LOEX 2020 with Irene McGarrity and Eric Shannon.
In this presentation, we describe our process of rethinking and reinventing our approach to information literacy instruction and developing a minor in Information Studies. Over two years we decreased librarian-taught one-shots, eliminated our ineffective liaison (non)program, collaborated with the Writing Center to provide peer-to-peer research and writing support, and developed train-the-trainer workshops for faculty. We describe the Information Studies curriculum, its connection to The Framework, and how teaching in the minor has impacted our self-perception and identity as librarians. We engage attendees in asking themselves the hard questions that we asked ourselves as we began to reinvent how we work.
Information Literacy (IL)
It is a skills in finding the information one needs, including an understanding of how libraries are organized, familiarity with the resources they provide (including information formats and automated search tools) and knowledge commonly used for research techniques.
MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY (MIL)
LESSON 4: INFORMATION ACCESS
• defines information needs, locates, accesses, assesses, organizes, and communicates information
• Identify the skills needed to be an information literate
• demonstrates ethical use of information
Block 3.1: Connectivities built by memory modalities.
Quoc-Tan Tran (University of Hamburg, Germany):
Memory modalities in diverse types of memory institutions.
Information Literacy Instruction: Ideas for Teaching College Students Essenti...meganbheuer
What is information literacy? Why is it important for art students? How are Millennial students’ information seeking different? What does this all mean for how we teach our students?
Quezon City Librarians Association Inc sponsored forum on information literacy. Forum speaker is Ms. Elvie B. Lapuz of University of the Philippines Diliman Library.
Information Literacy: Implications for Library PracticeFe Angela Verzosa
Lecture presented at the Information Literacy Forum sponsored by the Cavite Librarians Association held at the Imus Institute, Imus, Cavite, Philippines on 5 December 2008
Magnuson, M. L. (April, 2009). IFACTION Listserv: A View into Intellectual Freedom Issues in Modern Librarianship. Poster presented at the SIOS Student Research Poster Day, “Diversity and Excellence” Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
What does Information Literacy mean? Some examples from different disciplinesSheila Webber
This presentation was given at the Las VI Jornadas CRAI in Pamplona, Spain on 13th May 2008. It discusses differences in conceptions of information literacy and implications for librarians and education for information literacy.
Using What They Know to Teach Them What They Need to KnowLucinda Rush
Conference Presentation
Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy
Lucinda Rush
Old Dominion University
Expropriation of social networking site consumer skills to aid students in mastering the ACRL Information Literacy Threshold Concepts.
Information Literacy (IL)
It is a skills in finding the information one needs, including an understanding of how libraries are organized, familiarity with the resources they provide (including information formats and automated search tools) and knowledge commonly used for research techniques.
MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY (MIL)
LESSON 4: INFORMATION ACCESS
• defines information needs, locates, accesses, assesses, organizes, and communicates information
• Identify the skills needed to be an information literate
• demonstrates ethical use of information
Block 3.1: Connectivities built by memory modalities.
Quoc-Tan Tran (University of Hamburg, Germany):
Memory modalities in diverse types of memory institutions.
Information Literacy Instruction: Ideas for Teaching College Students Essenti...meganbheuer
What is information literacy? Why is it important for art students? How are Millennial students’ information seeking different? What does this all mean for how we teach our students?
Quezon City Librarians Association Inc sponsored forum on information literacy. Forum speaker is Ms. Elvie B. Lapuz of University of the Philippines Diliman Library.
Information Literacy: Implications for Library PracticeFe Angela Verzosa
Lecture presented at the Information Literacy Forum sponsored by the Cavite Librarians Association held at the Imus Institute, Imus, Cavite, Philippines on 5 December 2008
Magnuson, M. L. (April, 2009). IFACTION Listserv: A View into Intellectual Freedom Issues in Modern Librarianship. Poster presented at the SIOS Student Research Poster Day, “Diversity and Excellence” Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
What does Information Literacy mean? Some examples from different disciplinesSheila Webber
This presentation was given at the Las VI Jornadas CRAI in Pamplona, Spain on 13th May 2008. It discusses differences in conceptions of information literacy and implications for librarians and education for information literacy.
