From the perspective of the development of FOSIL, an important Chapter for Libraries Empowering Society through Digital Literacy (IFLA Publications 188), titled Digital Literacy: Necessary but Not Sufficient for Learning.

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Abstract (from book)

This chapter argues that digital literacy skills, while necessary for effective learning in an increasingly digital environment, are not in and of themselves sufficient for doing so. Digital literacy skills must be located within a learning process which concludes with knowledge of reality. This learning process is an inquiry process animated by a desire to know. Engaging students in the inquiry process of acquiring knowledge is the primary goal; the systematic and progressive development of inquiry skills, many of them digital by definition or use, is the secondary goal. The chapter begins with a philosophical discussion followed by an examination of the film The Matrix to highlight the tension between a desire to know what is real and the process of acquiring knowledge of reality, especially in a digital environment. The chapter concludes with a description of the author’s Framework Of Skills for Inquiry Learning (FOSIL), and outlines how school libraries use it to foster digital inquiry and fluency. FOSIL creates a robust inquiry environment in which to engage students in the process of acquiring knowledge and developing skills in navigating digital materials.

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Abstract (from final draft)

This chapter argues that the problem that digital literacy addresses is an epistemological problem, a problem of knowing and coming to know, and so is bigger than digital literacy skills even though knowing and coming to know are increasingly dependent on digital literacy skills. The rupture between knowledge and reality as uncovered by the academic disciplines – reflected in Jean-Francois Lyotard’s, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1984) – has resulted in a more widespread breakdown of the knowledge-building process, which is an inquiry process. Because action conforms to knowledge, or ought to, this epistemological crisis lays the groundwork for an existential crisis, mounting evidence of which is all too obvious. To avert this existential crisis, it is necessary, therefore, to resolve the underlying epistemological crisis, which means developing engaged and empowered inquirers. The most effective way to do this is to make better use of the many years of formal education that school provides. In this, schools can draw on more than 60 years of international research-informed development of inquiry as a highly effective pedagogical strategy for learning disciplinary content in a school setting, which requires collaboration between classroom-based teachers and library-based teachers. Central to this pedagogical strategy is a sound instructional model of the inquiry process and underlying framework of developmentally appropriate inquiry skills, which, crucially, include digital literacy skills. FOSIL, which is based on the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum, is such a model and underlying framework of inquiry skills.