Embedding Information Literacy into Course Design with the FrOG

Abstract

According to both Local experience and current literature on the subject one of the instructional obstacles facing academic librarians is the traditional reliance on one-shot library instruction to teach information literacy (IL) skills, which students require time and repeated exposure to master. As such, librarians depend on collaborations with teaching faculty in order to make IL instruction a continuing and essential element of their courses. However, studies suggest teaching faculty often lack either the time or administrative incentives to invest in long-term IL collaborations with librarians. For this reason, librarians need tools for helping non-library faculty to understand how to fully integrate IL competencies into their syllabi and assignments. At the University of Southern Indiana, we have attempted to address these obstacles by developing an interactive, online tool the Framework Objective Generator (FrOG) for learning objective generation and course design brainstorming using the ACRLs Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. The tool is structured around simple questions mapped to more complex threshold concepts in the context of a guide through the beginnings of the backward design process. Though the FrOGs main purpose is to guide users toward measurable, Framework-based learning objectives, we also mapped these objectives to the AAC&U Information Literacy VALUE Rubric outcomes to provide USI faculty with a streamlined assessment experience using campus-recognized terminology and standards. In order to help our users make the most of this tool we have also created a visualization, the Framework Transit Map, to represent the concepts at work and the ways in which they are related to each other; we selected a model the tube map -- that contemporary studies of visualization style and design identify as highly effective for sharing information about complex processes. Instead of viewing individually identified IL skills in isolation or as a static list of practices and concepts, the transit map encourages the user to consider each skill dynamically, in terms of the connections and relations among related concepts and practices. Ideally, the Framework Transit Map serves as an illustrative process guide for considering IL skills as a part of course or assignment creation, designed to be attractive to faculty who would otherwise be reluctant to take on what they might perceive as the extra work of creating and assessing information literacy outcomes above and beyond their disciplinary content. Our ultimate goal is the improvement of IL instruction design for librarians and non-library faculty alike, which we believe will lead to improved student IL outcomes. References Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). Information Literacy VALUE Rubric, July 31, 2014. https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/information-literacy Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, February 9, 2015. http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/issues/infolit/framework1.pdf Burkhard, Remo Aslak, and Michael Meier. Tube Map Visualization: Evaluation of a Novel Knowledge Visualization Application for the Transfer of Knowledge in Long-Term Projects. Journal of Universal Computer Science 11, no. 4 (2005): 473-494. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-011-04-0473 Cope, Jonathan, and Jess E. Sanabria. Do We Speak the Same Language?: A Study of Faculty Perceptions of Information Literacy. Portal: Libraries and the Academy 14, no. 4 (2014): 475-501. Saunders, Laura. Culture and Collaboration: Fostering Integration of Information Literacy by Speaking the Language of Faculty. In ACRL 2013 Proceedings. Indianapolis, IN: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2013. http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content/conferences/confsandpreconfs/2013/papers/Saunders_Culture.pdf Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. 2nd ed. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005. Wilkinson, Lane. Reconsidering Threshold Concepts: A Critical Appraisal of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, 2016. https://vimeo.com/167354816. Yakoboski, Paul. Adjunct Faculty: Who They Are and What Is Their Experience? Trends and Issues. TIAA Institute, November 2018. https://www.tiaainstitute.org/index.php/publication/adjunct-faculty-survey-2018