ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education

Implications for Practice

Donna Witek / Ellysa Stern Cahoy

PA Forward Information Literacy Summit ~ July 23, 2014 Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

@donnarosemary ~ @ellysa ~ #PAFILS14

Introduction

Review / revision process

Overview of Framework

Implications for practice

Strategies for implementation

Revision Process: Where We Were

Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information."

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency

Revision Process: Where We Are

“Information literacy is a repertoire of understandings, practices, and dispositions focused on flexible engagement with the information ecosystem, underpinned by critical self-reflection. The repertoire involves finding, evaluating, interpreting, managing, and using information to answer questions and develop new ones; and creating new knowledge through ethical participation in communities of learning, scholarship, and practice.”

http://acrl.ala.org/ilstandards/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Framework-for-IL-for-HE-Draft-2.pdf

Threshold conceptsA threshold concept framework includes “the core ideas and processes in any discipline that define the discipline, but that are so ingrained that they often go unspoken or unrecognized by practitioners.” (Hofer, Townsend, Brunetti, 2011, p. 184)

Townsend, L. & Brunetti, K. & Hofer, A. R.(2011). Threshold Concepts and Information Literacy. portal: Libraries and the Academy 11(3), 853-869. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved March 19, 2014, from Project MUSE database.

Threshold concepts

Definitional criteria ■ Transformative—Learner has a shift in perspective■ Integrative– Unifying separate concepts into a whole■ Irreversible– Once learned, cannot be unlearned■ Bounded– Unique to a discipline■ Troublesome– Difficult ideas that may place a

roadblock in the learning processTownsend, L. & Brunetti, K. & Hofer, A. R.(2011). Threshold Concepts and Information Literacy. portal: Libraries and the Academy 11(3), 853-869. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved March 19, 2014, from Project MUSE database.

Revision Process: Where We Are

Threshold Concepts for IL:Scholarship is a conversationResearch as inquiryAuthority is contextual and constructedFormat as a processSearching as explorationInformation has value

http://acrl.ala.org/ilstandards/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Framework-for-IL-for-HE-Draft-2.pdf

Implications for Practice

From Standards to a Framework

Collaboration with faculty across disciplines

Teaching towards multiple learning domains

Information literacy as a metaliteracy

Implications for Practice

From Standards to a Framework

Exploring threshold concepts within instruction

Developing learning outcomes

locally / regionally / nationally

How do the “whys” of IL give meaning to the “whats”?

Implications for PracticeScholarship is a conversation

TransformativeIntegrativeIrreversible

Bounded Troublesome

Implications for PracticeKnowledge Practices:

Identify the contribution that particular articles, books, and other scholarly pieces make to disciplinary knowledge.

Summarize the changes in scholarly perspective over time on a particular topic within a specific discipline.

Contribute to scholarly conversation at an appropriate level.

Implications for Practice

Collaboration with faculty across disciplines

Conversations with faculty around threshold concepts

Integration of IL throughout the curriculum

In what ways can we share responsibility for IL instruction with our colleagues?

Implications for Practice

Teaching towards multiple learning domainsCognitive (Knowledge Practices)Affective (Dispositions)Behavioral (Knowledge Practices / Dispositions)

Can we embed multiple domains within our teaching?

Implications for Practice

Information literacy as a metaliteracy

IL in participatory digital environments

Students as knowledge creators

Metacognitive reflection as learning activity

What are the pedagogical opportunities that arise?

Metaliteracy Model developed by Tom Mackey, Trudi Jacobson, and Roger Lipera in Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information Literacy to Empower Learners (Mackey and Jacobson, 2014, pp. 23)

Strategies for Implementation

The Framework for IL as:

a new way to understand things you’re already doing

providing new language and concepts to communicate what you do and how you do it

a process through which to transform the goals you set for your IL instruction & programs

Questions & Discussion

Donna WitekThe University of Scrantondonna.witek@scranton.edu ~ @donnarosemary

Ellysa Stern CahoyPenn State University, University Parkellysa@psu.edu ~ @ellysa