Information literacy in higher education: an action plan using soft systems methodology

Abstract

The process of technological, sociocultural, and economic globalization has required universities to adapt to new technologies, as well as changes in the pedagogical projects of undergraduate courses, with the aim of stimulating information literacy, media literacy, independent learning, and social responsibility, aiming to guarantee the dimensions: technical, aesthetics, ethics, and politics in higher education. This research used the method called 'Soft Systems Methodology', as it focuses on problematic situations involving various actors around the standards and categories of information literacy. For each category of information literacy, a problem situation to be explored was defined and an action plan was established. The objective is to develop an information literacy program in higher education that develops skills to access, find, evaluate, appropriate and use information, as well as develops skills to handle new technologies. The specific objectives: 1) include proposals for student independent learning, in addition to curricular subjects; 2) propose actions to encourage the appropriate use of information while preserving memory; 3) present practices to exercise citizenship with participation in decisions and social transformations. The information literacy program in higher education presents a possible action plan with suggestions for desirable changes, which can stimulate independent learning, social responsibility, and media literacy, in the technical, aesthetic, ethical and political dimensions of information literacy in higher education context.