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Framing the ACRL Framework Trudi Jacobson, Co-Chair ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education Task Force Head, Information Literacy Department University at Albany
Framing the ACRL Framework
Trudi Jacobson, Co-Chair
ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Higher
Education Task Force
Head, Information Literacy Department
University at Albany
With thanks to Craig Gibson
Co-Chair of the ACRL Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education Task Force
And creator of some slides in this presentation
This morning we will… • Glimpse the reasoning, motivation, and constructs
(threshold concepts and metaliteracy) behind the
Framework
• Delve into the Framework and its potential
• Brainstorm and share ideas about implementation
• Discuss potential ways to move forward
• Consider additions to this list
How did we get from there to here?
Determine extent of information need
Access/Search
Evaluate
Use/apply
Consider ethical/legal/social issues
Scholarship
Authority
Information Creation
Value
Searching
Inquiry
Students’ experience of research
Describe students’ research skills in one sentence
(photo courtesy of UCD School of
Medicine)
Learners in Today’s Info
Environment
• Students are overwhelmed, uncertain about “starting
points” for academic research
• Students often do not understand the nature and scope of
academic research assignments
• Students report being confused about the “open-
endedness” of the research process—how to know when
to conclude an assignment without precise instructions?
Alison Head, “Project Information Literacy: What Can Be Learned about the Information-Seeking Behavior of Today’s College Students?” Proceedings of the ACRL National Conference (2013), Indianapolis, IN, pp. 472-482.
Learners in Today’s Info
Environment
• Students use “tried and true” tools and resources (Google, Wikipedia, a small set of databases)
• Students may not expand their repertoire because of familiar assignment types (standard research paper)
• Students carry over to college many of their high school routines and practices for research
Alison Head, “Project Information Literacy: What Can Be Learned about the Information-Seeking Behavior of Today’s College Students?” Proceedings of the ACRL National Conference (2013), Indianapolis, IN, pp. 472-482.
Other Findings
• Students use library databases but start with
• “Discovery” is not a problem: evaluation
and contextual understanding are the
challenges
• Students are overconfident in their
searching
Other Findings
• Students confuse library-sponsored
resources with the “open web”
• “Good enough” results: satisfaction with
one or two screens of search results
• Students ask for help from friends, parents,
and teachers rather than librarians (and
may use Facebook in doing so)
Source: Emily Singly, “How College Students Really Do Research: Findings from Recent Studies,”
American Libraries, November 22, 2014. Available at: http://emilysingley.net/how-college-students-
really-do-research-findings-from-recent-studies/
Learners in Today’s Info
Environment
Context
The single most important missing element for today’s learners in becoming information literate
• The “Big Picture” (summary, background, overview) • Information Gathering (finding and securing relevant
sources) • Language (understanding the meaning of words) • Situational (knowing the expectations of assignments,
the surrounding circumstances)
Alison Head, “Project Information Literacy: What Can Be Learned about the Information-Seeking Behavior of Today’s College Students?” Proceedings of the ACRL National Conference (2013), Indianapolis, IN, pp. 472-482.
Activity
Pick one of your course-related instruction sessions
for this activity
• What is the course? What level are the students?
• What desired learning outcomes has the instructor
identified?
• Outline what you tend to do during this session.
What do the students do?
Thinking about a New Way of
Framing Information Literacy
• Focus on the information landscape
• Help students to understand the “why”
• Transcend particular skills and resources
• Focus on the human processes of knowledge creation, searching, reporting, writing, presenting instead of just the artifacts of these processes
The Framework vs. The Standards
• 4 domains addressed:
cognitive, affective,
behavioral,
metacognitive
• Learners as information
consumers & producers
• 6 Frames
• Learning outcomes and
assessment locally-based
• Faculty involvement critical
• Emphasis on behavioral
and cognitive domains
• Learners as information
consumers
• 5 Standards, 22
Performance Indicators
• Learning outcomes
specified
• Meshes with one-shots
Framework Standards
From an Ithaka Report “ …its complexity, its scope, and its somewhat daunting guidelines for implementation will make it more challenging to use, if ultimately more successful. It captures more realistically what information-literate people really do and, despite the controversies, represents a significant step forward in the incorporation of a sophisticated understanding of scholarly work practice into the fundamentals of librarianship.”