Using What They Know to Teach Them What They Need to KnowLucinda Rush
Conference Presentation
Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy
Lucinda Rush
Old Dominion University
Expropriation of social networking site consumer skills to aid students in mastering the ACRL Information Literacy Threshold Concepts.
Digital Visitors and Residents: Project Feedbackjisc-elearning
Students and staff have been developing their own digital literacies for years and successfully integrating them into their social and professional activities. The Visitors and Residents project has been capturing these literacies by interviewing participants within four educational stages from secondary school to experienced scholars. Using the Visitors and Residents idea as a framework the project has been mapping what motivates individuals and groups to engage with the web for learning. We have been exploring the information-seeking and learning strategies that are evolving in both personal and professional contexts. In this presentation we will discuss these emerging ‘user owned’ literacies and how they might integrate with institutional approaches to developing digital literacies. We also will discuss the Visitors and Residents mapping process and how this could be utilised by projects as a tool for reflecting on existing and potential literacies and the development of services and systems.
David White, Co-manager , Technology Assisted Lifelong Learning, University of Oxford
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, OCLC Research
Perspectives on the Information Literate UniversitySheila Webber
This was presented by Sheila Webber (Sheffield University Information School) at an internal seminar at the Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, on 29 March 2011. After unpacking the concept of information literacy, I look at contextual aspects of information literacy: the disciplinary perspective, the teaching perspective and the learner perspective. I finish by presenting the picture of the Information Literate University that was developed some years ago by Bill Johnston and me.
Question and enquire: taking a critical pathway to understand our usersSheila Webber
Presentation given by Sheila Webber (Sheffield University Information School) on 16 August 2013 in Singapore National Library at the IFLA Satellite meeting on Information Literacy and reference services
A study of sixth graders’ critical evaluation of Internet sourcesaj6785
This study was a descriptive, task-based analysis to determine how sixth-grade students approach the cognitive task of critically evaluating Internet sources. Pairs of sixth grade students in an Information Literacy course evaluated four preselected Internet sites to determine their credibility and appropriateness for two specific research scenarios. Data for analysis included written responses, screencasts, and video of students while completing the task. Results suggest that these students tended toward simplistic modes of evaluation in the face of increased cognitive load, though some moved toward a more critical stance and many applied basic metacognitive strategies. The study points to the importance of instructional approaches that teach students to flexibly apply evaluation criteria in ill-structured environments, that teach advanced metacognitive strategies, and that instill habits of mind for critical inquiry. Instruction that empowers students to practice healthy skepticism even in the face of authority is also essential.
International perspective on information literacy: national frameworksSheila Webber
This presentation was given by Sheila Webber at the meeting held to plan for an Information Literacy Strategy for Wales, on 30 November 2009 at Gregynogg Hall in Wales. In it she identifies point’s from Woody Horton’s Information Literacy “primer”, gives her own perspective on the 4 areas identified in the UNESCO-sponsored discussions (governance/ citizenship; Education; Health; Business) and talks about visions for information literacy.
Ethics, Openness and the Future of LearningRobert Farrow
What difference does openness make to ethics' This session will examine this question both from the perspective of research into OER and the use of open resources in teaching and learning. An outline of the nature and importance of ethics will be provided before the basic principles of research ethics are outlined through an examination of the guidance provided by National Institutes of Health (2014) and BERA (2014). The importance and foundation of institutional approval for OER research activities is reiterated with a focus on underlying principles that can also be applied openly.
I argue that with a shift to informal (or extra-institutional) learning there is a risk that we lose some clarity over the nature and extent of our moral obligations when working outside institutional frameworks – what Weller (2013) has termed "guerilla" research activity. Innovations of this kind could be free of licensing permissions; they could be funded by kickstarter or public-private enterprise; or they could reflect individuals working as data journalists. But we might also speak of "guerilla" education for innovations taking place on the fringes of institutional activity – from using social media to going full-blown "edupunk" (Groom, 2008). These innovations which employ variants of opennesss can also bring out morally complex situations.
