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The I-LEARN Model

Guide which describes and provides example of a learning model to support student critical thinking and research skills

Introduction to the I-LEARN Model

each phase of the I-LEARN model listed in a circle of arrows

Welcome!

This website has been designed to provide you with an introduction to I-LEARN, developed by Delia Neuman in 2011. I-LEARN is a learning model to support students in the research and critical thinking process. The model provides a framework to help students learn through using information.

This website tab, Introduction, provides information to you as an educator, researcher, school/library media specialist, or librarian interested in using the I-LEARN model, including:

  • Brief overview of theory behind the model
  • Description of the iterative stages of the model
  • Summary of previous use of the model
  • Questions and ideas for future use of the model

The remaining tabs of this guide serve as an example for how the model has been put into practice previously. These tabs correspond to each element of the I-LEARN model, pictured on the right.

Neuman, D. (2011). Learning in information-rich environments: I-LEARN and the construction of knowledge in the 21st century.  New York: Springer.

The book has been updated:

Neuman, D., Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Lee, V.J., Greenwell, S., and Grant, A. (2019). Learning in Information-Rich Environments: I-LEARN and the Construction of Knowledge from Information. New York: Springer.

For questions or comments about this site, contact Stacey Greenwell at the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Theory Behind I-LEARN

After years of collaboration between the fields of instructional design and library and information science, the I-LEARN model is built upon information science and instructional design theory and practice. The model is a learning model which could be applied in a variety of situations focused in nearly any subject.

In addition to its strong theoretical foundation from the fields of instructional design and library and information science, what also sets the I-LEARN model apart is that its core is information, the building block of all learning, and the model is focused primarily on information use.

Constructing Knowledge in the 21st  Century: I-LEARN and Using Information as a Tool for Learning provides a brief overview of the theory behind the model.

Description of I-LEARN

Recursive and flexible, the I-LEARN model can be used in any information setting.  The model includes six elements:

  • Identify an information problem by activating an interest, scanning the environment, and focusing on a question

  • Locate the needed information through searching and extracting the relevant information

  • Evaluating that information through questioning its authority, relevance, and timeliness

  • Applying that information to the question thorough organizing and communicating

  • Reflecting on what is found and revising as needed

  • kNowing through personalizing and internalizing the information (Neuman, 2011)

Summary of Greenwell's Previous Research Using I-LEARN

An initial experimental study (Greenwell, 2013) examined whether information literacy skills instruction designed using the I-LEARN model increased student understanding and application of information literacy concepts as compared to how librarians currently provide information literacy skills instruction. While I-LEARN was developed with K-12 in mind, the initial study of implementing the model was conducted in a required composition course for first year undergraduate students at a mid-sized public university. The experimental group received an instruction session and an online library research guide designed using the I-LEARN model, and the control group received an instruction session and an online library guide designed using a systems model.

Participants in the study who completed a survey found the instruction to be valuable and a good use of class time. Participants reported that they found the library research guide to be useful, and based upon hits to the guide and self reporting of usage, it appears that most participants used the guide for their assignment. While the analysis of the results of pre- and post-test scores and scores on a citation analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups, it appears that those who received the I-LEARN instruction performed at least as well on their assignments. Additionally, students who received the I-LEARN instruction used their research guide more often than students who received the standard instruction.

Greenwell, S. (2016). Using the I-LEARN Model for Information Literacy Instruction. Journal of Information Literacy10(1), 67-85.

Greenwell, S. (2014).  Using the I-LEARN Model to design information literacy Instruction (pp. 400-407). In S. Kurbanoglu, S. Spiranec, E. Grassian, D. Mizrachi, & R. Catts (Eds.). Information Literacy: Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century. New York: Springer.

Greenwell, S. (2013). Using the I-LEARN Model for Information Literacy Instruction: An Experimental Study (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://uknowledge.uky.edu/edc_etds/6

I-LEARN Research Bibliography

Research related to I-LEARN. Publications and presentations are listed by most recent:

