Mod 3
The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education
Introduction
The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education provides a transformational conception of information literacy that acknowledges today’s highly complex, fast-changing, participatory information environment. Simply having a set of information finding skills is insufficient to be considered information literate.
In this module, you will delve into the Framework, learn about its rationale and foundations, and be introduced to its core components. The suggested activities provide you with an opportunity to consider how teaching based on the Framework benefits learners’ information literacy.
By the end of this module, you'll be able to:
- Explain what threshold concepts are and provide an example from the discipline of your choice
- Relate the Framework to the information needs in today's society
- Match the appropriate frame with knowledge practices and dispositions with an identified student learning need
- Assess how the four learning domains contribute to information literacy learning
trudi 1 10_19_18.mp4Threshold Concepts
This video explores threshold, or core, concepts, understanding of which allows for news ways of thinking. These concepts exist in all fields. You will learn about the six that the information literacy Framework is based upon.
Reflection
Ask two students, colleagues, or friends how they interact with information, both as consumers or producers. Probe.
- What they need to be able to do?
- How they learn new tools or ways of interacting?
- What emotions they feel as they go through the learning process?
- Do they feel confident as producers of information on social media?
- Do they even think of themselves as information producers?
Now, consider these questions for yourself as well.
trudi 2 10_19_18.mp4Using Concepts as the Basis for Understanding Information Literacy
Thinking about information literacy based on the understanding of concepts, rather than skills, requires a shift in one's view of the field. This video explores this idea, using the example that applies the frame Information Creation as a Process to database searching.
Reflection
Think about an attitude you would like students to display in connection with research--something from the affective domain. Then look at the list of Frames and pick one that you think might depend upon this attitude you identified. Explore the frame, and see if you can come up with accompanying behavioral (what someone could do upon taking on this attitude), cognitive (what they should know), and metacognitive (how they might be encouraged to reflect on their learning) components that would be appropriate to teach as a unit.
trudi 3 10_30_18.mp4Delving into the Six Frames
In this video, you will learn more about the Framework's six frames and consider how the other five frames relate to the database searching example from the previous video.
Reflection
Select one of the frames that you believe is important for your students or for others. Don’t read the entire frame yet. First, put yourself in the shoes of the task force that worked on this framework. Using the brief descriptions presented here, come up with two things that you think learners should be able to do if they understand the core concept, and one disposition that will help them in their search for understanding. Consider the difficulties you may have observed students having in relation to this idea. In other words, what bottlenecks are there to student understanding of the concept?
Credit Activity
Complete the following activity and submit it for review to work towards a badge for this course. A rubric is available for this activity.
Develop a Plan to Implement One Frame
Now you will expand upon the work that you did in the earlier activities in this module. In activity 3, you focused on one of the frames you feel is important for learners to understand in connection with what you teach. You came up with learning objectives for students, but without referring to the full frame. This final activity will start from there.
1. Read the full description of the frame, with its accompanying Knowledge Practices and Dispositions and review your activity 3 work
Consider how the knowledge practices that you developed fit into this fuller picture of the frame. Do you want to revise them in some way? Keep in mind that each frame represents an information literacy threshold concept, something that will be difficult for some students to grasp. Where have you seen them struggle? You also identified one important disposition. Does it align with the disposition examples listed? Revise it if this exploration of the frame suggests changes to you.
2. Identify and write additional Knowledge Practices and Dispositions
Having now read the full frame, identify additional items to add to the list you started of Knowledge Practices and Dispositions. Label those that you have created or revised from the Framework.
3. Review your list of Knowledge Practices and Dispositions for learning domains
Have you included items that address the cognitive (C), behavioral (B), affective (A), and metacognitive (M) learning domains? Fill in missing gaps. Label each one with the initial indicated and note any you wrote. If a domain isn't represented, explain why.
4. Compare past and future information literacy teaching
Now, reflect on what you have taught or asked someone else to teach your students in the past that relates to this frame. How does this former iteration compare to what you’ve just developed? What did this comparison indicate to you about the teaching of information literacy? How does it feel to adjust your conceptions of information literacy based on the Framework? [If you have not previously had the opportunity to include/teach information literacy in a course, imagine what a more skills-based session would include and then write responses to the questions above, adapting them as needed.]
5. Plan your next step and reflect on the process
Which frame would you like to tackle next? Write a sentence or two about why you selected this frame and how it will meet the learner's needs. Conclude by writing an additional paragraph in which you consider what you gained from completing the activities in this module. Will you use the plan you developed? What elements of student work do you imagine might be changed through learning about information literacy through the lens of the Framework? Do you envisage stumbling blocks for you or your students?