I show how the principles underlying traditional research ethics can be applied openly while noting that, whether working within or outside institutions, there is almost no existing guidance that explains the ethical implications of working openly. Similar issues are raised with MOOC, which operate outside institutions but while drawing on institutional reputations and values. With this in mind I sketch out scenarios we are likely to encounter in the future of education:
- Issues around privacy, security and big data
- Intellectual property conflicts
- Ensuring fair treatment of class students and equivalent online students
- Meeting obligations to content creators
- The ethical status of MOOCs and their obligations to their students
- Moral dimensions of open licenses
- The ethics of learning analytics and the data it produces
I argue that, while models for ethical analysis have been proposed (e.g. Farrow, 2011) more attention should be paid to the ethics of being open. I conclude with an examination of the idea that we have a moral obligation to be open, contrasting prudential and ethical approaches to open education. At the heart of the OER movement, I argue, is a strong moral impulse that should be recognized and celebrated rather than considered the preserve of the ideologue: openness is not reducible to lowering the marginal cost of educational resources. Openness is a diverse spectrum and to leverage its true potential we need to reflect deeply on how technology has the power to challenge the normative assumptions we make about education.
What difference does openness make to ethics? This session will examine this question both from the perspective of research into OER and the use of open resources in teaching and learning. An outline of the nature and importance of ethics will be provided before the basic principles of research ethics are outlined through an examination of the guidance provided by National Institutes of Health (2014) and BERA (2014). The importance and foundation of institutional approval for OER research activities is reiterated with a focus on underlying principles that can also be applied openly.
I argue that with a shift to informal (or extra-institutional) learning there is a risk that we lose some clarity over the nature and extent of our moral obligations when working outside institutional frameworks – what Weller (2013) has termed "guerilla" research activity. Innovations of this kind could be free of licensing permissions; they could be funded by kickstarter or public-private enterprise; or they could reflect individuals working as data journalists. But we might also speak of "guerilla" education for innovations taking place on the fringes of institutional activity – from using social media to going full-blown "edupunk" (Groom, 2008). These innovations which employ variants of opennesss can also bring out morally complex situations.
I show how the principles underlying traditional research ethics can be applied openly while noting that, whether working within or outside institutions, there is almost no existing guidance that explains the ethical implications of working openly. Similar issues are raised with MOOC, which operate outside institutions but while drawing on institutional reputations and values. With this in mind I sketch out scenarios we are likely to encounter in the future of education:
- Issues around privacy, security and big data
- Intellectual property conflicts
- Ensuring fair treatment of class students and equivalent online students
- Meeting obligations to content creators
- The ethical status of MOOCs and their obligations to their students
- Moral dimensions of open licenses
- The ethics of learning analytics and the data it produces
I argue that, while models for ethical analysis have been proposed (e.g. Farrow, 2011) more attention should be paid to the ethics of being open. I conclude with an examination of the idea that we have a moral obligation to be open, contrasting prudential and ethical approaches to open education. At the heart of the OER movement, I argue, is a strong moral impulse that should be recognized and celebrated rather than considered the preserve of the ideologue: openness is not reducible to lowering the marginal cost of educational resources. Openness is a diverse spectrum and to leverage its true potential we need to reflect deeply on how technology has the power to challenge the normative assumptions we make about education.
Workshop for New Mexico Consortium of Academic LibrariesElizabeth Dolinger
Workshop held on August 1, 2019 for academic librarians, Deans, and Directors, addressing challenges of supporting college wide outcomes on information literacy and program design in academic libraries. We took participants through a series of questions we posed to ourselves as we made changes to our approach to information literacy at Keene State College and moved away from a traditional one-shot instruction focused program.
