Reading, Researching, and Responding to Information: A Semester Curriculum

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Room 210

Abstract

Scaffolding the development of critical mindsets in our students is a perennial challenge, but one that is particularly urgent in an era of “fake news,” “alternative facts,” and information overload. In this presentation, a composition instructor and an instruction librarian from a public, land-grant university will share our collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to this challenge. We turned to research and best practices from both composition studies and library science in order to help our students contextualize the creation of knowledge, foreground information cycles over monolithic truths, and consider how information influences local, national, and global decision-making. By working together, we tried not only to teach but to actively model for our students how knowledge creation is a social, conversational, and continual process. Our first-year writing curriculum emphasizes research practices and the rhetorical skills necessary to engage with them. Moreover, by drawing on scholars such as Burke and Bourdieu, we strive to foster a habitus that disposes students to approach all information with a critical eye. Throughout a discussion of our process, course, and outcomes, we will offer both practical strategies and continuing challenges. We will also share lesson plans, learning materials, assessments, and reflections on our collaboration, alongside the theories that inform our approach.

Presentation Description

Seeking strategies for collaborative teaching, inspiration for instruction sessions, and new ways to tackle source evaluation in an era of “fake news” and “alternative facts”? Join us, a course instructor and an instruction librarian, as we share our reflections, lesson plans, and assessments for a first-year writing course, as well as the theories that inform our interdisciplinary approach.

Session Goals

n/a

Keywords

LIBRARY INSTRUCTION, INSTRUCTOR-LIBRARIAN COLLABORATION, PEDAGOGY, INFORMATION LITERACY, FAKE NEWS, EVALUATING SOURCES, CURRICULUM, ASSESSMENT

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Sep 16th, 12:15 PM Sep 16th, 1:30 PM

Reading, Researching, and Responding to Information: A Semester Curriculum

Room 210

Scaffolding the development of critical mindsets in our students is a perennial challenge, but one that is particularly urgent in an era of “fake news,” “alternative facts,” and information overload. In this presentation, a composition instructor and an instruction librarian from a public, land-grant university will share our collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to this challenge. We turned to research and best practices from both composition studies and library science in order to help our students contextualize the creation of knowledge, foreground information cycles over monolithic truths, and consider how information influences local, national, and global decision-making. By working together, we tried not only to teach but to actively model for our students how knowledge creation is a social, conversational, and continual process. Our first-year writing curriculum emphasizes research practices and the rhetorical skills necessary to engage with them. Moreover, by drawing on scholars such as Burke and Bourdieu, we strive to foster a habitus that disposes students to approach all information with a critical eye. Throughout a discussion of our process, course, and outcomes, we will offer both practical strategies and continuing challenges. We will also share lesson plans, learning materials, assessments, and reflections on our collaboration, alongside the theories that inform our approach.