Creative Approaches to Information Literacy for Creative Arts Students

Abstract

This paper discusses the information literacy requirements of art and design students, and how traditional approaches to information literacy education are not always appropriate for these particular students. The paper argues that different, creative, and innovative approaches to information literacy training need to be developed with the specific learning styles of this group of students in mind and that using a radical information literacy approach, incorporating the specific nature of the art and design information landscape, enables this. Using the University of the Arts London (UAL) as a specific art and design higher education institution, the paper shares three separate case studies which demonstrate such approaches including the incorporation of drawing, object-based learning, and enquiry-based learning into information literacy.

Keywords

• art students; design students; drawing; visual literacy; object based learning; art and design; arts education