Where’s the Librarian? Expanding Beyond the Library Through Research & Techno...Elizabeth Dolinger
ACRL NEC 2015
Where’s the Librarian? Expanding Beyond the Library Through Research & Technology Peer Fellows
Elizabeth Dolinger (Keene State College), Irene McGarrity (Keene State College), Danielle Hoadley (Keene State College), Matthew McDougal (Keene State College)
Questioning the value and sustainability of librarian led research instruction sessions, as well as the librarian staffed reference desk, two librarians spear-headed the development of a student peer mentor training program to improve integration of information literacy across the curriculum and provide research and technology assistance at the library’s new student staffed Information Desk. During this session, student Research & Technology Fellows will share their experiences participating in the program and two librarians will share their experiences developing and managing the program through a self-paced, blended model of online modules in the Canvas course management system and face-to-face trainings
Liberal Education & America's Promise (LEAP) Initiative's Impact on Informati...Elizabeth Dolinger
Presented at ACRL National Conference in Indianapolis Indiana April 11, 2013. Research on the impact of the AAC&U's LEAP initiative on Information Literacy Programs in higher education.
I gave a one hour overview to librarians from NH about assessment. My approach to assessment focuses on collection of performance assessments, mapping session level outcomes to program outcomes, aggregating data by outcome, SHARING what you learn, and contributing to program level assessment. I plan for and organize assessment methods into “tiers” with tier one assessments capturing student development of information literacy from a variety of academic experiences, and tier two assessment methods capturing librarians contribution to students development of information literacy. One librarian asked me after the discussion: where should I begin, especially with limited access to students? My recommendation is always to start with what’s already being done. Where are students already being assessed? Look there and see what you can learn about the challenges students are having. Then create your plan, and “start small, but start” as Deb Gilchrist and other ACRL Immersion faculty always mantra.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1pOxo0s29jsQw9PVr7fp1AA7HKeOL8T_YiupQjyZFpGM/edit?usp=sharing
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Francesca Gottschalk - How can education support child empowerment.pptxEduSkills OECD
Francesca Gottschalk from the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation presents at the Ask an Expert Webinar: How can education support child empowerment?
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
Synthetic Fiber Construction in lab .pptxPavel ( NSTU)
Synthetic fiber production is a fascinating and complex field that blends chemistry, engineering, and environmental science. By understanding these aspects, students can gain a comprehensive view of synthetic fiber production, its impact on society and the environment, and the potential for future innovations. Synthetic fibers play a crucial role in modern society, impacting various aspects of daily life, industry, and the environment. ynthetic fibers are integral to modern life, offering a range of benefits from cost-effectiveness and versatility to innovative applications and performance characteristics. While they pose environmental challenges, ongoing research and development aim to create more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives. Understanding the importance of synthetic fibers helps in appreciating their role in the economy, industry, and daily life, while also emphasizing the need for sustainable practices and innovation.
How'd You Do That? From one-shots to a minor in Information Studies
1. How’d You Do That?
From One-Shots to a Minor in Information Studies
Elizabeth Dolinger edolinger@keene.edu
Irene McGarrity imcgarrity@keene.edu
Eric Shannon eric.shannon@keene.edu
2. Keene State College
❖ Public liberal arts college
❖ ~3000 undergrad students; mostly on-campus
❖ ~50% 1st generation
❖ 5 FT librarians (4 of them teach)
❖ All librarians have faculty status
3. From this…. To that….
Subject liaison model
Librarian-staffed desk
Librarian-led one shots
One-shots on demand
2013 2015-Present
Functional liaison model
Research & Writing Tutors
Tutor taught one-shots
Academic program minor in
Information Studies
5. Our Approach…
● Integrative Learning
● Focus on quality of interactions and building meaningful
relationships
● Believe that information literacy is not about the library
● Information literacy requires studying information as content
(vs. information skills) = a spectrum
6. Statue of General John Stark at the Bennington Battle
Monument in Bennington, Vermont.
Wikimedia Commons/Joe Mabel
Live Free or Die granite monument in Nashua, New Hampshire
erected in celebration of the nation's bicentennial; photo by
James Walsh (jcbwalsh) on Flickr
9. What’s a “program”?
Is this support? A
service? An initiative?
When do I lead?
When do I have
control? (is control
necessary?)
Program by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images
Questions we asked ourselves:
10. What is good pedagogy?
And when do I get to practice it?
