IIST 649: Information Literacy Instruction: Theory and Technique (5058)
Spring 2015
Instructor:
Deborah Bernnard
Office: Dewey Graduate Library
Tel.: 442-3699
email: dbernnard@albany.edu
Office Hours: By appointment. I will generally be available at the Dewey Library on
Thursdays
Class Hours: Wednesday, 4:15-7:05 in Husted 006, January 21-May 6, 2014.
Textbook: Grassian, E. and Kaplowitz, J. (2009) Information Literacy Instruction: Theory
and Practice (2nd Ed.) New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers. The textbook is available at Mary
Jane Books, 215 Western Ave. You can use their web site to determine if the books are in stock
http://www.maryjanebooks.com.
There is also a copy on reserve at the Dewey Library.
Class meetings: The course will meet 15 times. Class will not be held on March 18. I may
decide to cancel class in the event of inclement weather. If that happens, I will email each of
you individually and through the department listserv well in advance of the start time for the
class.
Required Reading: The articles noted on the course outline are also required reading
for this course. I expect that you will have read them and the textbook chapters before coming
to class. The articles are available, along with the syllabus and assignment information sheets,
through the University’s Electronic Reserve (eres) which is available through Blackboard. I may
add articles to the required readings throughout the course. If I do, I will announce it in class
and post it to eres in plenty of time for you to read it.
ILI-L Discussion List: Please subscribe to the ILI-L list, and check your messages regularly (at
least before class each week). Here is the Web page address in which you can subscribe to the
listserv. http://lists.ala.org/wws/info/ili-l.
Blackboard: This course blackboard page contains the syllabus, information
literacy instruction online resources, power point lectures and assignments.
Course Description: This course is an introduction to information literacy instruction in a
variety of types of libraries, with a concentration on academic libraries. An exploration of
theoretical issues in the field, instructional program development, and teaching techniques will
be included. Students will develop and present an instructional session designed for a specific
library user group.
Course Objectives and Student Outcomes:
Course Objectives:
1. To impart an understanding of concepts and issues associated with information literacy.
2. To familiarize students with basic concepts and terminology in the field.
3. To provide an understanding of learning theory.
4. To familiarize students with essential lesson planning skills and a variety of teaching
methods.
5. To facilitate conceptualization of how instructional needs relate to the design,
implementation, evaluation, and revision of an instructional program.
Student Outcomes:
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
1. Describe and explain concepts, principles, and techniques related to information literacy.
2. Identify an instructional need.
3. Select among a variety of instructional methodologies to design, implement, evaluate, and
revise instructional solutions to fit identified needs.
4. Discuss and apply learning theory to arrive at solutions to varied instructional scenarios.
5. Obtain experience designing and delivering an information literacy session.
Instructional Methods:
This class will incorporate active learning techniques and will require a high level of student
participation. Students will be involved in debates or other oral presentations, including
teaching a 30 minute session on the topic of their choice (the session length depends on the
number of students in the course). Some work will be done in small groups. A portion of each
class will be devoted to individual or group exercise with a whole class discussion following the
exercise. Attendance of each class session is required. Please discuss any conflicts with me
before the scheduled class session. Students will also be responsible for leading and facilitating
each week’s discussion. Specific students will be responsible for one topic discussion during
the course. This involves the student becoming familiar with assigned readings, finding
additional readings on the topic and developing a discussion question or active learning activity
based on the assigned topic. A signup sheet will be distributed in class in order for students to
choose the topic they will facilitate.
Grading and Course Requirements:
In class work [15%]
We will be spending a portion of our class time creating goals and objectives, lesson plans,
assessment tools and active learning exercises. Much of this will be done in groups. Your active
participation, as an individual, in the group’s work will be graded. The work of the group as a
whole will also be graded.
Class Discussion Leadership [15%]
Individuals or small groups of students will be responsible for directing discussion during a
portion of some class sessions. You should prepare by finding, in the literature, a description of
a library that is or has grappled with some aspect of the topic. Describe the libraries
program/solution/dilemma and use this as a springboard to leading a class discussion on one or
more aspects of the day’s topic. The purpose is to understand ways in which theory is put into
practice and to engage the class in discussion and even debate, and not to make a presentation.
