The Information Universe

Mastering Information Literacy Skills

What you'll learn

Understand the nature of the contemporary information environment.

Acquire the ability to recognize an information need and to determine the extent of information required.

Acquire the skills to pose an effective research question or thesis statement and from it to develop a paper outline and research strategy.

Acquire the skills to locate and retrieve reliable scholarly information to meet an information need, and to do so effectively and efficiently.

Learn how to synthesize different sources of information.

Acquire the skills to evaluate information and its sources critically.

Understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, and access and use information ethically and legally.

Requirements

If you have used information of any kind, whether in business or leisure, but want to improve your understanding of how it functions, you are well equipped to take this course.

Description

Everyone relies on information to function effectively everyday, yet the nature, use and vital role of information in society is not fully understood. This course will equip you to understand and utilize information, as it is available in a variety of information sources. You will discover how central information is in our lives, how it varies in type and category, how it is pivotal for the functioning of our economy and society, and the challenges of defining information. Both practical and theoretical in scope, the course uses a mixture of approaches to give you the skills and critical thinking abilities needed to use print and electronic information resources effectively. It introduces a set of standards which, if followed, will equip you to know your information needs, access information efficiently, search and retrieve relevant information effectively, and evaluate and compare results. Special attention is given to ethical and legal uses of information. Once successfully completed this course will enable you to think critically about research strategies and to locate and critically evaluate information, and to apply these skills in other courses and later in your professional and personal life. The course will equip you to be information literate in the twenty-first century.

Overview

Section 1: The Information Environment 1: Use and Cultural Context

Lecture 1 Everyday Uses of Information

Lecture 2 The Information Society

Lecture 3 The Cultural Background

Section 2: The Information Environment 2: Evolution and Organization

Lecture 4 Proliferation of Information: How did we get here?

Lecture 5 Information Today: Different Kinds

Lecture 6 Information Today: Uses and Abuses of Google

Lecture 7 Information Today: How We Organize It

Section 3: Becoming Information Literate

Lecture 8 Solution to Information Overload: Information Literacy Standards

Lecture 9 Information Literacy and Information Technology

Lecture 10 Rationale for Standards

Lecture 11 Six Standards for Information Literacy

Section 4: Step 1: Knowing Your Information Needs

Lecture 12 What is the Standard?

Lecture 13 Doing Good Research

Lecture 14 Topic as Question and Narrowing Topic

Section 5: Step 2: Accessing Information

Lecture 15 What is the Standard?

Lecture 16 Types of Information 1

Lecture 17 Types of Information 2

Section 6: Step 3: Searching and Retrieving Information

Lecture 18 What is the Standard?

Lecture 19 Skills for Information Searching

Lecture 20 Types of Searches

Section 7: Step 4: Evaluating Information

Lecture 21 What is the Standard?

Lecture 22 Evaluation Criteria

Lecture 23 Evaluating Information Sources

Lecture 24 Evaluating Websites

Section 8: Step 5: Comparing Information

Lecture 25 What is the Standard?

Lecture 26 Popular vs. Scholarly

Section 9: Step 6: Using Information Effectively

Lecture 27 What is the Standard?

Lecture 28 Citing Sources

Section 10: Step 7: Ethical and Legal Use of Information

Lecture 29 What is the Standard?

Lecture 30 Privacy and Security/Censorship and Freedom of Speech

Lecture 31 Copyright

Lecture 32 Fair Use

Section 11: Being Information Literate in the 21st Century: Skills for Success

Lecture 33 Information Literacy: Definitional Grounding

Lecture 34 Information Literacy: Skills for Success

This course is designed to help you understand and utilize information, as it is available in a variety of information sources. Both practical and theoretical in scope, it aims to give you the skills and critical thinking abilities needed to effectively use print and electronic information resources. Once successfully completed this course will enable you to think critically about research strategies and to locate and critically evaluate information, and to apply these skills in your professional, recreational and personal life.