Initial Thoughts about #Metaliteracy

I've started a number of MOOCs, none of which I have completed (I wrote a post after failing to complete the first one on some thoughts about MOOCs and libraries), although all of which I have learned from. Right now I am taking participating in a MOOC about metaliteracy (look here for more information about what metaliteracy is - the tl;dr definition is "Metaliteracy is an overarching and self-referential framework that integrates emerging technologies and unifies multiple literacy types."

So - I'm behind. I've managed to watch the lectures so far and do some of the readings, but I'm behind. I don't want to talk about that. What I do want to slowly start talking about is the gradual change I am seeing in myself, as I very slowly move away from a more traditional information literacy approach to a changed version that is strongly informed by both metaliteracy and the concept of critical information literacy. (I'm actually supposed to be collecting metaliteracy-related resources this week for the class- I'll try to do that next week (late, as usual...) but I really wanted to post this so I'd have it in my head.)

So last April March February, I had a chance to talk about some of this on campus, when I was invited to give a talk at the WSU Writing Center's Multimodal Composition Across the Curriculum series, Composing the New Classroom: The Teaching and Learning Remix Series. My topic was "Exploring the Connection Between Information Literacy and Technology-Assisted Research" On my campus, the English Composition program is embarking in very exciting ways into a multimodal turn, which I'm really excited about. Meta-literacy (and CIL) are natural partners and modes of connected processes.

You can see from the slides that my understanding of metaliteracy and critical information literacy is still at the tyro level (that's why I'm trying to take this MOOC, after all!) and that I'm probably trying to cram too much into the talk - metaliteracy, critical information literacy, multimodality (sketchnoting!), and tech tools - but I see them as connected, and this talk was very helpful for me in mapping out areas of interest for future study and application. I'll try to write more as I progress in the MOOC and my own self-study.

That's it for now - I just wanted to get this up, and try to find more time to explore this topic as the MOOC continues....

"Exploring the Connection Between Information Literacy and Technology-Assisted Research from Lorena O'English

Multimodal Composition Across the Curriculum

Multimodal Composition Across the Curriculum