Today’s Learners and Learning with Information: Information Studies Meets Instructional Design

Contemporary information-rich environments, especially online environments, have changed the way we look at both learning and information. While learning itself remains the same—the construction of personal meaning from interactions with information—the routes to learning have expanded and diversified. So, too, have the challenges: the erosion of trust in traditional information sources and the intentional introduction of false “facts” and other kinds of disinformation challenge learners across the spectrum. This chapter begins to paint a picture of today’s learners-with-information and to delineate the concepts, strategies, and skills that all of us, as learners, need to master to make the most of the learning opportunities that surround us. It surveys relevant research and theory from information studies and instructional design and development to suggest how collaborative work across these fields can lead to improved environments for both informational and instructional uses. It sets the stage for Chap. 5’s discussion of the insights that work in digital literacy and critical literacy add to our growing understanding of using information as a tool for learning, and it interweaves key traditional and contemporary ideas to offer a slate of possible theoretical frameworks for guiding research and practice related to learning in today’s information-rich environments.