Who Teaches What: Information Literacy in the Classroom

1
Who Teaches What Information Literacy in the
Classroom

• Trudi E. Jacobson
• University at Albany
• tjacobson_at_uamail.albany.edu

2
Successful IL programs

• Librarians can rarely scale up an IL program for
  the entire student population
• Students need to have IL skills integrated into
  course material
• Faculty and librarians need to recognize shared
  responsibility

3
Information Literacy Curriculum

• Campus-wide
• Problem-, inquiry-, and resource- based
• Effective use of instructional pedagogies
  technologies
• Integrated and articulated with a disciplines
  learning outcomes
• Coherent, systematic approach
• (Rockman, p. 16)

4
Middle States

• Collaboration between professional library staff
  and faculty in teaching and fostering IL skills
  relevant to the curriculum
• Evidence of IL incorporated in the curriculum
  with syllabidescribing expectations for
  students demonstrations of IL skills
• Assessment of IL outcomes
• (Characteristics of Excellence in Higher
  Education, 2002)

5
Areas for Learning

• Know (framing the research question)
• Access
• Evaluate Sources
• Evaluate Content
• Use
• Ethically/Legally
• (Developing Research and Communication Skills, p.
  23)

6
Shared Responsibilities for Learning

• Know (faculty starts, librarian reinforces)
• Access (librarian leads, faculty supports)
• Evaluate Sources (librarian leads initially)
• Evaluate Content (faculty leads)
• Use (faculty leads)
• Ethically/Legally (joint, continuous)
• (Developing Research and Communication Skills, p.
  23)

7
Challenges

• What challenges do you expect to face in regard
  to a model emphasizing shared responsibility for
  information literacy instruction?

8
Know (Framing the Research Question)

• What Determines the nature and extent of
  information needed
• Who Starts with the faculty member reinforced
  by librarians

9
Know (Framing the Research Question)
Implementation

• Importance of carefully developed, well explained
  assignments
• Exercises to identify gaps in knowledge
• Classroom assessment techniques
• Concept maps
• Usefulness of assignments in stages thesis
  statement
• Need to find information to support own ideas
  and opinions (Developing Research p. 11)

10
Access

• What Efficiently and effectively accesses
  information sources
• Who The librarian usually leads, with faculty
  support

11
Access Implementation

• Traditional library instruction
• Combatting Google/Yahoo mentality
• Broaden horizons
• Improve web search skills
• Importance of concepts
• Support from faculty

12
Evaluate Sources

• What Critically evaluates information sources
• Who The librarian may lead initially faculty
  make the ultimate determination from students
  work product or performance

13
Evaluating Sources Implementation

• Assignment stage bibliography
• Creative ways to teach the importance of source
  evaluation
• http//www.lib.vt.edu/research/evaluate/evalbiblio
  .html
• http//library.albany.edu/briggs/addiction.html
• Evaluation beyond web-based materials

14
Evaluate Content

• What Critically evaluates information content
  considers impact on students prior knowledge,
  value system, and future directions in life
• Who Faculty leads in classroom student may also
  consult librarians, external subject experts or
  peers

15
Evaluating Content Implementation

• Development of authority in student researchers
  (MacAdam and Kemp)
• Assignment stage draft of paper
• The art of annotation (lower level)
• Scholarly article comparison assignment (mid- to
  upper-level undergraduate)

16
Use

• What Uses information found to accomplish a
  specific purpose
• Who Faculty leads can be reinforced by
  librarians

17
Use Implementation

• Assignment stage final paper
• Assignment design
• Audience
• Purpose
• Alternative assignments
• Write objective newspaper article or an editorial
• Write historical journal entries or compile a
  short newspaper for a particular period

18
Ethically/Legally

• What Understands the economic, legal, and social
  issues surrounding the acquisition and use of
  information
• Who Faculty and librarians jointly and
  continuously

19
Ethically/Legally Implementation

• Student understanding of issues
• Use of relevant examples
• Discovery method

20
Supporting Faculty Efforts

• Course-related instruction
• Online presence in course bulletin boards
• Hand-outs/Web guides
• Develop assignments collaboratively
• Student tutorials, to provide basics
• http//library.albany.edu/usered/faculty/infolit.h
  tml
• Teaching Center workshops

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What Else is Needed?

• Support of campus administration
• Support of library administration
• Campus conversations
• Institutional level
• Program level
• Course level

22
Solutions

• How might the challenges you identified earlier
  be addressed?
• Which challenges will be tougher to overcome?

23
Resources

• MacAdam, Barbara, and Barbara Kemp. (1989).
  Bibliographic Instruction and Critical Inquiry in
  the Undergraduate Curriculum. In Maureen Pastine
  Bill Katz (Eds.), Integrating Library Use
  Skills into the General Education Curriculum (pp.
  233-244). New York Haworth.
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
  (2002). Characteristics of Excellence in Higher
  Education. Philadelphia the author.
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
  (2003). Developing Research Communication
  Skills Guidelines for Information Literacy in
  the Curriculum. Philadelphia the author.

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Resources continued

• Ratteray, Oswald M. T. (2002). Information
  Literacy in Self-Study and Accreditation. Journal
  of Academic Librarianship 28 (6) 368-375.
• Rockman, Ilene F. and Associates. (2004).
  Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher
  Education Curriculum. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.
• Thompson, Gary B. (2002). Information Literacy
  Accreditation Mandates What They Mean for
  Faculty and Librarians. Library Trends 51 (2)
  218-241.