Presented at LILAC 2018

1. Teach Them Why
Using Information Literacy Threshold Concepts to Help
Undergraduates Research Better
LILAC 2018
Shelley Harper
Colorado College

2. Brown, Brené. 2017. Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way we Live, Love,
Parent, and Lead. New York: Random House.
Creativity embeds knowledge so that it can become
practice. We move what we’re learning from our heads to
our hearts through our hands. . . . [C]reativity is the
ultimate act of integration – it is how we fold our
experiences into our being.

3. Welcome
Shelley Harper
Instruction & Research Librarian
Tutt Library
Colorado College
sharper@coloradocollege.edu
www.coloradocollege.edu/library
Tutt Library
ColoradoSpringsIndependentNewspaper

4. Agenda
1. Introductions
2. Discussion
Why Incorporate Both Theory and Praxis?
Developing Lesson Plans Using Threshold Concepts
3. Classroom Immersion
Instruction Development Workshop
Use Threshold Concepts to Create a Lesson Plan for Your Teaching Environment
4. Q & A

5. Goal: Teach Students Why Research Works as It Does
Situate praxis within theory
Include research practice
Incorporate into one-shot sessions

6. Use Threshold Concepts to Organize Lesson Plans
Seminal concepts that must be understood in order to go further in
discipline
Basis of the Association of College & Research
Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for
Higher Education
Each ACRL framework includes
1 threshold concept
knowledge practices
learning dispositions

7. ACRL Threshold Concepts
Authority is Constructed & Contextual
Information Creation as a Process
Information Has Value
Research as Inquiry
Scholarship as Conversation
Searching as Strategic Exploration
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework

8. Use Threshold Concepts
Threshold Concept
Theory
Playground
Knowledge Practices, etc.
Engagement with Theory
Play
ACRL Frame

9. Merge Theory with Practice
Threshold Concept
Theory
Playground Knowledge Practices, etc.
Engagement with Theory
Play
ACRL Frame
Theory-Based
Practical
Learning

10. Threshold Concepts As Playgrounds for Praxis
Enable students to understand
the research process.

11. An Example Lesson
Using the Threshold Concept
“Search as Strategic Exploration”

12. What happened in the year
1550 CE at the site of a
university or college of
your choice?
Research Assignment
Answer This Research Question:

13. Doing library research can be thought of as a
strategic exploration of the information world

14. What happened in 1550 at your university or college?
1. Develop a Research Question (RQ)

Make a Plan
2. Parse out the RQ’s core concepts
The year 1550 CE, and the geographic location of the
school


15. Research Plan
Research Question:
What happened in the year 1550 CE at the site of a university or college of
your choice?
Core Concepts
1. The year 1550 CE
2. The location of the school
For each core concept, identify the types of sources that
could answer it

16. Essential Concept 1: The Year 1550 CE
Types Information
Timelines
Chronicles
Local History
Land Ownership Records

17. Research Plan
Research Question:
What happened in the year 1550 CE at the site of a university or college of your choice?
Core Concepts
1. The year 1550 CE
2. The location of the school
Types of Information
1. Timelines
2. Chronicles
3. Local History
4. Local Land Ownership
Records
For each type of information,
identify where it can be found

18. Where Is Information Kept?
Libraries
Special Libraries
Archives
Museums
Museum Libraries
Digital Repositories
The Open Web
Online Exhibitions and Libraries
Collections of Data (Data Sets)
Governments
web sites
documents
repository libraries
archives, libraries, & museums

19. Essential Concept 1: The Year 1550 CE
Types Information ThisType Is Located . . .
Timelines
Library reference sections
Archives
Special Collections
Digital Repositories
Online Exhibitions and Libraries
Chronicles ~See Above~
Local History
Archives
Museums/ Museum Libraries
Online Exhibitions and Libraries
Libraries
Land Ownership Records
Local Government Records
Online Government Records
Local History Locations

20. Research Plan
Research Question:
What happened in the year 1550 CE at the site of a university or college of your choice?
Types of Information
Core Concepts
For each location,
identify the search
tools used there.
Locations of Each Type
of Information

21. Essential Concept 1: The year 1550 CE
Type & Location Search ToolsUsed Notes on Usage
Timelines at
1. Library Reference Sections
2. Online Exhibitions and
Libraries
1. Library Catalog
2. Web Search or
Search available on
Site
1. Search by title, author,
or subject
Chronicles at
1. Library Reference Sections
2. Online Exhibitions and
Libraries
1. Library Catalog
2. Web Search or on-
site search
1. Search by title, author,
or subject
Local History at
Online Exhibitions and Libraries
Web search or on-site
search
Land Ownership Records at
Online Government Record
Repositories
On-site search

22. The Plan

23. Components of the example lesson
• Threshold concept “Search as Strategic Exploration”
• Thinking of search as strategic led to making the research plan
• Thinking of search as exploration opened up the idea that search
is complex

24. Backchannel Board
Padlet: Files for “Teach Them Why
https://padlet.com/sharper02/LILAC2018
https://padlet.com/sharper02/backchannel
Share your group’s name and at
least a summary of your work.
Up-vote the group whose work
you want to see

25. Your
Turn
1. Work with three or four others who are in a similar subject
specialty or who work in a similar type of library.
2. Choose a Threshold Concept and learn a bit about it.
http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework
3. Create a lesson plan as shaped by your Threshold Concept.
Remember to use the Knowledge Practices.
4. Use the Padlet Backchannel to share your group’s name at at
least a summary of your work. Feel free to share comments
about your group’s experience.
5. Up-Vote on Padlet the group whose work you want to see.
One group will share their lesson plan.
Padlet: https://padlet.com/sharper02/backchannel

26. Q & A

27. Thank You!
Shelley Harper
Colorado College
14 E. Cache La Poudre
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
01-719-389-2386
sharper@coloradocollege.edu

28. Brown, Brené. 2017. Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way we Live, Love,
Parent, and Lead. New York: Random House.
Creativity embeds knowledge so that it can become
practice. We move what we’re learning from our heads to
our hearts through our hands. . . . [C]reativity is the
ultimate act of integration – it is how we fold our
experiences into our being.