scholarly journals “She Has a Vocabulary I Just Don’t Have”: Faculty Culture and Information Literacy Collaboration

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-242
Author(s):  
Carolyn Caffrey Gardner ◽  
Jamie White-Farnham
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Program ◽  
Faculty Culture ◽  
First Year Writing ◽  
Information Literacy Instruction

The authors describe difficulties pertaining to discipline-specific discourse and identity among collaborators during the process of revising the information literacy component of a first-year writing program. Hardesty’s term “faculty culture” offers a frame through which to understand resistance and tension among otherwise engaged faculty and situates this experience within the uncomfortable history between faculty and librarians who may be perceived as “inauthentic” faculty. The authors suggest ways to improve communication between librarians and writing program faculty when collaborating on information literacy instruction.

scholarly journals Instructional Characteristics of Information Literacy Programs in the First College Year

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Keup ◽  
Ryan D. Padgett ◽  
Cindy A. Kilgo ◽  
Anne-Marie Deitering
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
National Sample ◽  
First Year ◽  
Instructional Tools ◽  
Institutional Practices ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Information Literacy Instruction ◽  
Instructional Characteristics

Drawing from a national sample of 465 institutions, this descriptive study explores the instructional and pedagogical characteristics of course-based information literacy (IL) education in the first year of college. These national data indicate that information literacy instruction is an institutional priority for first-year students but that delivery methods, pedagogy, and evaluation of student learning outcomes rely upon more traditional approaches such as IL instruction in English courses and first-year seminars; librarians as the primary content developers and instructors; classroom activities, lectures, research papers, and presentations as common instructional tools; and an underutilization of information technologies. While analyses of institutional practices suggest emerging areas of information literacy instruction, these strategies have yet to gain prominence on campuses across the country.

scholarly journals Antiracist and Faith-based: Critical Pedagogy-Informed Writing and Information Literacy Instruction at a Hispanic-Serving, Lutheran Liberal Arts University

2021 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Jolivette Mecenas ◽  
Yvonne Wilber ◽  
Meghan Kwast
Keyword(s):  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
First Year Writing ◽  
Liberal Arts University ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Information Literacy Instruction ◽  
Racial Dialogue ◽  
Hispanic Serving

English faculty and librarians at a Hispanic-Serving Lutheran liberal arts university collaborated to integrate critical information literacy in a first-year writing course, following the Lutheran educational tradition of valuing inquiry and aligning with a faith-based social justice mission. The authors discuss an Evangelical Lutheran tradition of education committed to antiracism, and the challenges of enacting these values of equity and inclusion while addressing institutional racism. The authors also describe how curricular revisions in writing and information literacy instruction informed by critical pedagogy decentered whiteness in the curriculum, while creating needed opportunities for students and faculty to engage in cross-racial dialogue about systemic racism. 

On their own terms

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-192
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Kocevar-Weidinger ◽  
Emily Cox ◽  
Mark Lenker ◽  
Tatiana Pashkova-Balkenhol ◽  
Virginia Kinman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Literacy Instruction ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Literacy Curriculum ◽  
Research Skills ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information Literacy Instruction

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how first-year students conduct everyday life research and how, if possible, their everyday research skills can inform information literacy instruction in higher education. Very few studies in information literacy emphasize existing knowledge that students bring with them to college; instead, the emphasis tends to fall on deficits in students’ academic research skills. Strengths-based approaches or asset-based approaches as found in the literature of psychology and education provide a basis for exploring this direction in information literacy education. Design/methodology/approach The research used a phenomenographic methodology, interviewing 40 first-year students from two large universities, a medium-sized university and a community college. Findings The qualitative study suggests that first-year students are capable of using information purposefully to learn or research interests that have sparked their curiosities. They are also capable of reflecting on the ways that their investigations fulfilled their purposes, resulted in unexpected outcomes or made them consider their issue in a new light. These existing capacities provide promising starting points for strengths-based approaches to information literacy instruction. Practical implications Dialogue with students about prior research experiences enables teaching librarians to plan engaging, authentic information literacy curriculum that acknowledges existing strengths. Originality/value This study provides a valuable contribution to empirical evidence of student research skills prior to entering higher education and suggests connections between those skills and the ACRL Information Literacy Framework. In addition, the study provides a case for strengths-based education, activating students’ prior knowledge to learn and create new knowledge. Authors have presented at Library Instruction West, July 2018.

Crowdsourcing the curriculum

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie White-Farnham ◽  
Carolyn Caffrey Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Program ◽  
First Year Writing ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Literacy Outcomes ◽  
Writing Program Administrator ◽  
Writing Instructors

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to describe the rationale, process and results of an integrated curricular intervention for information literacy instruction in a first-year writing program. Design/methodology/approach – The information literacy coordinator collaborated with writing instructors and the Writing Program Administrator on the initial design of information literacy outcomes. The librarian and instructors created a modular curriculum with multiple lessons and activities aligned to each outcome. The curriculum was housed in the course management system for easy updating and distribution. Finally, instructors taught the embedded information literacy activities for two semesters and measured student improvement through a pre-/post-survey and a rubric-based assessment of students’ citation and documentation. Findings – Students saw significant gains over the course of the semester in their ability to use Boolean operators, identify the purpose of sources and understand citation styles. As a related and valuable measure, writing program assessment results showed an improvement in students’ performance in citation and documentation in researched writing assignments after a one-year implementation of the intervention. Writing instructors reported an increased awareness of information literacy pedagogy and intentionality in their teaching. Finally, the librarian was able to leverage this collaboration to highlight the teaching roles of librarians beyond the one-shot. Originality/value – Well-known temporal and logistical limits exist in regard to embedded, one-shot and multi-shot approaches to information literacy. The latter two are especially unsustainable when implemented at scale, such as within a first-year writing program that serves hundreds or thousands of students each semester. This study documents a faculty development approach in which writing instructors integrate information literacy (IL) into their own instruction. This offers a model that makes explicit IL processes and skills to writing instructors, results in high student performance and allows especially the small college librarian to manage his/her other strategic information literacy partnerships.

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