Am I building a bubble around me? A phenomenographic study exploring students’ perceptions of online personalised filters and information literacy

Abstract

For networked learning to be successful, students need good information literacy skills. These skills will enable them to move away from being "passive recipients of digitally distributed information" (Wiske, 2011) to become critical thinkers willing to challenge, discuss, collaborate and connect with other learners and teachers. This small-scale study uses phenomenography to investigate students’ perceptions and experiences of personalised filters, which present a challenge for educators concerned with developing information literacy skills. Findings show that students are comfortable with filters to find basic information. However, for more complex ideas, students felt they needed to adopt sophisticated search strategies.