Media and Information Literacy Repository – South Asia

Acquisition of information literacy (IL) skills is useful for creators and users of information. Learning IL skills can benefit individuals who are the least empowered to engage with sophisticated systems to access information. This study investigates key IL frameworks and models, for reference to the skills needed to save and re-find analogue information, and to recommend the best approach for communities who have limited access to information and would benefit from saving information that they may need again. A critique of existing IL frameworks and models from the perspective of accessibility and the sustainability of information content for marginalised communities is reported. This study spans the period 1975-2023, investigating IL frameworks and models approaches to the management and preservation of non-digital, or user-created, written documents. Existing IL frameworks and models were found to be inadequate as they did not include any processes for analogue documents. This finding has wide-ranging implications for future IL frameworks, for if they include strategies for analogue information, or develop separate IL frameworks for such contexts, it has the potential to help various underserved communities across the world. The findings could enhance IL teaching, practice and application in society beyond the education sector.

A pilot investigation examined the views of 105 first-year students on an Information Literacy (IL) training program at the University of Namibia (UNAM), with 69 participants providing feedback. This research employed a case study methodology to evaluate the viability of incorporating IL into the curriculum through a joint initiative between the university library and the Language Centre Department at UNAM’s Windhoek Campus. The study centered on English for General Communication courses, analyzing students’ experiences, obstacles, and suggestions. The results indicated that a session on past exam papers was deemed the most valuable by 50 respondents. Furthermore, 10 students found the Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) session beneficial, whilst nine preferred the e-resources component. However, mature students displayed notable unease when using the OPAC, exhibiting hesitation and frustration during practical book searches. Although past exam papers emerged as the most helpful resource, students indicated needing additional clarification to navigate e-resources and OPAC. These findings inform a crucial institutional decision: the endorsement and integration of an IL course into the Academic Literacy module for all first-year students commencing in 2023. A subsequent assessment is scheduled for 2025 to evaluate students’ perspectives and academic progress, ensuring the ongoing enhancement of IL instruction.

The emergence of artificial intelligence has necessitated a transformation in pedagogical methodologies. This study evaluated the integration of gamified project-based learning (GPBL) and artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC) tools in enhancing information literacy education. The primary objectives were to explore the relationship among students’ learning experiences, information literacy, creativity, and engagement in an integrated learning environment. Using an explanatory sequential design with surveys and interviews, first-year university students (n = 36) from the School of Art and Design participated. Results indicated that students perceived moderately high levels of engagement(3.72) and creativity(4.11) during the GPBL activities, with positive emotions contributing significantly to motivation. Moreover, information literacy skills have substantially improved, such as in information retrieval, using AIGC tools, and understanding the ethical aspects of AI technology. A process model illustrated how positive emotions, motivation, creativity, engagement, and information literacy were linked in a GPBL-incorporating AI setting.

Islamic education in Indonesia confronts challenges including social inequalities and critical thinking deficiencies among graduates. Traditional teacher-centered pedagogical approaches emphasizing memorization may limit students’ capacity for critical inquiry and social transformation. This study investigates the integration of critical pedagogy within Islamic educational contexts while maintaining spiritual and cultural authenticity. Using grounded theory methodology, this research examined five Islamic educational institutions involving 67 participants. Data collection included observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, Seven major themes emerged: navigating epistemological tensions, transformation of authority relationships, cultural adaptation, student agency within Islamic values, technology integration, assessment transformation, and institutional variations. The study revealed that perceived conflicts between critical pedagogy and Islamic education often result from categorical misunderstandings rather than fundamental incompatibilities. A key innovation was developing ‘double hermeneutics’ - distinguishing between divine revelation and human interpretation - enabling critical engagement while maintaining religious reverence. The Critical-Integrative Pedagogy Model emerged, incorporating epistemological integration, pedagogical transformation, cultural contextualization, and social transformation components. Pilot implementations demonstrated significant improvements in critical thinking measures (p < 0.05), with 94% participant support and 89% increased student engagement while maintaining Islamic knowledge retention. This research demonstrates that critical pedagogy can successfully strengthen rather than compromise Islamic identity in educational contexts.

