Maintaining Momentum: Evolving an Information Literacy Faculty Ambassador Program

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation

Conference Strand

Outreach and Partnership

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

Session 3 Papers

Relevance

This proposal describes the evolution of a "teach the teacher" approach to developing information literacy learners at our university. One of the presenters (a non-librarian) participated in the program and will share how she adapted the information literacy content for her department.

Abstract

This presentation will describe the evolution of an information literacy faculty development program that shifted from focusing on singular course design to programmatic goals. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education encourages librarians to collaborate with departmental faculty in designing IL programs. This level of collaboration requires time and flexibility as each discipline will have unique curricular opportunities and challenges. At Northern Kentucky University, IL is a campus-wide strategic initiative. To advance this work, librarians developed an IL faculty ambassador program that engaged participants in year-long professional development. In many cases, the program led to assignment and course redesigns. While largely successful, the program did not incorporate ongoing support of faculty ambassadors beyond the year spent in a cohort. As such, a new program was launched to build on the initial successes of the ambassador work, while aiming to more deeply engage entire departments in taking responsibility for IL education.

Presenters will provide an overview of the faculty development program, with an emphasis on its evolution, and share examples of how different disciplines are embedding information literacy. A faculty member who engaged in the program will share her experiences as a participant and the work she has done within her department to embed IL at the program level. This will include a discussion of centering the program learning outcomes around IL, revision of current assignments and the creation of an IL assignment bank for faculty in the department, and challenges juggling curricular changes with academic freedom.

Presentation Description

This presentation will describe the evolution of an information literacy faculty development program. Presenters will provide an overview of the program, with an emphasis on its evolution. A faculty member who engaged in the program will share her experiences as a participant and the work she has done within her department to embed IL at the program level.

Keywords

Faculty Development; Collaboration; Outreach; Programmatic Information Literacy; Programming

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

Share

COinS
 
Mar 30th, 11:45 AM Mar 30th, 12:15 PM

Maintaining Momentum: Evolving an Information Literacy Faculty Ambassador Program

Session 3 Papers

This presentation will describe the evolution of an information literacy faculty development program that shifted from focusing on singular course design to programmatic goals. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education encourages librarians to collaborate with departmental faculty in designing IL programs. This level of collaboration requires time and flexibility as each discipline will have unique curricular opportunities and challenges. At Northern Kentucky University, IL is a campus-wide strategic initiative. To advance this work, librarians developed an IL faculty ambassador program that engaged participants in year-long professional development. In many cases, the program led to assignment and course redesigns. While largely successful, the program did not incorporate ongoing support of faculty ambassadors beyond the year spent in a cohort. As such, a new program was launched to build on the initial successes of the ambassador work, while aiming to more deeply engage entire departments in taking responsibility for IL education.

Presenters will provide an overview of the faculty development program, with an emphasis on its evolution, and share examples of how different disciplines are embedding information literacy. A faculty member who engaged in the program will share her experiences as a participant and the work she has done within her department to embed IL at the program level. This will include a discussion of centering the program learning outcomes around IL, revision of current assignments and the creation of an IL assignment bank for faculty in the department, and challenges juggling curricular changes with academic freedom.