Effective creativity will be rewarded.
Please provide me with a bibliography of the additional readings you did to prepare for your
class discussion leadership.
Evaluation of an online tutorial [12.5%]
Select an online tutorial, created by a librarian or team of librarians, either from the University
Libraries or from another library of your choice. Evaluate the efficacy of the tutorial. Examine
the tutorial for evidence that the creator tied content with established instructional practice.
Look for evidence of learning theories that we have covered in class. Tutorials offered by
venders, such as Lexis or EBSCO are not to be used for this assignment. (3-5 pages)
Evaluation of an information delivery technology [12.5%]
Pick one information delivery technology to evaluate. Examples are: Streaming Media, Power
Point, Clickers, Captivate, Course Management Software, Blogs, Wikis, Software programs such
as Inspiration.etc. If you are evaluating an information delivery technology that is not
mentioned above, check with me before you start . Evaluate in terms of cost, ease of use for
both instructor and student, ability to foster learning in X situation. Pay attention to ways in
which you would assess instruction using this technology. (3-5 pages)
Online Tutorial Creation [15%]
Online Tutorial
Create a short (3-7 minute) information literacy tutorial using screencast software, Youtube or
other video presentation tool (not power point or prezi). Here is a link to a guide that
provides information on a variety of tools.
http://libguides.seaburyhall.org/content.php?pid=322257&sid=2871107.
Suggestions for topics are: Searching the catalog, Searching a database, Using Zotero or
Mandelay, How to find resources in the library. Please let me know what your topic is going to
be before you start working on it.
When you design this tutorial, be mindful of learning theory and learning styles. I understand
that most of you will be new to using these tools. I don’t expect perfection and will grade on
your good faith effort.
Please let me know if you are willing to share the video with your classmates. If so, we will view
them during classtime.
Instruction Session (Final Project) [30%]
For a final project, you will present a 30 minute instruction session on the topic of your choice,
for the audience of your choice. These sessions will occur during the last two class periods.
Because of the brevity of the allotted time, it will be important to narrow your selection, so that
you don't attempt to cover too much. You will need to provide supporting materials at the time
of your instruction session, including a description of the audience and setting; a brief outline of
the content of the session; goals with objectives for the session; a pathfinder or guide; a
bibliography of sources you consulted in developing your session (sources relating both to the
topic you are teaching and the teaching methods you chose to use); and a 2 page selfevaluation of the process. Further details are provided on the assignment guidelines sheet.
All assignments are due on the date specified. Written assignments turned in late will be
penalized. Grades will be dropped for late assignments. Extensions will be granted in
extenuating circumstances only if you petition me before the class session at which the
assignment is due. Discussion leaders and presenters of instruction sessions will not be granted
extensions, due to the nature of the obligation.
Due to the nature of key assignments in this course, incompletes will not be given for the
course.
Plagiarism and other academic dishonesty will result in a lowered or failing grade, and will be
reported to the Office of Graduate Studies. For more information on what constitutes
plagiarism, see http://library.albany.edu/usered/plagiarism/index.html.
Course Outline as of (subject to revision)
Date
1/21
1/28
Topics
Introductions,
Syllabus,
Definitions,
Professional
Organizations,
History and
State of the
Field.
Information
Literacy
(What do we
mean when
we talk about
Readings
Grassian and Kaplowitz, Chapters 1 and 2.
Elmborg, J. (2006) Critical information literacy:
Implications for practice. Journal of Academic
Librarianship. 32 (2): 192-199
Hofler, A.R., Townsend, L. & Brunetti, K. (2012).
Troublesome concepts and information
literacy: Investigating threshold concepts for IL
instruction. Portal:Libraries and the Academy.
Due
information
literacy?)
12 (4): 387-405
Rose-Wiles, L.M. & Hoffman, M.A. (2013). Still
desperately seeking citations: Undergraduate
research in the age of web-scale discovery.
Journal of Library Administration. 2-3 :147-166
Papen, U. (2013). Conceptualizing information
literacy as social practice: A study of pregnant
women’s information practices. Information
Research. 18 (2) :1-13.