Work on students’ information literacy and research trajectories is usually based on studies of Western, English-speaking students. South Korea presents an opportunity to investigate an environment where Internet penetration is very high, but local Internet users operate in a different digital ecosystem than in the West, with services such as Google and Wikipedia being less popular. The current study is aimed at expanding a small body of research about Korean students’ behaviour regarding how they perceive and use various online research platforms, and in doing so exploring how they differ from non-Korean students, more commonly studied in similar literature. First, we explore what sources students use for study- or work-related assignments as well as personal needs and interests. Second, we look at how they evaluate and use those sources. We find that Korean students use Wikipedia but less so than their peers from other countries, despite their recognition that Wikipedia is more reliable and comprehensive than the alternatives. Their preferences are instead affected by their perception of Wikipedia as providing an inferior user experience and less local content than competing, commercial services, which also benefit from better search engine result placement in Naver, the search engine dominating the Korean market.

The ability of citizens to establish the credibility of information and information sources through critical assessment is often emphasized as essential for the upholding of a democratic society and for people’s health and safety. Drawing on material-discursive conceptualizations, the article asks, how does critical assessment of information and information sources play out as it is folded into a networked information infrastructure in which different types of information are mediated and shaped by the same algorithms and flattened into the same interfaces? The empirical material comprises dyadic interviews with 61 adolescents. The interviews were analysed using an interpretative approach focusing on the construction of action and meaning. The analysis foregrounds trust and agency as two dimensions. This way normative assumptions become visible as stereotypes, sometimes positioned as ideals towards which to strive, other times as deterrent examples: the non-evaluator, the naïve evaluator, the skeptical evaluator and the confident evaluator. The created stereotypes help to comprehend different understandings of critical assessment of information and how these can bring about different actions. The article argues that critical assessment of information as an element in media and information literacy must be understood not just in relation to how it is used to assess the credibility of information, but also regarding how it is performatively enrolled in the shaping of knowledge and in the creation of ignorance and doubt.

With the rapid development of intelligent construction technologies, an increasing number of studies have focused on the application of information technology in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. However, studies on Information Literacy Skills (ILS) for engineering management (EM) postgraduates remain limited. The demand for ILS for EM postgraduates among employees in the real estate industry was investigated through a questionnaire survey. A questionnaire with 19 ILS indicators was distributed to employees from over 300 enterprises in the real estate and construction sectors, yielding 491 valid responses. The questionnaire’s Cronbach’s coefficient α of 0.963 indicates high reliability. No significant dual-factor loading was observed, which supported the scale’s high validity. Survey results revealed that 90% of respondents believed EM postgraduates should achieve “Comprehension” level or above across all ILS indicators. More than 40% of respondents emphasized the importance of engineering information system planning and design, Internet of Things, and Artificial Intelligence-related ILS. Therefore, it is recommended that ILS be integrated into the curriculum or practical training of EM postgraduates. This study offers significant insights and serves as a critical reference for enhancing the information literacy competencies of EM postgraduates, who are encouraged to strengthen these essential skills.

This original research is directed towards the information literacy of international master’s students, focusing on the evaluation of their information-seeking behaviour during competitive and business intelligence processes, together with the subsequent verification methods they use once the desired information is found. During this research, 207 students received a test with questions related to business information literacy, with either one or more options or free-text answers. The results showed a significant lack of information literacy in the use of information sources, including knowledge about their existence and consequent search habits, but they did at least also show a fundamental awareness of verification methods. The students also demonstrated awareness of the significance of data visualisation needs when reporting the contexts found in business intelligence process data.

Applying a skills-based approach to media and information literacy (MIL), this study explores the MIL competencies of teachers in multi-ethnic schools in Yunnan Province, China. A focus group approach was used. Results showed: (1) teachers have limited access to media and information technologies; (2) teachers do not show much of an understanding of the principles and theories of media and information technology; (3) teachers lack basic knowledge and technology proficiency to evaluate and critically analyze media; (4) content creation is limited. MIL competencies are limited by a variety of cultural, structural, organizational, and technological constraints. It has suggested the government to be aware of the importance of MIL education and equip teachers and students with MIL competencies to enable them to co-construct independent life-long learning skills.

