those generated outside of traditional publishing, have value, but need to be evaluated carefully. It also emphasizes two learning domains that were less prominent in information literacy at that time: affective and metacognitive.

The ACRL Information Literacy Framework for Higher Education incorporated elements from metaliteracy, as noted in its Introduction:

“...this Framework draws significantly upon the concept of metaliteracy, which offers a renewed vision of information literacy as an overarching set of abilities in which students are consumers and creators of information who can participate successfully in collaborative spaces. Metaliteracy demands behavioral, affective, cognitive, and metacognitive engagement with the information ecosystem. This Framework depends on these core ideas of metaliteracy, with special focus on metacognition…” (ACRL, 2015)

This table provides an overview of the differences and points of similarity between metaliteracy and information literacy.

Domains of Learning and Learning Goals and Objectives

Let’s look in more depth at the structure underlying metaliteracy. It is built upon goals and learning objectives that incorporate four aspects of learning, as well as learner characteristics and roles. To get a general understanding of metaliteracy and its learning domains, start by watching the following video.

The “meta” in metaliteracy nicely corresponds to the first, and particularly important, learning domain: metacognition. Metacognition involves analyzing and monitoring your own thinking and learning processes. Metacognition is a vital tool in continued, effective learning. It is also very important in evaluating one’s own biases. This can be hard work, but it is essential in order to be a discerning learner and a responsible citizen. The other three learning domains are affective, behavioral, and cognitive. The affective domain is how one feels about one’s learning, the cognitive is the learning process itself, and the behavioral is connected to what one can actually do when the learning activities have been successfully completed.

Metaliterate learners seek to broaden the range of roles they take on, and this can feel unfamiliar, even disconcerting at first. Doing something new can cause anxiety, but recognizing our feelings can be beneficial in moving forward. But the affective domain isn’t limited to just one’s feelings when getting underway with something new. It can also be the excitement at finishing something successfully that might have been a challenge, or the feelings one has at any other point in the process.

There are four overarching metaliteracy goals:

1. Actively evaluate content while also evaluating one’s own biases
2. Engage with all intellectual property ethically and responsibly
3. Produce and share information in collaborative and participatory environments
4. Develop learning strategies to meet lifelong personal and professional goals

These broad goals focus on the individual’s opportunities, responsibilities and scope of engagement. The associated learning objectives for each goal provide specific details. As an example, here are three learning objectives from the first goal and two from the third goal:

Goal 1: Actively evaluate content while also evaluating one’s own biases

Objectives:

Verify expertise but acknowledge that experts do exist. (A, C)

Consciously seek information from a spectrum of viewpoints and sources. (B)

Evaluate user-generated information in social media environments and differentiate between opinion and fact. (B, C)

Goal 3: Produce and share information in collaborative and participatory environments

Objectives:

See oneself as a producer as well as consumer of information. (A, M)

Recognize that learners are also teachers and teach what you know or learn in collaborative settings. (A, B, C)

If you had the opportunity to watch the video, you probably recognized the letters in parentheses as representing the four learning domains that are central to metaliteracy.The “meta” in metaliteracy nicely corresponds to the first, and particularly important, learning domain: metacognition. Metacognition involves analyzing and monitoring your own thinking and learning processes. Metacognition is a vital tool in continued, effective learning. It is also very important in evaluating one’s own biases. This can be hard work, but it is essential in order to be a discerning learner and a responsible citizen. The other three learning domains are affective, behavioral, and cognitive. The affective domain is how one feels about one’s learning, the cognitive is the learning process itself, and the behavioral is connected to what one can actually do when the learning activities have been successfully completed.

Let’s go back to the second objective of Goal 3, introduced above: Recognize that learners are also teachers and teach what you know or learn in collaborative settings.

The metaliteracy digital badging system, which will be described in more detail later in this module, includes a learning unit, or quest, called Teach. It starts off:

Unless you are someone who intends to work in a classroom or an academic setting, you may not immediately identify yourself as a teacher. However, no matter what your professional aspirations may be, we all have unique skills and perspectives to share. While many of the metaliteracy quests focus on your role as a learner, it is equally important to be adept at teaching. What does it mean to “teach”? How can we begin to think about this very common, but complex, activity? How can we imagine ourselves as teachers?

(https://sites.google.com/view/metaliteracy/empowered-learner/learner-as-teacher/teach)

Learners are then prompted to think about and research what characteristics good teachers have. The Teach quest is grouped with two others, Transfer and Translate, into a larger unit titled Learner as Teacher. Once students have completed the three lower level quests, they move on to the more advanced activity--to develop a teaching strategy that includes elements of what they learned in the quests.

