Where Does Information Literacy Fit? Mapping the Core

Abstract

A thrust towards collaborative professionalism is a growing trend in education because of its impacts on institutional community relationships and empowerment. Thus, ways must be sought to birth collaborative professionalism in institutions where such a culture is missing. The secondary school in this study is just such an institution. An interventional, mixed-methods study will be conducted using a pragmatic approach by engaging two interdepartmental teams to collaborate on cross-curricular, horizontal curriculum coherence. This topic was chosen because of a deficit many teachers have reported on - the perceived inability of students to transfer learning from one subject to another. I propose that this is due to the compartmentalized way in which they are taught. Initially, student opinions towards curriculum coherence will be sought through surveys. Thereafter, two Departmental Heads will each be engaged in working with one other Departmental Head to assign members of their teams to look for overlapping areas and ways to create coherence. Each team will be debriefed to gauge attitudes towards interdepartmental collaboration and prospects for future and ongoing collaborations. In addition, improvements in curricular coherence will be documented. A preliminary review of the literature revealed that initiatives to promote collaborative professionalism have generally been successful because many educators see a need for high levels of collaboration to improve their practice. Barriers experienced included cultures of autonomy, contrasting models of professionalism and prior professional development experiences which did not benefit educators as practitioners. The goal of this intervention is to create a desire for collaborative professionalism through a successful project, which may then spur more voluntary engagement with it.

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Where Does Information Literacy Fit? Mapping the Core

Stream A

A thrust towards collaborative professionalism is a growing trend in education because of its impacts on institutional community relationships and empowerment. Thus, ways must be sought to birth collaborative professionalism in institutions where such a culture is missing. The secondary school in this study is just such an institution. An interventional, mixed-methods study will be conducted using a pragmatic approach by engaging two interdepartmental teams to collaborate on cross-curricular, horizontal curriculum coherence. This topic was chosen because of a deficit many teachers have reported on - the perceived inability of students to transfer learning from one subject to another. I propose that this is due to the compartmentalized way in which they are taught. Initially, student opinions towards curriculum coherence will be sought through surveys. Thereafter, two Departmental Heads will each be engaged in working with one other Departmental Head to assign members of their teams to look for overlapping areas and ways to create coherence. Each team will be debriefed to gauge attitudes towards interdepartmental collaboration and prospects for future and ongoing collaborations. In addition, improvements in curricular coherence will be documented. A preliminary review of the literature revealed that initiatives to promote collaborative professionalism have generally been successful because many educators see a need for high levels of collaboration to improve their practice. Barriers experienced included cultures of autonomy, contrasting models of professionalism and prior professional development experiences which did not benefit educators as practitioners. The goal of this intervention is to create a desire for collaborative professionalism through a successful project, which may then spur more voluntary engagement with it.