Questions we asked ourselves:
11. What is our ability to assess students’ readiness (or needs) for
information literacy instruction? When can we provide feedback on
their learning?
Angelo & Cross
Wiggins & McTighe
Questions we asked ourselves:
12. The Minor in Information Studies
Five Courses @ 4 credits each = 20 credits total
Three Core Courses / 12 credits
● 110 Information Environment (can take for gen ed credit)
● 310 Information Policy (can take for gen ed credit)
● 490 Collective Memory: Archival Methods
Two elective courses / 8 credits selected from a list of courses taught by
other departments, or accomplished via independent study or internships.
Flyer linked here.
14. 110 Information Environment (survey course)
● Information seeking behavior online (online information search methods;
usability; information structures and design)
● Influence of algorithms (filter bubble)
● Information as a commodity/ value of information and data/ property
● “Fake” news/ “evidence” / “authority” / confirmation bias
● Information Privacy
● Access issues and digital divide
● Censorship and 1st Amendment
(IL Frames: Authority is Constructed and Contextual; Information Has Value;
Information Creation as Process; Scholarship as Conversation; Searching as
Strategic Exploration; Research as Inquiry)
15. 310 Information Policy
● Intersection of law, social/cultural forces, internet architecture, and markets.
● Information and data privacy from a policy perspective.
● Copyright law, fair use, and the complications of policy that can’t keep up with
technology.
● Structural, political, and technological barriers to information-sharing
(bureaucratic, corporate, non-profit, etc.)
● Free speech and censorship: policy and cultural enforcement.
(IL Frames: Authority is Constructed and Contextual; Information Has Value;)
16. 490: Collective Memory: Archival Methods
● Collective and cultural memory
● Oral history
● Primary source literacy
● Transcription
● Digitizing
● Preservation, storage, access
● Social justice aspect of archives and information storage
(IL Frames: Information Creation as Process; Scholarship as Conversation;
Searching as Strategic Exploration; Research as Inquiry)
17. How the Minor Has Changed Us and Our Work
Self-perception and professional satisfaction
Scholarship
Teaching
Connections with students
Connections with faculty
Librarianship?
WE ALL INTRODUCE OURSELVES - IRENE WILL START, ELIZABETH, THEN ERIC,
Also I think we should take questions at the end - rather than in middle
How long we’ve been there, our other professional title.
ERIC - you could start with what’s current
Integrated Research & Writing peer to peer tutoring program provides reference desk help and research workshops for classes
IRENE
Presentation is primarily about the development of our information studies minor, but we had a lot of dramatic changes in our library before, and concurrently with the minor .
We shifted from a very traditional subject liaison model to a functional model. So rather than being plugged into random departments and wearing many hats, we get to cultivate and lead out own particular areas of specialization. Ex: My area is digital learning--collaborate with digital learning and faculty enrichment departments to support faculty teaching in a lot of different ways; I lead initiatives around OER; I provide copyright and creative commons education.
We switched from a very traditional reference desk to a student run research and writing desk. Librarians can now use their time and expertise training small groups of students to help other students, and we teach courses rather than doing shifts at a reference desk.
Our tutors also teach most of the one shot sessions. Librarians do more complex upper level workshops occasionally. We also provide workshops to faculty to teach them to teach information literacy themselves in the context of their own courses and their own disciplines.
All of these changes really provide a good context for how and why we came to develop the minor. Since we were freed from doing basic database demos in other people's classrooms, supporting other people’s assignments and curriculula, we had the opportunity to create meaningful learning experiences for students in the form of courses that had some components of one shot instruction, but really allowed us to go a lot further and deeper into the study of information.
IRENE
As we have started sharing our story with other librarians, this is the question most often posed to us - which is why we thought we’d title the presentation this way. But we can’t say that what works well for us, will work just as well for you or for your institution.
But what we can do is share our experience,AND the hard questions we asked ourselves in the process of making these significant changes, and why we made them. We can encourage you to ask the same or similar questions - and to push forward toward working in the way that is best for you, for your library, and your students.