This example clearly shows a difference in focus between metaliteracy and information literacy. Teaching is information-based in many cases, and involves participation. But it does not necessarily have to do with academic research, and therefore isn’t encompassed within the scope of information literacy.

Comparative Example

Let’s consider how the differences between metaliteracy and information literacy might unfold in one commonly taught lesson, information evaluation. The following table elucidates how the differences might play out.

An obvious difference between these two hypothetical classes is the likelihood that the information literacy class would quickly focus on practices in the academic discipline involved. The knowledge practice concerned with monitoring the value that others place on a type of source is an indication of this. Metaliteracy learning objectives would inform a more extensive discussion about information creation. In addition, sources students use frequently but don’t report to their instructors would be acknowledged and examined. The database searching component of the information literacy-focused class can certainly help learners, but from the metaliteracy viewpoint, some of the time is more productively used to extend learning through all four domains rather than focussing on the behavioral and cognitive domains used in mechanical processes such as these.

Let’s look more closely at the components of metaliteracy that emanate from the goals and learning objectives, including learner characteristics, roles, and learning domains. They will help to inform the comparative exercise we just went through.

Learner Characteristics and Roles

Figure 1 suggests eight characteristics of a metaliterate learner. These characteristics emanate from the goals and learning objectives, and can be put into practice in the learner roles shown in Figure 2. Additional exploration of the roles can be found via the links here. These questions are designed to spark appreciation for what one can do, as well as what one has already accomplished, and to generate reflection on the role. They were created in response to a request by a university professor who thought her students would benefit from a way to engage more deeply and personally with the roles.

Open Metaliteracy Learning Tools

Members of the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative, a group of librarians, disciplinary faculty, and instructional designers, have developed a number of open learning tools that may be used by instructors and learners who wish to engage with metaliteracy. Several are described here briefly, and links are provided to access the resources to learn more about them.

Metaliterate Learner Badging System

This multi-tiered resource includes activities, based on the metaliteracy goals and learning objectives, that culminate in four badges: Master Evaluator, Producer and Collaborator, Digital Citizen, and Empowered Learner. Learners are able to demonstrate understanding through the written assignments that accompany each activity that is submitted to instructors for review. While the badge-issuing component of the platform is currently under development, the content of all activities and assignments are freely available to any interested instructor or learner. For more information, please contact Kelsey O’Brien (klobrien@albany.edu).

Metaliteracy: Empowering Yourself in a Connected World MOOC

This massive open online course (MOOC) is available on the Coursera platform, with frequent course start dates. As per the description,

This course features videos, readings, discussions, and learning activities that promote metaliteracy competencies. Participants will become active and collaborative digital citizens who locate and evaluate information in 21st-century social environments, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), while making contributions to these spaces as self-reflective and empowered metaliterate learners.

There is no charge for the course unless one would like to earn a Coursera certificate of completion.

Empowering Yourself in a Post-Truth World MOOC

First offered in the spring of 2019, this self-paced MOOC is offered on the Coursera platform. This section of the course description gives a good sense of the course content:

The post-truth world is a divided and partisan environment in which factual information has been displaced by subjective and biased viewpoints. Facts and expertise no longer matter when isolated communities deny truth and scientific reasoning in favor of whatever information suits their needs or aligns with their beliefs. Social media and emerging technologies have the power to connect global participants in a meaningful way; yet, they have also led to disconnected communities that fail to communicate past their own self-imposed boundaries. In this course, you will gain insights to recognize your own biases and identify preconceptions in today’s dynamic social information environment. Through metaliteracy, you will practice self-reflective, metacognitive processes and reexamine fixed mindsets. Together, we will consider the importance of facts and expertise in reinventing a truthful world based on inclusive communities of trust. This course will empower you to be a reflective consumer and a creative, responsible producer of information, and to raise and share your voice in this post-truth milieu.

Metaliteracy iSucceed Module

This learning resource is offered via SUNY OER Services' iSucceed College Success course, which was adapted from a Lumen Learning resource. The Metaliteracy module consists of five units that introduce students, particularly those in their first year, to components of metaliteracy. The units, which include activities and self-check questions, are:

• What Does it Mean to Be a Metaliterate Learner?
• Metaliteracy and Your Role as a Researcher
• Your Role as an Information Producer and Collaborator
• Your Life as a Metaliterate Digital Citizen
• Being a Lifelong Metaliterate Learner

The web-based content of the resource is freely available. The interactive (Waymaker) and online textbook (Candela) versions are available at no charge to SUNY students.

Metaliteracy Learner Roles Prompts

Mentioned above, these questions prompt students to think about each metaliterate learner role more deeply, and are designed so that students will make connections between what they know and do and the roles.

