Writing Across The Curriculum and Information Literacy Across the Curriculum

Writing Across the Curriculum and Information Literacy Across the

Curriculum:

Interconnections & Implications for Libraries

Elizabeth [email protected]

Eastern Michigan UniversityMichigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters Annual Meeting

2009

Traditional Writing Pedagogy Informative writing - used to inform, instruct, or persuade

Type A writing Expository Transactional writing

Accomplishes specific tasks in the form of Essays Reports Memos Proposals Brochures Term papers

Writers are concerned with Audience Tone Language

Writing Across the Curriculum: (WAC) I

An instructional movement that “promotes intensive writing in all the disciplines and at all levels of the curriculum” (Sheridan, 1992)

History -began in 1970’s; grew rapidly in the 1980’s Philosophy

Students should write in every course about everything they study

Become better writers and learn course content more effectively

Writing Across the Curriculum: (WAC) II

Responsibility for writing proficiency shifted away from writing programs into the subject disciplines

Creation of writing-intensive (WI) courses, i.e., learning how to write in the subject disciplines

Writing Across the Curriculum: (WAC) III

Expressive writing Exploratory writing Type B writing Process writing

Characterized by Journaling Collaborative work Social in nature – work shared with others via drafts &

revisions Peer review

Allows for use of livelier, subjective language Find their own voice vs. writing to an audience Integrates old knowledge with new information through revisions Mixture of Type A & Type B writing – about process and product

WAC Assignments –First-year Experience Examples

Community Focus Class - e.g. basketball team Long Essay 1 – reflect on their previous research experiences Long Essay 2 – Ethnographic research essay

Interview Observation Library resources Short essay Reflection letter (research process, frustrations, discoveries) Research Journal

Long Essay 3 – multi-genre assignment representing their finding from Long Essay 2 Examples - obituary, brochure, advertisement Library resources Reflection letter

Final Portfolio – revise two of the three long essays, plus write a long reflection letter

WAC Assignments –Undergrad Writing Intensive Course

Mind Maps Letter to federal legislators Applied book review

Journal reflection on book Summary Reflect on how student would interact with this patient

Clinical Practice Issue Research papers

Annotated bibliography Academic resources Apply research to future career

Various Definitions of Information Literacy

Ability to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information (online)” (ALA, 1989)

“Set of abilities requiring individuals to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information” (ACRL, 2003)

“Ability to think critically in an information environment” (Ward, 2002)

“New liberal art that involves understanding the social, economic and political aspects of information” (Shapiro & Hughes, 1996)

Lifelong learning Critical thinking More…

WAC and ILAC: Interconnections History

Writing and library instruction Entered the academic arena in the late 1960’s Both considered to be taught by “second-class

professionals” (Elmborg, 2003)

Writing programs found their niche in English Departments Degree-granting, therefore increased credibility Classes taught by graduate students, not PhDs 1980’s composition and rhetoric become research

specialties

WAC and ILAC: Interconnections Similarities I

Both address the question of who should teach the undergraduates to write and research

Composition teachers or disciplinary faculty - writing Librarians or disciplinary faculty - research

Share key values and promote Critical thinking Active learning

Ways to Demonstrate knowledge Develop critical thinking and language skills Develop the ability to articulate disciplinary knowledge

as content (Elmborg, 2003)

WAC and ILAC: Interconnections Similarities II

Heuristic, i.e. ways to learn and discover Processes; Messy processes Require discussions between faculty and

librarians Cross-disciplinary Require assessment

WAC and ILAC: Interconnections Questions

Whose responsibility is it to teach basic research and writing skills, the K-12 schools or colleges and universities?

Whose responsibility is it to teach research and writing when undergraduate students do not have them?

So, why is ILAC not being incorporated into academic curricula?

Confusion - no single consensus among librarians as to the definition of IL

Reluctance - librarians feel unprepared for the role of teacher and untrained in curriculum development

Scalability - increased workload for librarians involved with FYE and WI courses

Adoption - must be discipline specific, which is a difficult buy-in across academic departments

Scaffolding - need multiple IL course experiences for the learner to travel from a community of novice researchers to a participant in a community of scholars

Information Literacy Across the Curriculum (ILAC) - Solutions

Conceptual Changes Not only about finding tools (Ward, 2002)

Taught in the context of subject disciplines, community, and world issues; way of life (Elmborg, 2006; Ward, 2002)

Creating connections between students and their world (Ward, 2002)

Teach research as a process, just as writing is a process

View as part of academic majors


Active Changes Develop ways to assess IL in courses

throughout the university Create credit-bearing courses Attend non-library, discipline-specific

conferences to learn the key issues, jargon Library schools incorporate librarian teacher

education and curriculum development in library school curricula


Active Changes, cont.

Incorporate IL into FYE courses

Learn to speak the language of the scholarship of teaching

Create online support instruction for information seeking tools to alleviate increased workload for FYE and IL librarians

Become active in the interdisciplinary courses, learning communities, and seminars

Create non-credit-bearing IL components for interdisciplinary courses, learning communities, and seminars

Reference List American Library Association. (2000). Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education.

Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency.cfm

Elmborg, J. (2002). Teaching at the desk. Toward a reference pedagogy. Libraries and the Academy, 2(3), 455-464. Retrieved from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSQ25

Elmborg, J. (2003). Information literacy and Writing Across the Curriculum: sharing the vision. Reference Services Review, 31(1), 68-80. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp ?

Elmborg, J. (2006). Critical information literacy: implications for instructional practice. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32(2), 192-199. Retrieved from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSQUERY?sessionid

Fabian, S. (personal communication, March 13, 2009) Galvin, J. Information literacy and integrative learning. College and Undergraduate

Libraries, 13(3), 25-51. doi:10.1300/J106v13n03_0 Isbell, D., & Kammerlocher, L. (1998). Implementing Kulthau: a new model for library and

reference instruction. Reference Services Review, 26(3-4), 33-44. Retrieved from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSQUERY?sessionid

Sheridan, J. (1992). WAC and libraries: a look at the literature. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 18(2), 90-94.

Ward, D. (2002, May). Seeking the promised land of information literacy. Proceedings of the LOEX Library Instruction Conference, Ypsilanti, MI, 1-4.