Ithaka Report by Nancy Fried Foster: Information Literacy and Research Practices http://www.sr.ithaka.org/sites/default/files/files/SR_Briefing_Information_Literacy_Research_Practices_20141113.pdf
Goals for the Framework
• A flexible system of learning
information literacy concepts that
can be tailored to individual settings
• Recognizes the participatory,
collaborative information
environment: learners as
content/knowledge creators, not just
consumers (Mackey and Jacobson, “Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy,” C & RL, 72 (1) 2011, pp. 62-78)
Goals for the Framework
• Importance of metacognition
(thinking about one’s own thinking) (Mackey and Jacobson, “Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy,” C & RL, 72 (1) 2011, pp. 62-78)
• Recognition of affective factors
(dispositions/habits of mind) (Carol Kuhlthau’s
work, amongst others)
http://pixabay.com/en/puzzle-learn-arrangement-components-210785/
Frame
Threshold Concepts
Dispositions
Knowledge Practices
Habits of mind
Behaviors
demonstrating
understanding
Underpinning ideas
In depth look
Metaliteracy
Threshold Concepts
Threshold Concepts Hofer, Townsend, and Brunetti describe threshold concepts and their criteria, as based on the work of Jan Meyer and Ray Land:
…Threshold concepts are the core ideas and
processes in any discipline that define the discipline,
but that are so ingrained that they often go
unspoken or unrecognized by practitioner. They are
the central concepts that we want our students to
understand and put into practice, that encourage
them to think and act like practitioners themselves.
(Hofer, Townsend, and Brunetti, 2012, 387-88)
Why Threshold Concepts?
“Threshold concepts reflect the
perspective of experts in our profession
on the most important concepts in our
field, and also provide a developmental
trajectory for assisting our students in
moving from novice to experts in using
and understanding information in a wide
variety of contexts.”
Threshold Concepts Transformative
Integrative
Irreversible
Bounded
Troublesome (Hofer, Townsend, and Brunetti, 2012, 387-88), quoting Meyer and Land
Threshold Concepts • A passage through a portal or
gateway: gaining a new view
of a subject landscape
• Involve a “rite of passage” to
a new level of understanding:
a crucial transition
• Require movement through a
“liminal” space which is
challenging, unsettling,
disturbing—where the student
may become “stuck”
Threshold Concepts in the Learning Process
• “The transformation may be sudden or it
may be protracted over a considerable
period of time, with the transition to
understanding often involving ‘troublesome
knowledge’“
• “The acquisition of threshold concepts often
involves a degree of recursiveness”
(Meyer, Land, and Baillie, eds., Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning, 2010)
Threshold Concepts in the Learning Process
• Allow time for the process of grieving as students let go of previous conceptual models
• There is a need for a dynamic method of assessment that charts student progress along the transformational journey, rather than a single assessment “snapshot”
(Meyer, Land, and Baillie, eds., Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning, 2010)
Progression toward more sophisticated
understanding
Traversing the threshold
Basic
(mis)Understanding
Over the threshold
Initial State
Via librarian,
professor, or
experience
Through continued
exposure in courses
or other experience Learner Progression for a Threshold
Threshold Concepts in Disciplines
• Geology: the scale of geologic time
• Economics: opportunity cost
• Accounting: depreciation
• History: no unitary account of the past
• Writing/rhetoric studies: audience, purpose,
situated practice, genre
• Biology: evolution
Threshold Concepts for IL
• Authority is Constructed and
Contextual
• Information Creation as a Process
• Information Has Value
• Research as Inquiry
• Scholarship as Conversation
• Searching as Strategic Exploration The concepts were identified through an ongoing Delphi study being conducted by L. Townsend, A. R. Hofer, S. Lu, and K. Brunetti, though the Task Force took some of them in new directions
What is Metaliteracy?
