Authentic Practice

Situated Learning of Scholarly Practice

Our approach to the learning of information literacy practices is based on ideas from situated cognition, especially Lave and Wenger's theory of legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice. Participation is one of the 3 Directions.

LPPCOP

In legitimate peripheral participation in a community of practice the novice is given a place on the sidelines or periphery of the community where the novice can observe and talk about the whole field of practice, including the more advanced and critical tasks at the core of the community. The novice can then progressively gain the abilities needed to enter the core membership of the community.

To design instruction and assessment in these terms we must refer to the community of practice the student aims to enter. In the case of first year students, that community of practice is college students. By the capstone experience, the community is scholars and professionals associated with the major field of study.

Authentic Learning Activities and Assessments

So it follows that assessment of information literacy practice at the capstone level will focus on the student doing something that is an authentic practice in the field of study. The point is to have direct evidence of a student's abilities in the context of the major field.