25 Curriculum Development in Information Literacy

Dr Taruna Joshi

1. Introduction

According to the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education “Gaining skills in information literacy multiplies the opportunities for students’ self-directed learning, as they become engaged in using a wide variety of information sources to expand their knowledge, ask informed questions, and sharpen their critical thinking”. Thus, information literacy provides a foundation for life-long learning, which is the ultimate goal of education, and it is also common to all the disciplines, learning environments and levels of education. An information literacy curriculum could be developed based on the information literacy standards, performance indicators and outcomes mentioned in the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

2. Meaning of Key Terms

The key terms used in the module are defined below:

Curriculum Development: Curriculum development means planning the contents to be taught to the students for a particular course of study.

Curriculum Pedagogy: Curriculum pedagogy means the strategy of teaching a curriculum, and it includes teaching planning and designing, and the style of teaching.

Information Literacy: Information Literacy is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.

Information Literacy Curriculum: Information literacy curriculum includes teaching of information literacy policies, activities, assessments, delivery and organization.

Information Literacy Instruction: Information literacy instruction includes teaching the user how to use a library and its resources, and also how to access and find information.

Information Literacy Models: Information literacy models contain competencies/ understandings that a person requires to be information literate.

3. How to Impart Information Literacy?

There are two different ways of imparting information literacy training to the students. One is the stand-alone module, wherein it is sort of one solution for all the disciplines. The second being, the information literacy training which is embedded in the curriculum. The faculty members consider it the ideal situation when information literacy programmes are embedded in the curriculum, use a wide range of information resources in problem-solving strategies, make effective use of different technologies to teach information literacy, include finding, evaluating, and using information, and it emphasizes the ethical and legal issues connected to information, is built on a needs assessment, which evaluates the current state of students’ competence in information skills, as well as on-going assessment of students’ achievement of the skills that make them information competent (Work Group on Information Competence, 1995).

5. Models of Information Literacy Training

In the past, students were usually taught information literacy skills using the traditional instructive approach, which involved the teacher lecturing and students passively receiving information. However, the “emergence of new pedagogical methods has influenced how teachers and librarians are imparting these skills to the students” (Chu).

Students are required to take a credit course on information literacy which provides a base of knowledge and skills. Students may then be given formal learning opportunities in other courses that reinforce skills and concepts learned in the information literacy course. These additional learning opportunities are also important for learning the specific resources of a given discipline (ILAC Continuous Improvement Team, 2003). There are many models of information literacy, such as:

5.1 Integrated Curriculum or General Education Model

Integrating information literacy into the curriculum is about building skills for independent and lifelong learning in a systematic way throughout a student’s career (Consortium of National and University Libraries). Integrating information literacy across the curriculum is considered the best model. Ferrer-Vinent and Carello assessed about 200 students in advanced biology courses at a college in Colorado that assessed their proficiency at using the library resources. It was found that “those who took the discipline-specific library instruction were more confident in their library skills, had a more scholarly approach toward biology library research, made better library database choices, and were better able to meet the expectations of their professors”(Ferrer-Vinent). In this model, each discipline on a campus develops an Information Literacy component. For example, the Psychology department would require students majoring in Psychology to take an Information Literacy class that would highlight information literacy theory and concepts using psychological topics. During this time students would study Location and Access, Big6 Stage 3, and the librarian and professor may present the various psychological databases and journal titles that are assessable through the library. Working closely together, the professor and librarian identify specific assignments and activities that represent the outcomes and learning objectives for both the discipline and the ACRL Standards, again tied together through the use of The Big6 (Story-Huffman).

Another issue to consider when embedding information skills into the curriculum is that of assessments. The teaching and assessment activities have to be constructively aligned to the stated learning objectives; matching them in this way will help to make the learning and assessment process more meaningful (Robertson, McMurray, & Roberts)..

In this method, the librarian and the faculty members collaborate to plan, develop and deliver the information literacy module. Thus the responsibility is shared by the librarian and the faculty members equally.