This paper explores the teachers’ collective constructions of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) and examines several gaps and ways forward in implementing the curriculum. Consistent with the participatory and self-reflexive framework of Socially Shared Inquiry, the researcher conducted focus group workshops with seven MIL teachers from select public senior high schools in the Philippines. The findings provide insights into the teachers’ media experiences that correspond to their view of essential components and competencies of MIL. Institutional issues and challenges were elicited and analyzed, enabling the teachers to propose several solutions to these salient issues. These recommendations offer practical implications for the enhancement of MIL education, including the curricular reform that lends itself more to learning about media, and a needs-based professional development of MIL teachers. It is hoped that the findings would resonate with MIL researchers and practitioners in terms of examining how MIL is operationalized in various contexts.

This article uses critical media literacy to approach themes of sexism and gender inequality depicted in the 2023 film Barbie. Teachers cognizant of the need to address women’s rights issues in American history often struggle to find resources that are accessible and meaningful for their students. Furthermore, the use of film in social studies instruction can be an engaging and culturally relevant way for students to grapple with contentious issues in social studies education. Additionally, by using human rights concepts to frame inequality and inspire advocacy, teachers can address dimensions of oppression and inequality with a more ‘neutral’ or objective framing. Given the current political climate that instills fear in educators who teach about issues of gender, strategic approaches can empower social studies teachers to engage students in examinations of this contentious topic in American schools. Lastly, this article introduces perspectives of Black feminists and international activists to provide intersectional analyses of women’s rights issues to curb the common emphasis on White feminism. The lesson plan offered in this article includes a film viewing guide, enrichment opportunities, and an activity that connects themes in Barbie with women’s rights movements.

Studies on information and media literacy focus on describing activities and frameworks individually, and most of the time, connect within the field of library science. However, other frameworks and practices can be used. This case study presents the application of Behrman’s Critical Literacy Practices to information and media literacy to engage students to think critically about information within their field of study. The purpose of this research is to model the information behavior of education students through the perspective of constructivist learning. The study used a qualitative method with six upper-level undergraduate education majors. Activities that comprise practices and theories in both education and library sciences are presented to form a continuous exposure to critical thinking. Factors that influenced how students perceived the validity of information came from personal, educational, and societal factors. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion about critical thinking skills in undergraduate students, presenting a model that describes how practices from other fields can be used and incorporated with information and media literacy.

A teacher educator and college librarian collaboratively designed and taught teacher education workshops about finding and evaluating what works in teaching. This study investigated interactions of self-efficacy for information literacy, self-efficacy for solving problems with evidence-based practices, skills of searching for and citing sources, verbalized reasoning, and writing about evidence-based teaching practices. Students completed pre- and postsurveys, recorded screencasts while researching, and submitted papers regarding the effectiveness of one teaching practice. Students made significant self-efficacy gains in response to training. Furthermore, results demonstrated that early experience with information literacy and the self-efficacy that develops is a strong predictor of self-efficacy and performance later in the discipline-specific task to find, evaluate, and write about evidence-based teaching practices.

Amid growing concerns over digital misinformation and the evolving role of education in fostering media resilience, this study explores the effects of an online training program designed to enhance 159 Vietnamese K–12 teachers’ competencies in Media and Information Literacy. The program consisted of interactive modules covering MIL concepts, fact-checking strategies, digital ethics, and classroom integration techniques, delivered over six weeks. Participants engaged in collaborative tasks, practice-based reflection, and peer feedback. Results indicate significant gains in MIL knowledge, teaching self-efficacy, and classroom implementation among trained teachers, with the strongest improvements observed in their confidence to address misinformation and facilitate critical digital engagement. Effectiveness was amplified by sustained participation, prior digital experience, and urban school contexts. By equipping teachers with both conceptual and practical MIL tools, the program positioned them as informed digital mentors, capable of cultivating students’ critical media use. The findings underscore the importance of structured, context-sensitive training in fostering resilient digital citizenship in rapidly evolving educational landscapes.