Incorporating Metaliteracy Into Your Course

The range of resources described in this module allows for a great deal of flexibility in how they might be implemented. Instructors in a range of disciplines have used the badges, and the Learner Roles Prompts were developed at the behest of a political science professor who felt that her students needed more guidance in how the theory of metaliteracy can be a part of their lives. The MOOCs are designed for individual use, but it is also possible to build their use into a course. This blog post provides more information about designing a wrap-around course for the Post-Truth World MOOC.

The digital badge content is a rich resource that might be used in a number of different ways. Individual activities or clusters of activities might be used as core reading in the course. Students might earn a digital badge, if assigned an entire set of activities. A more programmatic use of the badging content would be to distribute large parts of it across a particular curriculum, whether general education or in the major.

Metaliteracy relies upon a particular mindset. After reviewing the goals and learning objectives and the learning domains, you may want to develop your own method of incorporating metaliteracy into your courses and method of learning. Metaliteracy applies across all disciplines and areas of learning. Its application can take infinite forms. Here are several:

Incorporating Metaliteracy Into Courses

Metaliteracy is easily adaptable for integration in any discipline and almost all courses. Some instructors weave metaliteracy throughout the entire course, while others bring in learning opportunities during specific modules. Ideally, metaliteracy will be one of the themes that is threaded, as appropriate, through the entire course. Students who come to appreciate the applicability of metaliteracy in all learning situations are most likely to engage with and value the goals of metaliteracy.

Immersive Approach

The immersive approach incorporates learning about and then finding applications using metaliteracy throughout a course. This approach can help to shape the course, or can be more subtle in its integration.

Example 1

One professor decided that her students ought to be fully engaged in metaliteracy’s roles, and so did not simply want them to complete the assigned quests and challenges. She asked them to each select a topic that would work well in for a coming week’s theme of “generation gap.” They were to create their own badge quest content, and to teach the rest of the class what they learned through presenting their quest. In this course, the metaliteracy-related components were worth 20% of the course grade, and were integrated throughout the entire course, as all students needed to complete eight out of ten quests selected by the instructor. .

Example 2

One course assigned metaliteracy readings and badge quests throughout the course, in conjunction with other discipline-specific material. The instructor selected the metaliteracy objectives to address in conjunction with a course-long activity designed to engage with the metaliterate roles of researcher and author: editing content in Wikipedia. The theory of metaliteracy was dramatically given life by the content and scope of its practical elements. This pairing allowed for a rich understanding of metaliteracy.

Course Unit Approach

Courses that adopt this model focus on metaliteracy through selected readings and activities that form a course unit. The rich set of metaliteracy learning tools allow for use of the flipped classroom model for becoming familiar with appropriate aspects of metaliteracy, with in-class or online discussion time saved for further exploration of metaliteracy and its practice in the setting of the discipline.

Example

An instructor might introduce the metaliteracy model through a reading such as the one available here. A course discussion might ensue, followed by students working through one or two challenges (each with its component quests) from the metaliteracy digital badging system that align with course goals. The activity questions at the end of each activity could be altered to connect metaliterate learning with course content.

Approach to Avoid

Approaching a discipline through the lens of metaliteracy requires exploration, practice, and follow-up. It is not recommended that it be approached solely as the topic of a librarian’s one-time presentation to students without additional learning opportunities.

Additional Course Integration Examples

Two edited volumes, Metaliteracy in Practice (Jacobson & Mackey, 2016) and Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World (Mackey & Jacobson, 2019), are filled with chapters about how faculty members have integrated metaliteracy into their courses in a variety of fields, including literature, theatre, communications, and more. The chapters may spark ideas for your teaching.

Credit Activity

Consider one course that you teach (or would like to teach). Respond to the following questions in a substantive manner. Submit your responses for review in order to work towards a badge for the additional(bonus) modules in this course. A rubric is available for this activity.

• What elements from metaliteracy align with your course learning objectives?
• How might you incorporate them in the course?
• What existing metaliteracy learning resources would be useful?
• What additional resources might you need to develop? (Would you be willing to make such resources available to others through Creative Commons licensing?)
• If you plan to use material from the badging system, would it be appropriate to tailor the activities at the end of the quests or challenges?
• How would you assess student learning about metaliteracy?

References

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2015). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Association of College & Research Libraries. (2000). Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. Chicago: Association of College & Research Libraries.

Jacobson, Trudi E. and Thomas P. Mackey. (2016). Metaliteracy in Practice. Chicago: Neal-Schumann/ALA Editions.

Mackey, Thomas P. and Trudi E. Jacobson. (2014). Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners. Neal-Schumann/ALA Editions.

Mackey, Thomas P. and Trudi E. Jacobson. (2019). Metalierate Learning for the Post-truth World. Chicago: Neal-Schumann/ALA Editions.