Viewing Higher Education Information Literacy through the African Context Lens

Abstract

Established models of information literacy education (ILE) which are contextually grounded in Western social and intellectual structures fail to take into account local African contexts. This article argues that in a developing context, the traditional definition of information literacy needs to be adjusted to include an understanding of when information can be used to improve everyday living or to contribute to the solving of problems related to particular situations. This paper adapts cultural contextuality model in ILE to explore considerations for the design of ILE for the African developing context and based on this, proposes possible learning outcomes for ILE in the African higher education context.