Presented at LILAC 2017

1. BACKGROUND THE QUESTIONMETHOD TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY IMPLICATIONS
Dissecting Informed Learning
A Birds-Eye View of Information Literacy in First-Year College Courses
Lorna Dawes| Assistant Professor | University of Nebraska| ldawes2@unl.edu

2. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Teaching Information Literacy
Seven Faces of
Information Literacy
BRUCE (1998)
Do We Speak the Same
Language. COPE (2015)
Faculty Perceptions
of Student’s Information
Literacy Competences.
DUBICKI (2013)
Is There an Information
Literacy Gap to be Bridged?
DACOSTA ( 2010)
HOW DO FACULTY
Experience TEACHING
INFORMATION
LITERACY
THE PROBLEM

3. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Conceptions of Information Literacy
Phenomenography
10 Female
14 Male
4 Professors.
4. Assoc. Prof.
4 Assist. Prof.
3 Assoc. POP
2 Assist. POP
3 Lecturers
1 Postdoc.
11 Science
5 Social Science
8 Humanities
Years Teaching
First-Year
3yrs-24 yrs.
Years Teaching
specific class
1yr-15yrs
Experience a
phenomenon

4. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Conceptions of Information Literacy
Phenomenography
Outcome Space
Themes of
Expanding
Awareness
Dimensions of
Variation
Conceptions of a
phenomenon
Teaching Information
Literacy
Categories
of
Description

5. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Faculty Experiences
Describe how you use information in this first year class.
Can you think of any key concepts or big ideas that you think your students struggle to
understand in relation to information use in your class (Hofer, 2012).
CONTENT

6. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Faculty Experiences
Describe your approach to teaching students how to use information effectively in this course.
Describe how you design your course to help students use information effectively.
APPROACH

7. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Faculty Experiences
When do you feel as if you have been successful in teaching students how to use information
effectively in this class (Larson, 2007).
How do you know when students have used information effectively in your course?
PRODUCT

8. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Themes of Expanded Awareness
OVERLOAD
Managing the Information ‘glut’
o Finding information within the sources
o Managing organized and un-organized information
o Discipline information practices
o Researcher information discovery
1

9. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Themes of Expanded Awareness
ACCESSIBILITY
Navigating the ‘flow’ of information.
o Matching need to suitable sources
o Discriminating and filtering
o Discipline specific information practices
o Accessing experiential information
2

10. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Themes of Expanded Awareness
DIVERSITY
Utilizing various types and formats of information.
o Knowing the value of each different source in the discipline/course
o Critically assign value to sources
o Participating in the discipline discourse
o Using a variety of sources to create new understandings
3

11. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Teaching Information Literacy
CONSUMER CONCEPTION
4
Developing students who understand the varied nature of
information, appreciate and evaluate the range and quality of the
information and select to satisfy their needs at any particular time.
DISCOURSE CONCEPTION
Teaching students how to use information to participate in scholarly
discussions and conversations through written, oral and visual
contributions.
BEHAVIORAL
CHANGE
PARTICIPATORY
DISCOURSE
VALUE
ASSESSMENT
CRITICAL
SELECTION

12. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Teaching Information Literacy
CONSUMER CONCEPTION
CRITICAL
SELECTION
4
Teaching to develop strategies that
are varied and unique to specific
information formats and research
purposes.
Teaching how to judge the relevance,
credibility and authenticity of the
information, in different contexts.
VALUE
ASSESSMENT
DISCOURSE CONCEPTION
Teaching how to analyze, and integrate
information with personal research and
contributions, using the information to
communicate within a specific discourse
community.
Teaching how to use information
to develop new understandings
that change behavior or impact the
society.
BEHAVIORAL
CHANGE
PARTICIPATORY
DISCOURSE

13. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Provide guides
Model strategies
Scaffold Instruction
Critical Selection
“But they can if I walk through. ‘What does a scientific paper look like? What are the pieces? What
are the components of it? What are we looking for when we read through it? What can we get from
this paper, even if we can't get all the details of the paper ?’” (Biological Science, Associate
Professor.)
“So, with undergrads…I do a combination at the beginning of semester of providing them with
information. So, things like the textbook and a few videos at the beginning of the semester and
maybe a few articles that I find that I think are really good examples of the topics that we're
discussing… my goal is that they know where to find the kind of information that's important to
them.” (Agricultural Science Associate Professor)
“I think most students you know if it’s a video or something like that, no problem; they can find that
on YouTube or whatever. But if you refer them to an article, or you refer them to something, boy
they're completely lost.” (Veterinary Science, Assistant Professor of Practice).
Overload
Accessibility
Diversity
5

14. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Facilitate Discussion
Model Fact-Checking
Peer Review
Evaluating content in
course textbook
“ Students don’t understand that because the information is available it may not be useful or accurate,
and understanding what is the important and relevant information within the sources, seems to be
difficult for them to do
Value Assessment
“…one of the big parts of the class is helping them understand the difference between information
that's derived from science and information that is not and to judge the quality of information that is
derived from science based on how the science is conducted. How that knowledge may differ from sort
of everyday conventional wisdom or religious beliefs or just beliefs in general values
whatever..”(Agricultural Science Associate Professor)
So, I do have students who have a bit of a hard time distinguishing…(like a press release…there's a
lot of science blogs out there that are just reporting press releases) that which sounds scientific 'cause
it often has the scientist giving quotes, and there are citations in there, in the papers, but they have a
hard time distinguishing that from the primary paper. So, there's a mis-categorizing information.” (Life
Science Associate Professor.
Overload
Diversity
Accessibility
6

15. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Deconstructing
Arguments & Theories
Complementing
textbook with
relevant articles
Stimulating questions
Argumentative papers
Background research-
literature reviews
“I'm trying to instill in the students a feel for what it means to be a scientist… a
researcher. Somebody who reads what other people have done before them, and comes up with
ideas from the results of the other people's research.” (Biological Science. Associate Professor)
Participatory Discourse
…they're starting to learn to see text as part of a larger conversation, and so a kind of an ecology
of texts. You know, looking at text as belonging to the world in a certain context. (English, Lecturer)
“So all of that to me involves information conversation, where and who has contributed to the
conversation gathering, sometimes it involves understanding what you know, thinking about what,
who else has tried to say something of these kinds of things in this moment. Who else has tried to
raise these concerns with this audience in the past, and how they have done that right?”. (English,
Associate Professor)
Diversity
Accessibility
Overload
7

16. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Assign case studies
Problem Solving
Theory Applications
Service Learning
“…bridging the sociology discipline with your life experiences…” (Sociology,
Research Associate
Behavioral Change
“…teaching students that all of these separate pieces of information that they get during the
semester and all of the separate units are part of their 'palette of tools' to help them understand
more holistically the world that they live in.” (Geography, Lecturer)
Well I teach it that way because I don't want them going through life thinking that everything that they
read on the internet and they read in the textbooks is absolutely true and they can’t just say "Alright
I've taken biology class in 201 so I don't ever have to study biology again the rest of my life because
I learned it, there's nothing more to learn." (Biochemistry, Full Professor).
Accessibility
Diversity
Overload
8

17. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
The Act of Learning
I'm reading and I forget that I'm reading a student paper.
“… students come in with information that I wasn't aware of, or when students are
able to add additional information, when they are able to contribute above and
beyond what I had brought to the class.”
They'll read something and instead of answering the
question, they're starting to think of other things that it
brings to mind.
9
I'm reading this but I'm reading this work and it's challenging
and it's asking questions and its researching those questions
and it's analyzing data research and I get lost in it…

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BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
What will the students need to know?
What do the students need to do?
How do the students need to think?
How do students learn?
How do I facilitate the learning?
Informed Learning
Davis, J. R., & Arend, B. D. (2013). Facilitating Seven Ways Of Learning: A Resource For More Purposeful, Effective, and Enjoyable College Teaching.
What do the students need to do?
How do the students need to think?
How do students learn?
How do I facilitate the learning?

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BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Informed Learning
Teach the Discourse in the Disciplines:
What researchers communicate, how they communicate and
disseminate their information internally and externally.
e.g.. How information is organized
TeachHowtoEvaluatetheDiscourse:
Understandhowpublicationsarereviewedandacceptedforpublication,
purposeof differentformsof communication.
e.g.Scholarlyvs.popular,bias,evaluatingtweets,blogs,articles,
Teachhowtomaintaintheintegrityof thediscourse:
Understandhowresearchstandardsaremaintainedinthediscipline
community.
e.g.Citationmanagement,definingandavoidingplagiarism, etc.
Teaching “Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing
the reflective discovery of information
the understanding of how information
is produced and valued,
and the use of information in creating
new knowledge
and participating ethically in
communities of learning”
ACRL Framework. 2015.

20. BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Informed Learning
MISCONCEPTIONS?

21. 21
BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Questions?
TEACHING
INFORMATION
LITERACY
Behavioral
Change
Participatory
DiscourseValue Assessment
Critical Selection
Consumer Conception
Discourse Conception
Lorna M. Dawes
Assistant Professor
Liaison for Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
First-Year Experience & Learning Communities
Liaison for Science Literacy.
University Libraries
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
402 472 4408
ldawes2@unl.edu

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BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Further Reading
TEACHING
INFORMATION
LITERACY

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BACKGROUND TAKE AWAY TAKE AWAY THE QUESTIONMETHOD IMPLICATIONS
Further Reading
References
Davis, J. R., & Arend, B. D. (2013). Facilitating Seven Ways Of Learning: A Resource For More Purposeful, Effective, And Enjoyable College Teaching. Stylus Publishing. Virginia.
Badke, William. ( 2010). “Why Information Literacy Is Invisible.” Communications in Information LIteracy4 (2): 129–141.
Bruce, C. (1998). “The Phenomenon of Information Literacy.” Higher Education Research & Development 17 (1): 25–43.
Bruce, C., Hughes H and Somerville, M. (2012) Supporting Informed Learners in the Twenty-First Century. Library Trends 60(3):522-545.
Cannon, A. (1994). Faculty Survey On Library Research Instruction. Research Quarterly, 33(4), 524–541.
Cope, Jonathan, and Jesus E. Sanabria. 2014. “Do We Speak the Same Perceptions of Information Literacy.” Portal: Libraries and the Academy. 14(4):475-502.
Dacosta, Jacqui Weetman. (2010). “Is There An Information Literacy Skills Gap To Be Bridged ? An Examination Of Faculty Perceptions And Activities Relating To Information Literacy In The
United States And England.” College & Research Libraries 71(3), 203–222.
Dubicki, Eleonora. (2013) Faculty Perceptions of Student’s Information Literacy Skills Competencies. Journal of Information Literacy 7(2) :97-125.
Leckie, G. J., & Fullerton, A. (1999). Information Literacy In Science And Engineering Undergraduate Education : Faculty Attitudes And Pedagogical Practices. College And Research
Libraries, 60(1), 9–29.
Nilsen, Christina. (2012). “Faculty Perceptions Of Librarian-Led Information Literacy Instruction In Postsecondary Education.” World Library and Information Congress: 75th IFLA General
Conference And Assembly. Helsinki, P1–25.