2/4
Information
Literacy
Standards
AASL Standards for the 21st century learner
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesand
standards/learningstandards/standards.cfm
Information Literacy Competency Standards for
Student Learning: Standards and Indicators
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracy
competency
The SCONUL Seven Pillars of Information Literacy
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/groups/information_literacy/
seven_pillars.html
ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards
Review Task Force Task Force Recommendations
http://www.ala.org/acrl/sites/ala.org.acrl/files/content
/standards/ils_recomm.pdf
Ianuzzi, P.A. (2013) Info lit 2.0 or déjà vu?
Communications in Information Literacy. 7 (2)
Jacobson, T.J. & Mackey, T. (2013) Proposing a
metaliteracy model to redefine information literacy.
Communications in Information Literacy. 7 (2)
2/11
Learning
Theory,
Drabinski, E. (2014) Toward a Kairos of Library
Instruction. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 40:
480-485
Grassian and Kaplowitz, Chapters 3 and 4
Learning
Styles,
Motivating
Students
Matteson, M. (2014) The whole student:
Cognition, emotion, and information literacy.
College and Research Libraries. 75 (6): 862-877
Okam, W. (9 Jan. 2008) None. The New York Times.
Sanderson, H. (2011) Using learning styles in
information literacy: Critical considerations for
librarians. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. 37
(5): 376-385.
2/18
2/25
3/4
3/11
Pedagogy
F-2-F,
Team Based,
Flipped
Classrooms
Online,
CMS, MOOCs
Guest
LecturerJenna Pitera
Needs
Assessment
Goals,
Objectives,
Learning
Outcomes
Lesson Plans
Instructional
Design
http://www.ala.org/nmrt/news/footnotes/february201
3/surviving-instruction-six-teaching-tips-new-librarians
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/services/instruction/tips/in
dex.html
Furay, J. (2014). Stages of instruction: Theatre,
pedagogy and information literacy. Reference Services
Review 42(2): 209-228
Jacobson, T. (2011) Team-based learning in an
information literacy course. Communications in
Information Literacy. 5 (2)
Margaryan, A., Bianco, M., & Littlejohn, A. (2015)
Instructional quality of massive open online courses
(MOOCs). Computers & Education. 80:77-83
Meredith, W. & Mussell, J. (2014). Amazed,
appreciative or ambivalent? Student and faculty
perceptions of librarians embedded in online courses.
Internet Reference Services Quarterly. 19 (2): 89-112
Grassian and Kaplowitz, Chapter 7
Grassian and Kaplowitz, Chapter 12
Assignment:
Evaluation of
an online
tutorial
3/18
3/25
4/1
4/8
No Class
Program
Management
Guest
Speaker:
Trudi
Jacobson,
Coordinator
User
Education,
University
Libraries,
University at
Albany
Mullins, K. ( 2014) Good IDEA: Instructional design
model for integrating information literacy. The Journal
of Academic Librarianship. 40 (3-4): 339-349
Spring Break
Cox and Lindsay, Chapter 6: Program Management
(available on eres)
Mery, Y., Newby, J. and Peng, K. (2012) Why one-shot
information literacy sessions are not the future of
instruction: A case for online credit courses. College
and Research Libraries preprint.
Assignment:
Evaluation of an
information
delivery
technolog
y
No Class
Assessment
Blackboard discussion forum
Grassian & Kaplowitz, Chapter 11
Oakleaf, M. (2008) Dangers and Opportunities: A
Conceptual Map of Information Literacy Assessment
Approaches. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 8 (3)L
233-253
4/15
4/22
Information
Literacy and
Social Media
in the Public
Library
Guest
Speaker:Dean
na DiCarlo
Trends
Bridges, L. (2012) Librarian as professor of social media
literacy. Journal of Library Innovation. 3 (1)
Assignment
Information
literacy
video or
Active
Learning
session
Grassian and Kaplowitz-Chapter 17
Brabazon, T. The disintermediated librarian and a
reintermediated future. (2014) The Australian Library
Journal. 63 (3): 191-205
Mackey, T & Jacobson, T. (2011) Reframing Information
Literacy as Metaliteracy. College and Research
Libraries.72 (1) 62-78.
4/29
5/6
Presentations
Presentations