Lesson 2: Context and Construction

To expand on the idea that we can evaluate the quality of a source based on the A NICE source attributes and thinking about messaging, the project progresses to incorporate the idea that authority is socially constructed and contextual—a threshold concept from the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.

After a lecture that teaches students how concepts like language, values, and trustworthiness are social constructions and how context (timing, situation, location, etc.) can change how we should consider the quality of sources, students are asked again to evaluate a news story and note what specific context and social constructions should be considered this time around.