Metaliteracy in a connected world

CHICAGO — In their new book “Metaliteracy in a Connected World: Developing Learners as Producers,” published by ALA Neal-Schuman, Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson continue their best-selling series with a careful examination of this foundational idea for the metaliteracy framework, one that’s more important than ever in our current media and information environment. They emphasize the active role today’s learners play as individual and collaborative metaliterate producers of information and also explore a range of connected social settings. Featuring a Foreword by Jako Olivier, UNESCO Chair on Multimodal Learning, and OER Professor in Multimodal Learning, North-West University, South Africa, this book:

• offers an overview of the development of the metaliterate producer through metaliteracy’s goals, learning objectives, learning domains, active learner roles, and associated characteristics;
• examines the ethical responsibilities of creating information and building connected communities of trust;
• explores the ways in which metaliteracy provides scaffolding for open pedagogical settings, encouraging students to understand and embrace their active roles;
• analyzes the conjunctions of metaliteracy and open pedagogy in courses with disparate permutations pertinent to the courses’ learning objectives;
• shows how to embed metaliteracy learning activities in blended and online learning environments, illustrated through descriptive examples from several courses; and
• provides customizable learning activities designed to advance dispositions important to metaliterate producers, such as an open mindset, critical thinking, and embracing digital citizenship.

Examination copies are available for instructors who are interested in adopting this title for course use. An e-book edition of the text will be available shortly.

Mackey and Jacobson’s previous collaborations include “Metaliterate Learning for the Post-Truth World,” “Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners,” and “Metaliteracy in Practice.” Together they lead the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative on the development of metaliteracy-related research, writing, teaching, grant projects, and the design of innovative learning spaces using competency-based digital badging and massive open online courses (MOOCs). Mackey, Ph.D., is Professor of Arts and Media in the School of Arts and Humanities at State University of New York (SUNY) Empire State College. His website is Jacobson, MLS, MA, Distinguished Librarian, was the Head of the Information Literacy Department at the University at Albany for many years, retiring in 2022. Her website is  2021, they were both appointed Extraordinary Professor in the Self-Directed Learning Research Unit of the Faculty of Education, North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. 

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