  1. Lee, V. J., Tecce DeCarlo, M. J., Grant, A., & Neuman, D. (2021). A Collaborative I-LEARN Project with Kindergarten and Second-Grade Urban Teachers and Students at a University-Assisted School. Urban Education56(1), 123–153.
  2. Meloche, A., Lee, V. J., Grant, A., Neuman, D. & Tecce DeCarlo, M. J. (2020). Critical literacy as a lens for students’ evaluation of sources in an AP World History class. The Social Studies, 111(4), 189-204.
  3. Neuman, D., Grant, A., Lee, V. and Tecce DeCarlo, M.J. (2020) Fostering information competence in a high-poverty urban school: An I-LEARN project. In Mardis, M. & Oberg, D. Social Justice and Cultural Competency. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited. pp.116-126
  4. Neuman, D., Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Lee, V.J., Greenwell, S., and Grant, A. (2019). Learning in Information-Rich Environments: I-LEARN and the Construction of Knowledge from Information. New York: Springer.
  5. Neuman, D., Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Lee, V.J., Greenwell, S., and Grant, A. (2019). The I-LEARN Model: What the Research Says. Presentation at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, Las Vegas, NV.
  6. Lee, V., Meloche, A., Grant, A., Neuman, D., & Tecce DeCarlo, M. J. (2019). “My thoughts on gun violence”: An urban adolescent’s display of agency and multimodal literacies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. (63)2: 157-168.
  7. Lee, V. J., Meloche, A., Grant, A., Neuman, D., & Tecce DeCarlo, M. J. (2019). Critical literacy in world AP history: Teaching adolescents to evaluate source reliability and bias. Roundtable presentation at the Literacy Research Association Annual Conference, Tampa, FL. 
  8. Tecce DeCarlo, M. J., Grant, A., Lee, V. J., & Neuman, D. (2018). Information and Digital Literacies in a Kindergarten Classroom: An I-LEARN Case Study. Early Childhood Education Journal46(3), 265–275.
  9. Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Grant, A., Lee, V., Meloche, A., Neuman, D. (2018). Using I-LEARN to Support Inquiry Learning in K-8 Urban Settings. Paper presented at the International Conference on Urban Education. Nassau, Bahamas.
  10. Lee, V., Grant, A., Neuman, D., & Tecce DeCarlo, M.J. (2017). Using I-LEARN to foster the information and digital literacies of middle school students. Communications in Computer and Information Science (pp. 481-489). New York: Springer.
  11. Neuman, D., Talafian, H., Grant, A., Lee, V.J., and Tecce DeCarlo, M.J. (2017).The Pedagogy of Information Literacy: Using I-LEARN to Teach. Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Literacy, St. Malo, France.
  12. Lee, V & Tecce DeCarlo, M.J (2017). Teaching Young Children How to Be Information and Digitally Literate Using the I-LEARN Model and Little Bird Tales. Paper presented at International Literacy Association Conference, Orlando, FL.
  13. Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Grant, A., Lee, V., & Neuman, D. (2017). Bridging the Information and Digital Literacy Divide: An I-LEARN Project with Urban Middle School Students. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Conference, San Antonio, Texas.
  14. Lee, V. J., Grant, A. G., Neuman, D., & Tecce DeCarlo, M. J. (2016).  A collaborative I-LEARN project with kindergarten and second-grade teachers and students at a university-assisted school. Urban Education.
  15. Neuman, D., Lee, V. J., Tecce DeCarlo, M. J., & Grant, A.  (2016).  Implementing I-LEARN in a high-poverty urban school.  In Hughes-Hassell, S., Bracy, P., & Rawson, C.  Libraries, literacy, and African-American youth:  Research & Practice.  Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
  16. Lee, V. J., Grant, A. G., Neuman, D., & Tecce DeCarlo, M. J.  (2016).  Using I-LEARN to foster the information and digital literacies of middle school students. Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Literacy, Prague, Czech Republic.
  17. Neuman, D.  (2016).  Toward a theory of information literacy: Information studies meets instructional design.   Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Literacy, Prague, Czech Republic.
  18. Greenwell, S. (2016). Using the I-LEARN Model for Information Literacy Instruction. Journal of Information Literacy. 10(1), 67-85.
  19. Neuman, D., Grant, A., Lee, V., & Tecce DeCarlo, M. J.  (2015).  Information literacy in a high-poverty urban school:  An I-LEARN project.  School Libraries Worldwide, 21(1), 38-53. 
  20. Lee, V. & Tecce DeCarlo, M.J. (2015). Building on the Funds of Knowledge of Urban Kindergarten Students to Develop Information and Digital Literacies Through I-LEARN. Paper presented at the Literacy Research Association Conference, Carlsbad, California.
  21. Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Grant, A., Lee, V., & Neuman, D. (2015). Increasing the information and digital literacies of kindergarten and second-grade urban teachers and students: An I-LEARN project. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
  22. Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Grant, A., Lee, V., & Neuman, D. (2014). I-LEARN: Helping young children become information literate. Communications in Computer and Information Science (0492) 243-252. New York: Springer.
  23. Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Grant, A., Lee, V. J., & Neuman, D.  (2014).  Information literacy in the kindergarten classroom:  An I-LEARN case study (pp.  243-252).  In Kurbanoglu, S., Spiranec, S., Grassian, E., Mizrachi, D., & Catts, R. (Eds.).  Information Literacy:  Lifelong Learning and Digital Literacy in the 21st Century.  New York:  Springer.
  24. Tecce DeCarlo, M.J., Grant, A., Lee, V., & Neuman, D. (2014). I-LEARN: Helping young children become information literate. Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Literacy, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  25. Greenwell, S. (2014).  Using the I-LEARN Model to design information literacy Instruction (pp. 400-407). In S. Kurbanoglu, S. Spiranec, E. Grassian, D. Mizrachi, & R. Catts (Eds.). Information Literacy: Lifelong Learning and Digital Citizenship in the 21st Century. New York: Springer.
  26. Greenwell, S. (2014).  Using the I-LEARN Model to design information literacy Instruction. Paper presented at the European Conference on Information Literacy, Dubrovnik, Croatia.
  27. Neuman, D.  (2013).  I-LEARN:  Information literacy for learners (pp. 111-117).  In Kurbanoglu, S., Grassian, E., Mizrachi, D., Catts, R., & Spiranec, S.  (Eds.).  Worldwide Commonalities and Challenges in Information Literacy Research and Practice.  New York:  Springer.
  28. Greenwell, S. (2013). Using the I-LEARN Model for Information Literacy Instruction: An Experimental Study (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://uknowledge.uky.edu/edc_etds/6
  29. Neuman, D. (2012). I-LEARN: A Tool for Using Information for Learning. Library Media Connection30(4), 18–19.
  30. Neuman, D.  (2011).  Constructing knowledge in the 21st Century:  I-LEARN and using information as a tool for learning.  School Library Media Research, 14.
  31. Neuman, D. (2011).  Learning in Information-Rich Environments: I-LEARN and the Construction of Knowledge in the 21st Century.   New York:  Springer.

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