ELIZABETH
To begin we want to contextualize our approach and describe how we think about information literacy, and curriculum at Keene State -
Keene State approaches general education from the idea of “Integrative learning” = making connections between experiences - its a holistic view of education, that learning doesn’t occur in silos -
The librarians Focus on QUALITY not QUANTITY - We would rather spend more time with fewer students - (bodies in seats does not equal success). We don’t aim to introduce every student or even as many possible. INstead we aim to develop meaningful long lasting relationships with students.
We don’t believe that information literacy is about the library - the library may play a role in information literacy, we also research and share how to develop information literacy - however we don’t believe the content of information literacy is library-centric
We view Information Literacy as a SPECTRUM -- flowing from information skills, to skills applied in disciplinary contexts, to the idea that information literacy really requires one to study information as content -
ELIZABETH
NH happens to have one of the most famous state slogans of “Live Free or Die” and this approach is held very close at heart in NH - intellectual and academic freedom is taken very seriously by faculty at Keene - standardization is resisted, faculty aren’t “required” to participate in anything that isn’t explicit in the contract, and content and pedagogy are determined by each individual instructor (and can vary widely even if there are multiple sections of the same course).
However - as Irene described, that curricular freedom was not always the case for librarians.
We were beholden to course curricula that was designed by others, and reliant upon other instructors to “allow” us to teach. Despite the many successful collaborations we had - ultimately the goals for the assignments and activities were not about information literacy, but rather were developing information skills in service to their assignments and their goals which were about some other topic.
By viewing information literacy as a spectrum, we recognized that we needed the same level of academic freedom over our curriculum and pedagogy, in order to teach students about information - to study information as its own content - and ultimately develop the full spectrum of information literacy.
(Stark was a New Hampshire–born war hero, having served as an officer in the British army during the French and Indian War and a major general of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Stark led troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill and later at the Battle of Bennington) John Stark said in a letter honoring veterans “live free or die”
ELIZABETH
To come to this point - and to gain freedom and control over our own curriculum - we’d been asking ourselves some questions that prompted us to reflect on our practices. And as we answered these questions, we identified new ways to work, and it was like a domino effect - one change led to another. And over a few years we’d completely changed our entire way of working.
So we’ll share with you all of the questions we asked ourselves, because they’re related and helped us change, but by the end we will be focusing the presentation on the development of the Information Studies minor.
ELIZABETH
The first question was - WHAT IS INFORMATION LITERACY? - we’d been grappling with this. With what we believes information literacy to be, verses what we were doing in the classroom by teaching all of these skills workshops.
And this helped us to view information literacy as a spectrum ranging from skills to understanding of information structures and policies.
When the ACRL Framework came out - it helped us to articulate what we’d been grappling with and to define as information literacy.
ELIZABETH -
As IL Librarian - The next Question, I was trying to answer as “What’s a Program?”
This really lead to a series of questions - and eventually led to developing the minor -
We had a “program” of integrated one shots - and we spent years discussing it in the library - but if I mentioned an information literacy program to anyone on campus outside of the library, they had no idea what I was talking about. So there was no institutional recognition of an IL program -
What others saw -- was a support service.
So ultimately we stopped referring to our series of embedded sessions as a program - and started thinking of it as support.
And sometimes we had an initiative to get a project accomplished.
Answering these questions honestly, helped us to reframe how we view our work - and to re-identify the variety of efforts around information literacy we that we engage in and then to categorize them - allowing us to recognize various degrees of control and to temper expectations (of our own and others) and to determine where responsibility really lies.
IRENE
Another question many of us struggled with was around pedagogy, and what we knew to be good teaching practices in the classroom. Because we were constrained by other people's demands and needs, we often had to resort to short lectures and demonstrations, or short canned activities that lacked depth, follow up, and the opportunity for assessment.
We knew what good teaching was but felt we never had the opportunity to practice it.
ELIZABETH
One of the key best practices regarding the development of critical thinking and IL is the ability to provide feedback, to see when students hit a bottleneck, and to then coach them through that challenge and provide them feedback. Because we didn’t have control over the curriculum, we were very rarely in the position to witness those challenges or to provide that kind of feedback to students on their process or their learning.