5.2 Web-Based Online Tutorials

The web-based online tutorials are a team-based collaborative effort. The core development team consists of a project manager, librarian, faculty member and multimedia specialist. For most of the Web modules, the librarians are solely responsible for content development and the multimedia staff for the creation of the Web pages (Anderson).For example, an online tutorial for SciFinder for undergraduate and postgraduate students was created by a team consisting of the science librarian, the systems librarian, and a chemistry professor at Rider University using Adobe Captivate 4 software. The online tutorial for SciFinder was designed to teach students how to search for relevant, scholarly articles, and how to retrieve those articles from the university library or those of nearby institutions (Dawson).

A course management system could also be used for the purpose. For example, an online tutorial was prepared for the “World Civilizations” course at the University at Buffalo. The tutorial included a quiz for self-assessment, opportunities for active learning, and individual e-mail feedback between students and librarians. The feedback to the tutorial helped in improving tutorial (Gabster).

At the University of Texas, a tutorial, called “Information Excavation” was developed which was divided into three parts. The first part covered searching the Internet to find information. The focus was upon finding the information which is freely available on the Internet. Part two covered use of the resources of the University of Texas’s libraries. The users found information on finding books in the libraries, journal articles and conference papers, and using the full-text online resources. The last portion provided some tips and suggestions for locating resources found to be helpful for engineering students. Topics covered included finding industry standards, patents, finding specific data, and the nature of proprietary information (Ardis).

5.3 Demonstration of Information Literacy Mastery Model

If the students are just required to attend the information literacy programme without any type of assessment at the end of the programme, the students take it casually. But credit-based information literacy programmes are attended much more seriously by the students. Thus many nurses who return to college to pursue a degree and exhibit the skills they have learned during their years of employment, are given credit for those skills, and are then placed in the appropriate course in the degree programme (Work Group on Information Competence).

5.4 Information Literacy Models in Developing Countries

The ‘Empowering 8 Problem-Solving Model’ was developed to suit the local needs of South and Southeast Asian countries. The components and learning outcomes of this model included “the ability to identify, explore, select, organize, create, present, access and apply information to local needs” (Dadzie). Now one might argue that when so many information literacy models are already available, then what is the need to develop an information literacy model separately for the developing countries. But it is essential to develop a separate information literacy model for the developing countries, because of the composite culture and local conditions in developing countries. If an existing model used in a developed country is imposed on the developing countries, it becomes difficult for the stakeholders to understand the philosophical roots behind the model.

6. Development of Information Literacy Curriculum Pedagogy

Information literacy curriculum pedagogy includes learning theories (both cognitive and constructivist) and sociocultural constructivist approach to learning. The learning theories are vital for information literacy and are employed widely in information literacy classes. Learning theories could be used to design, deliver and improve information literacy instruction. Assessment learning theory could be used to integrate assessment with information literacy instruction, as assessment is inseparable from teaching.

7. Curriculum for Information Literacy

A number of assignments or projects could be employed to integrate information literacy with the curriculum. Such assignments or projects could include the following:

7.1 Overview of the literature of a discipline

• Compare and evaluate reference sources. Look up a topic in a few different subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc, and compare how the topic is covered. In this way, the students get to learn how reference sources are created, how and when to use these, criteria for evaluating these, and their limitations.Write an encyclopedia article on a topic. Define the topic and its scope, what are current issues and questions, who are current prominent scholars/researchers, how is work disseminated and accessed, brief bibliography of important recent literature.
• Identify and compare major subject journals. Introduce students to the role of journals in the field; see how journals can differ in approach and perspective.
• Review a major subject journal. Trace how a journal changes over time: who has published in it, what topics are covered and how they are covered.
• Review a subject index, yearbook, or other periodic reference source. Note how trends in topics are studied and the ways they are studied evolve over time.
• 7.2 Tools and techniques required to search the literature of a discipline effectively
• Keep a research log. Involves recording sources consulted and why, keywords and subjects searched, results of searches, how searches were modified based on results, results of modified searches, etc. This gets students to think about the choices they make as researchers.
• Search in a specific index or database (compile bibliography, keep a research log). Useful for more sophisticated databases: use thesaurus to find appropriate subject headings for a topic, search history function to modify or combine results of previous searches, Boolean strategies for complex searches, and other advanced features and how they help.
• Search the Internet (annotated bibliography of sources, research log). Using the Internet for scholarly research, how to find and evaluate sites, how to determine the reliability of Internet sources, what you can and cannot find on the Internet.
• Compare results from different sources. Search in and then compare results from two academic indexes (e.g. how do different disciplines approach the same topic), different search engines or subject directories on the Internet, or free sources on the Web versus subscription sources via the library. Shows the importance of selecting appropriate research tools.