This paper examines how the ‘empowerment spiral’ of early US media literacy – rooted in Freirean critical pedagogy and South American liberation theology – was rebranded as the ‘Pastoral Circle’ for Catholic educators in the early 1990s. Through discourse analysis of the Catholic Connections to Media Literacy (1992) curriculum kit, the article explores how theological and pedagogical concepts were selectively rearticulated to align with Catholic institutional authority. While preserving critical pedagogical practices such as dialogical reflection, the rebranding simultaneously served hegemonic purposes by subordinating media literacy to papal doctrine and avoiding references to radical social movements. Findings recover the direct roles of Catholic liberation theology and its Catholic labour movement antecedents in the history of critical media literacy. Discussion re-centers discourses of the Global South in the history of critical pedagogy in North America and globally, suggesting further research to explore how political, institutional, and cultural forces silenced and obscured the prominent roles of South American liberation theology in critical media literacy specifically, and critical pedagogy broadly. This historical analysis offers insight on contemporary issues in critical media literacy and critical pedagogy amidst current political actions to limit the study of diversity, equity, inclusion and so-called ‘controversial topics’ in schools and universities.

This article investigates information literacy among students in higher learning institutions in Ghana using Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as a case study. Specifically, it sought to find out students’ information sources, the mechanisms instituted by the institution to promote information literacy, assess students’ information literacy skills, and find out the challenges impeding students’ access to information. Adopting the survey research design, 391 final-year undergraduate students and 3 librarians were conveniently sampled for the study. Results show that KNUST has put in place mechanisms to support information literacy and this includes a network of libraries, varied library tools and resources, and information literacy training and orientation programs. Students demonstrated competence in recognizing their information needs, evaluating information sources critically, and effectively utilizing gathered information for academic purposes. However, the findings underscore the need for targeted efforts to enhance skills in locating and accessing information sources, as well as in understanding ethical and legal considerations associated with information use. The study concludes that the institution’s efforts to promote information literacy can be bolstered by addressing key challenges faced by students in seeking information which reflect a complex interplay of technological, resource-related, and skill-related factors.

This study aims to investigate the information literacy (IL) skills of high school students and the practices used by educators to instill those IL competencies. Three foreign private high schools following an American-style curriculum covering grades 9 − 12 in the State of Kuwait participated in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected using a mixed-methods approach based on the Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning and the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action. Students rated their IL abilities using a questionnaire survey, while four of their teachers were interviewed. The results showed schools are following IL standards, and students’ ratings confirm learning has occurred. Few studies have examined the information literacy competencies of high school students across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and based on the review of the literature, no study has investigated information literacy education of foreign private high schools in the State of Kuwait. The study provides insights into the current environment that could help in designing and managing IL programs as well as inspiring further research.

Information literacy (IL) has been studied extensively, but little has been written about IL applied to the study of theater. This study addresses that lacuna by evaluating the success of a librarian-faculty collaboration to integrate IL throughout a year-long course of study. Using a pre- and post-test methodology, researchers assessed students’ knowledge on a range of IL concepts. The results were used to modify the IL curriculum to place greater emphasis on IL concepts that students struggled with, and to de-emphasize IL concepts for which students demonstrated adequate incoming knowledge. This paper will provide recommendations for librarians and other instructors seeking to integrate IL concepts into a theater (or other performing arts) curriculum.

The problems of media education and media literacy, which have been in the focus of attention of different sciences for a long time, are closely related to free media access possibilities and ability to produce own media texts, on the one hand, and the ability to critically interpret information, on the other hand, and, most importantly, they are related to the issues of trust in the media and in the content generated by it as a whole. At the same time, it should be noted that the trust phenomenon itself is one of the most complicated phenomena in public relations studies. Paradoxically, however, even though the level of trust in mass media as a social institution continues to remain an important indicator of societal well-being, the ability to take a critical view of any media message, characterize a certain maturity of the social environment, a certain level of media literacy and critical mindset of citizens. That is exactly why it deemed important for us to emphasize the issues of trust in information sources in the course of a survey of Russian students’ media literacy level which took a few years, the results of which are presented in this article.