The Framework is based on concepts in Wiggins & McTighe (threshold concepts) and Angelo & Cross is a great book on assessment of many forms.
We felt IF WE’RE NOT ABLE TO DO THESE THINGS, TO TEACH IN THE FORMAT AND USE BEST PRACTICES then we should consider a new way…
ELIZABETH
SO ULTIMATELY WE SOUGHT ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND CONTROL over curriculum and to practice what we know as librarians are the BEST PRACTICES for developing information literacy. (beyond the information skills - toward the other end of the spectrum, where their understanding would require us to deliver content, and to study information as content), We wanted the opportunity to have a bad day, a lesson that didn't work out so well, and to have another day with the same students to do it better.
So we developed a minor in information studies - the first recognized academic program from the library. We wrote the rationale, designed the courses, and proposed the minor through the same processes used by every other department on campus. As department chair I spent a year meeting with curriculum committees, with many many academic departments, made tons of revisions to the proposal, and eventually saw the minor pass our college senate. The fall 2015 semester was the first academic year students could claim the Information Studies minor.
IRENE - we want to share a NEW MARKETING VIDEO DEVELOPED FOR THE COLLEGE PROGRAMS WEBSITE. Our Students are ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MINOR BUT ARE completely UNSCRIPTED (THEY WROTE THEIR OWN SCRIPT OF WHAT TO SAY--this doesn’t exactly mean unscripted, not to be nitpicky :-))
ELIZABETH STARTS - THEN ERIC
ELIZABETH
Information environment is the survey course- it touches literally every Frame from the Framework - it’s typically a mix of first- and second year students. It’s a kind of - feeder course - where we gain a lot of the students who end up joining the minor from. It can also be taken for gen ed credits. This course is designed to get students to question their own assumptions about information - by studying these topics, they’re not just applying information skills on some other topic or field. They’re studying information - for example we question the assumption that “everyone has access if it’s online” - or that Google is a neutral source of information. Eric’s going to give you some more specific examples.
ERIC - (rewrite this for yourself) ERIC Role playing, charts,
For example we discuss the filter bubble, the influence of social media, and the implication of “fake news” (pizza gate, for example).
IRENE - Like Information Environment, Policy is a course in our minor, but it can also be taken for General Education credits.
In policy we try to expand upon the ground work set in Information Environment. We begin by looking at the intersection of law, social/cultural and cultural forces, the architecture of the Internet, and markets as forces that interact to shape our lives. For example, in the case of Net Neutrality, we have markets influencing legislation, and the social/cultural implications of something that could cause a more profound digital divide and income inequality, and the architecture of the actual internet--how companies can slow down services, and block certain sites. All of these factors play a role in that issue, and we look at that intersection.
Authority is constructed and contextual is probably the most prominent frame in the policy course; Information has value also certainly comes into play with many of these topics.
(maybe mention that students can take this for gen ed credits)
ERIC -
IRENE AND ERIC MOSTLY
Irene, As someone who started my career teaching, and came to librarianship later, I was very happy to return to more familiar territory with the minor. It certainly helped with my sense of professional satisfaction, as I was finding myself in a bit of a professional crisis as a navigated one-shot instruction. The teaching and scholarship I’m able to engage in is more interesting and satisfying. I don’t feel like I’m banging my head against the wall, trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. I have more time to engage with other faculty on my specialized areas of copyright, OER, and pedagogy. And my connections with students are much deeper and longer lasting. I have seen students at commencement who were in my course when they were in their first year. It’s a great feeling to be able to watch students grow over time. I don’t know about librarianship--I feel less like librarianship has changed, and more like we have changed and the field has stayed the same, or at least somewhat the same. Most places are doing things in the same way, although the framework is certainly an improvement over the standards. It’s time for a change. Something that might help is drawing a parallel with writing instruction.
ELIZABETH
Lastly - this is a favorite shel silverstein of mine - because it’s really about questioning what’s always been done, and following what in your heart you believe is an effective and fulfilling way to go. Even if it’s new territory, follow your inner voice rather than letting others decide for you. .