INFO 2530 Workforce Ready Introduction to Metaliteracy Skills: Welcome

• It's really cool to be information literate!
• Learn how to learn: (life-long learning)
• Help making educated decisions.
• Develop new skills via research and critical thinking.
• Indulge in curiosity and discovery.
• Explore new ideas.
• Develop transferable skills.
• Sort credible information from disinformation.
• Become better informed.
• Discover your learning style.
• Use information correctly.

This course explores metaliteracy research skills valuable for workforce readiness. This includes information literacy, digital literacy, data literacy, critical thinking, and the ethical and legal use of information. It requires students to choose research topics that align their studies with political, historical, social, technological or economic forces that are shaping human behaviors and experiences in the 21st century.

The 21st century workforce demands metaliteracy skills commensurate with the advancements of technology. To successfully compete internationally, workers require metaliteracy skills enabling them to perform tasks that even Artificial Intelligence (AI) cannot yet execute, namely to use their intuition to arrive at timely decisions made in collaboration with others. Metaliteracy is a framework that empowers learners to be a reflective, informed, and collaborative producers and consumers of information in today's complex digital environment. Metaliteracy emphasizes critical thinking, collaboration, and the ability to produce and share knowledge

Metaliteracy utilizes a holistic approach to learning. It considers:

1. The learner as a complete individual.
2. Our learning processes and mechanisms.
3. Our comprehension and knowledge acquisition.
4. The ongoing transformations we undergo through various learning experiences.
5. How we apply our acquired knowledge in practical situations. The real-world. 
6. Our capacity for self-reflection on the learning journey as an ongoing, iterative process

The course takes students through a 6-step (CASTLE) approach to work towards a final project. 

1. Collecting Information
2. Analyzing Information
3. Synthesizing Information
4. Tunneling Data
5. Linking Layers
6. End Product

Engage your Critical Thinking Skills by:

• Stating clearly and describing comprehensively an issue/problem, and delivering all necessary relevant information.
• Thoroughly analyzing one's own and others' assumptions and carefully evaluating the relevance of contexts when presenting a position.
• Presenting conclusions and related outcomes that are logical, reflect your informed evaluation, and further, placing evidence and perspectives discussed in priority order.

Sharpen your Inquiry and Analysis skills by:

• Synthesizing in-depth information from relevant sources representing various points of view.
• Organizing and synthesizing evidence to reveal insightful patterns, differences, or similarities related to focus.
• Stating a conclusion that is a logical extrapolation from the inquiry findings.

  Practice your Integrative Learning by:

• Meaningfully synthesizing connections among experiences outside of the formal classroom to deepen understanding of fields of study and broaden your own points of view.
• Independently synthesizing or drawing conclusions by combining examples, facts, or theories from more than one field of study or perspective.
• Expressing a vision of a future self that builds on past experiences that have occurred across multiple and diverse contexts.