Engaging with digital media is part of everyday living for the majority of children, yet opportunities to learn about, through and with media are denied many pupils in compulsory schooling. Whilst Media Studies in the UK is internationally reputed to be well established, changes made to the primary and secondary national curriculum in 2014 included removal of existing media study elements. We demonstrate what is lost by these actions in relation to the United Nations Rights of the Child and, in particular, the right of the child to express identity. We demonstrate how media literacy had previously been included in curriculum, enabling opportunities to address children’s rights, and propose that the absence of media education is part of an overall trend of the non-prioritisation of children’s rights in England and Northern Ireland. The paper calls for media literacy to be reintroduced into primary and secondary curriculum.

The study investigates the effect of gender-integrated media literacy and media literacy training in terms of pre-service teachers’ noticing and analysing gendered messages in the media, and developing attitudes and consciousness towards these messages. The experimental design was used to examine whether the training sessions resulted in a change in the traits that were used to measure in pre-service teachers. The research data were collected through the Gender Equality-Conscious Media Literacy Scale, and the pre-test-post-test scores were analysed. Furthermore, the perspectives of pre-service teachers who participated in the training sessions were investigated using content analysis after the training sessions. Gender-integrated media literacy training was found to be a highly effective method of noticing and analysing gendered elements in the media.

In recent years, scholar-activists have used hashtag syllabus movements to organize and share curricular resources related to pressing social and cultural issues in a widely accessible format. These collaboratively designed readings lists have provided many classroom-based educators with diverse and far-reaching texts with which to engage students on issues of social injustice and structural inequality. In this paper, we argue that having students develop hashtag syllabi in the context of interdisciplinary social science courses not only provides access to a breadth and depth of content knowledge and a range of perspectives on these topics but creates the conditions in which students can develop and strengthen critical information literacy skills. Using example assignments from introductory and upper-level undergraduate courses, we demonstrate the potential of these assignments to promote deep learning, challenge hegemonic knowledge production, address the personal and affective components of research, and connect our students’ work in the classroom to problems that exist outside of it.

Often coined as digital natives, contemporary teens are ascribed a paradoxical status of skilled but vulnerable media users. Therefore, media literacy initiatives often target young audiences in order to mitigate detrimental media effects as well as to facilitate emancipatory media engagements. The literature on media literacy draws from diverse disciplines (e.g. educational sciences, media studies) and examines a wide range of thematic areas (e.g. privacy, news, citizenship). However, the voices of those who are the target population of media literacy policy and research are seldom heard. We identify the absence of teenagers’ perceptions and experiences as a limitation in contemporary debates on media literacy. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on how teenagers give meaning to media literacy, how they perceive the contemporary discourse on the importance of media literacy for teens, and in which way they encounter concrete media literacy initiatives at school. Based on in-depth interviews with 31 high-school students between 16 and 18 year old, we found how teenagers primarily have a risk discourse in mind when talking about media literacy. Contextualizing these perceptions, it became clear that both the public discourse and media literacy initiatives largely draw from protectionist approaches.

The context of Europe and the ASEAN countries highlights a parallel growth of the concept of information literacy and the diversity of policies to solve information literacy issues. The comparative study aims to understand the influence of policies for the teaching of information literacy in universities in Italy and Thailand and was based on a theoretical framework built by international literature. The data was collected from the analysis of literature and web documentation in Italy and Thailand. The comparative analysis shows that the concept of information literacy has had a similar growth but the influence of policies for teaching information literacy in higher education is different in Italy and Thailand and still in continuous development. The results show that one element of success is the integration of information literacy into the higher education curriculum.

This paper presents the Mindfulness Framework for implementing mindfulness into Information Literacy instruction. The Mindfulness Framework is informed by findings from an original survey of the most preferred Information Literacy teaching strategies deployed by nearly 600 academic librarians in the United States and Canada, and grounded in the relevant literature from library and information science and education. Survey responses show that library instructors use a broad variety of teaching strategies, and the authors attempt to demonstrate how these strategies can support the integration of mindfulness into IL instruction. Using mindfulness strategies in other pedagogical contexts has been shown to improve learning and retention. This is the first paper to explore and discuss how librarians can use familiar strategies to integrate mindfulness into information literacy instruction.