Education Commons^™

Library Curriculum As Epistemic Justice: Decolonizing Library Instruction Programs, Heather Campbell, Dan Sich

Western Libraries Publications

Information literacy scholars and leaders are calling for the decolonization of library instruction, knowing that our work helps to maintain colonial systems. While there is no checklist or road map to program decolonization, academic libraries and instruction teams must start the work anyway. This article shares the story of curriculum decolonization at Western Libraries, so far, including the decolonization ‘cycle’ we followed and our resulting six learning outcomes. Grounded in epistemic justice, our new curriculum prioritizes living beings over information, and uses a broad, inclusive definition of knowledge throughout. Librarians at Western University acknowledge that the first step in decolonization …

A Storied Tale: Melding Digital Storytelling, Service-Learning, And Digital And Information Literacy Skills For Pre-Service Teachers, Heather K. Beirne

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Today’s teachers, a diverse body of individuals with a variety of technological backgrounds and skill sets, often find themselves working from a “digital immigrant” perspective. Even pre-service teachers, who may be classified as digital natives, report “strong positive beliefs in technology, yet moderate confidence and reserved attitude in using technology” (Lei, 2009); Lei reports that, though they are often viewed as “innovative users of available technology and eager adopters of new technology,” pre-service teachers are also not utilizing digital technology to its fullest advantage, self-report that they do not feel comfortable with or proficient at the use of higher level …

Reorienting An Information Literacy Program Toward Social Justice: Mapping The Core Values Of Librarianship To The Acrl Framework, Shana Higgins, Lua Gregory

Library Faculty Publications & Presentations

Since the publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries' (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education librarians have grappled with the purposes, impact, and meaning of this teaching document for their daily instructional practice, for curriculum development, and for institutional and programmatic assessment goals. A strength of the Framework is its emphasis on context, an emphasis aligned with the goals of critical pedagogy and one that acknowledges investment in specific community needs. This article reflects on an attempt to contextualize the Framework for an information literacy program concerned with social justice and student agency by connecting it …

Spectators Or Patriots? Citizens In The Information Age, Amrita Dhawan

Publications and Research

In theory, a strong democracy rests on robust citizen participation. The practice in most democracies is quite different. This gap presents a challenge, which can be narrowed by augmenting civic education to bring it up to date with the current information environment and thus give citizens the opportunity to participate. Robert Dahl’s work on democracy provides a model that looks at this problem structurally. He writes about the ideals and the actual institutions necessary for a democracy and if we situate his model in the modern information environment we get a better idea of how to improve civic education. Successful …

Career Information Literacy For Students’ Interview Success, Amanda Cox, Lateka Grays

Library Faculty Presentations

Cross Campus Relationship Building

• Seek unique opportunities

• Cross-promotion opportunities

• Problem Solving

• Appreciation by leadership

Choose Your Own Adventure: Integrating An Information Literacy Rubric Into Seven (Very) Different Colleges, Natalie Tagge, Char Booth, Alexandra Chappell, M. Sara Lowe, Sean M. Stone

Library Staff Publications and Research

It is no small feat to develop a replicable, dependable information literacy rubric that is appropriate to an institution’s unique student population. But once the rubric is created, how does it become edited, adopted, and utilized by campus stakeholders to actually improve information literacy learning? And, what happens when you multiply this by a consortial context, wherein one information literacy rubric is presented to five undergraduate colleges and two graduate schools, each with unique governance models, assessment profiles, and relationships with the library they share?
The visual nature of a poster will provide a perfect means to map out the …

Addressing Academic Integrity: Perspectives From Virginia Commonwealth University In Qatar, Nancy E. Fawley

Library Faculty Publications

Understanding the cultural aspects that affect a student’s ability to appropriately use resources is important in developing outreach and instruction in multicultural settings. Differences in educational philosophies, students’ previous scholastic training and cultural differences in individual motivation are all factors that may affect a freshman’s ability to understand an American university’s idea of academic integrity and can inadvertently cause problems where independent work and critical thinking are required. At Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCU Qatar), a branch campus of the American university in the Middle East, a special class on academic integrity and ethical behavior was integrated into the …

Unconventional Avenues To Integrating Information Literacy Into The Curriculum, P. S. Mcmillen, Jennifer L. Fabbi

Library Faculty Presentations

Library instruction programs continue to seek meaningful ways to infuse information literacy into both general education and discipline-specific course sequences. At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), targeted conversations with College of Education faculty helped librarians identify a strategic and unique point of entry with a multicultural twist.

21st Century Literacies: Transforming Education For Next Generation Learners, Patricia A. Iannuzzi

Library Faculty Presentations

- 21st Century Literacies

- Millennials as Learners

- Engaging the Digital Native

- A Vegas Perspective