• “promotes critical thinking and collaboration in a
digital age”
• “comprehensive framework to effectively participate
in social media and online communities”
• “unified construct that supports the acquisition,
production, and sharing of knowledge in
collaborative online communities”
Thomas P. Mackey and Trudi E. Jacobson “Reframing Information Literacy as a Metaliteracy” College &
Research Libraries. January 2011 72:62-78. http://crl.acrl.org/content/72/1/62.full.pdf+html
Mackey and Jacobson (2014)
Metaliteracy: Reinventing
Information Literacy to
Empower Learners
Metaliteracy: Reinventing Information
Literacy to Empower Learners
(Mackey and Jacobson, 2014).
“Metaliteracy expands the scope of traditional information skills (determine, access, locate, understand, produce, and use information) to include the collaborative production and sharing of information in participatory digital environments (collaborate, participate, produce, and share)” (p. 1).
“Metaliteracy empowers learners to participate in interactive information environments, equipped with the ability to continuously reflect, change, and contribute as critical thinkers”
(p. 86).
(Jacobson and Mackey, Proposing a Metaliteracy Model to Redefine Information Literacy, 2013)
Collaboratively Developed ML Goals and Objectives
1. Evaluate content critically, including dynamic,
online content that changes and evolves, such as
article preprints, blogs, and wikis
2. Understand personal privacy, information ethics,
and intellectual property issues in changing
technology environments
3. Share information and collaborate in a variety of
participatory environments
4. Demonstrate ability to connect learning and
research strategies with lifelong learning processes
and personal, academic, and professional goals
http://metaliteracy.org/learning-objectives/
Mackey and Jacobson (2014)
Metaliteracy: Reinventing
Information Literacy to
Empower Learners
Quick Reflection:
I’d love to see
my students
take on the
role of…
Metaliteracy in Practice
(Jacobson and Mackey, Forthcoming).
“Metaliteracy applies to all stages and facets of an individual’s life. It is not limited to the academic realm, nor is it something learned once and for all. Indeed, metaliteracy focuses on adaptability as information environments change, and the critical reflection necessary to recognize new and evolving needs in order to remain adept.” (Preface)
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Assessment Need to avoid assessments that allow mimicry
Rather, use a declarative approach where students represent their knowledge, such as concept maps, portfolios, logs, blogs, diaries
Assess over time, recognizing the recursive process of learning (Meyer and Land, 2010)
Assessment
Differentiate between assessing
understanding, or crossing the threshold, of a
threshold concept and assessing a knowledge
practice or a learning outcome developed
from a Frame
Curriculum Design Considerations
• Want students to stay in liminal state long enough to learn (B. Fister)
• Design with colleagues
• Faculty and librarians identify existing connections and co-develop assignments
• Position frames strategically across the curriculum
• Align threshold concepts with learning outcomes (or create new learning outcomes)
Curriculum Design Considerations
• Design learning activities or lessons
around threshold concepts
• Allow for confusion and uncertainty
• Revisit the concept more than once
• Revise learning outcomes if
necessary
Adapted from: “Threshold Concepts: Strategies and Approaches.”
Office of Learning and Teaching, Southern Cross University.
Available at: http://scu.edu.au/teachinglearning.index.php/92)
Activity Think / Pair / Share
Think • Review your description from earlier about an
instruction session
• Does it fit, in part or in whole, with one or more
frames?
• Jot down which frames, and add knowledge
practices and affective components you think
mesh well
• Do you foresee potential difficulties?
PAIR
• Describe your session and the applicable frames
• Together, brainstorm either: o a way to address a frame (something you hadn’t thought
of when working on your own) or
o a way to address a potential difficulty you identified
• Switch and talk about the other person’s session
• Pick one to present to the whole group
Share
http://padlet.com/tjacobson/rrlc
Q & A
Trudi Jacobson, M.L.S., M.A.
Distinguished Librarian
Head, Information Literacy Department
University Libraries
University at Albany, SUNY
@PBKTrudi
Metaliteracy Digital Badging System
Metaliteracybadges.org
What is a digital badge?
o Record of an
accomplishment
o Corresponds to
knowledge shown or
abilities proven
o A component in the
competency-based
education movement
o Methods of gauging
accomplishment varies
o For metaliteracy badges,
reading by humans
important, given nature
of the learning Image Source: Girl Guides of Canada, CC-BY
