Information Literacy Across Disciplines: Applying Problem-Based Learning Principles and the ACRL Framework

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Room 1220 A/B

Abstract

Attempts to implement the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education are often fraught with difficulties: librarians frequently have problems with identifying and teaching discipline-specific threshold concepts; tensions surface when attempting to teach library skills on one hand and discipline-specific threshold concepts on the other and there is often confusion between these approaches to information literacy. This tension is often exacerbated by time limitations, and instruction becomes even more difficult when interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary studies are involved. To make matters worse, academic faculty often expect library instruction to entail demonstrations of "dummied-down" database searches, and this does not encourage an effective implementation of the ACRL Framework.

There are significant similarities between information literacy from the perspective of Problem-based learning (PBL) and the ACRL Framework. In both cases, there is an emphasis on identifying real-world barriers to assimilating and applying discipline-related information; both approaches include a constructivist learning model in dealing with discipline-specific information, and both involve the implementation of constructivism in pedagogy.

During my five years of teaching information literacy at a veterinary college, veterinary medicine faculty with doctoral degrees in education specializing in PBL insisted that a librarian without any domain knowledge, given some basic exposure to the principles of PBL, can actually be more effective in teaching veterinary medicine than faculty with domain expertise.

This session explores key principles of PBL and how they can address many of the difficulties that librarians are reporting in attempting to implement the ACRL Framework in teaching information literacy across disciplines.

Presentation Description

The ACRL Framework can be challenging to implement, especially when teaching information literacy across disciplines. The Framework and problem-based learning (PBL) share many basic constructivist principles. This session explores how PBL can address problems with implementing the ACRL Framework in teaching information literacy across disciplines.

Keywords

Problem-based learning, ACRL Framework, Information Literacy, Interdisciplinary, Disciplinary, Threshold concepts, One-shot sessions, Constructivism

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 30th, 2:45 PM Sep 30th, 4:00 PM

Information Literacy Across Disciplines: Applying Problem-Based Learning Principles and the ACRL Framework

Room 1220 A/B

Attempts to implement the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education are often fraught with difficulties: librarians frequently have problems with identifying and teaching discipline-specific threshold concepts; tensions surface when attempting to teach library skills on one hand and discipline-specific threshold concepts on the other and there is often confusion between these approaches to information literacy. This tension is often exacerbated by time limitations, and instruction becomes even more difficult when interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary studies are involved. To make matters worse, academic faculty often expect library instruction to entail demonstrations of "dummied-down" database searches, and this does not encourage an effective implementation of the ACRL Framework.

There are significant similarities between information literacy from the perspective of Problem-based learning (PBL) and the ACRL Framework. In both cases, there is an emphasis on identifying real-world barriers to assimilating and applying discipline-related information; both approaches include a constructivist learning model in dealing with discipline-specific information, and both involve the implementation of constructivism in pedagogy.

During my five years of teaching information literacy at a veterinary college, veterinary medicine faculty with doctoral degrees in education specializing in PBL insisted that a librarian without any domain knowledge, given some basic exposure to the principles of PBL, can actually be more effective in teaching veterinary medicine than faculty with domain expertise.

This session explores key principles of PBL and how they can address many of the difficulties that librarians are reporting in attempting to implement the ACRL Framework in teaching information literacy across disciplines.