          7.3 Indexing in a specific discipline

• Track an author, or a particular article or book, through a citation index. How to use citation indexes, what does it mean to be cited, see the interconnectedness of the scholarly network, see how topics evolve.
• Trace a scholar’s career. Use biographical and bibliographical tools, see how that individual fits in the scholarly network, and how the scholar’s work has been evaluated by others.
• Create a bibliography of a scholar’s publications. Requires a thorough search of all appropriate bibliographical tools to do a complete bibliography.

     7.4 Analysis and evaluation of the literature of a discipline

• Write an annotated bibliography of a topic. Involves selecting and using appropriate indexes, briefly summarizing and accurately evaluating sources, properly citing sources.
• Write a literature review. Involves using indexes, learning about literature reviews, see how a topic evolves and how to trace its evolution.
• Create an anthology of readings for a topic/class. Select articles, essays, book chapters, web sites, etc, useful for students learning the topic. Write an introduction summarizing the subject; describe each item included in the anthology, explaining why it is included. Add a supposition that you may not get copyright permission to include some of your selections: select some alternative readings, explain why they are alternates but not on the primary list.
• Compare several reviews of a book. Find academic book reviews; see critical responses to scholarly work.
• Write a book review. Read academic book reviews, learn their purpose and know how to analyze a book.
• Compare an academic/scholarly article with a nonacademic article on the same topic. How to distinguish between different types of publications, peer-review and academic publishing process, compare typical characteristics of the different types of publications.
• Read a paper’s references. Find articles cited in a paper’s bibliography, critique how and why the author used them.
• Find primary sources, compare these with secondary sources on the topic. Understand the difference between primary and secondary sources, learn what constitutes a primary source for a specific discipline or project, search tools and strategies for finding primary sources.
• Find newspaper and magazine articles reporting on scholarly research, and the research being reported. Critique how the scholarly findings are reported in the popular press.

• 7.5 Presentation of the research results

• Public presentations of research results. Rather than (or, in addition to) a paper, let students present the results of their research in a web site, PowerPoint presentation, poster session, etc. Alternate ways of organizing and presenting results, compare advantages and limitations of different types of presentations (e.g. poster sessions or slide presentations force succinctness, web pages allow for multimedia and nonlinearity, etc).
• Write a research proposal. Do a literature search and review, evaluate the current state of knowledge in the topic, write a specific proposal for an extensive research project to extend the current state of knowledge.
• Write a grant proposal to a specific funding agency. Find appropriate agency for project; include purpose, objectives, procedures, etc., along with a literature review, budget, etc. Divide class into groups, each group reviews a set of proposals by others in the class.
• Write an exam for the class. Explain why you posed each question, and write (or at least outline) what you think would be a good answer.
• Write a newspaper article reporting the results of scholarly research for a general audience.
  8. Structure or Organization of Information Literacy Contents

  A number of information literacy standards are available which help to structure or organize the contents of an information literacy instruction programme. One such model has been developed by Association of College and Research Libraries, which could be used for all the disciplines in higher education. It includes five standards, followed by their performance indicators and expected outcomes.

  9. Instruction and Delivery of Information Literacy

  There are various models for instruction and delivery of information literacy. These include information literacy curricular design model, seven pillars model, information literacy instruction model, information literacy model with Indian perspectives, etc. In the knowledge society, it is almost impossible to predetermine the information needs of the learners. Thus to get best results from an information literacy programme, the information literacy instruction requires integration with the existing curriculum of its learners.

  In a model for the Indian learners, it was suggested to include three key questions for designing information literacy instructional model- what should be taught, when and where to instruct and who should be the instructor (Varalakshmi, 2007).

  The most popular method is the collaboration model. In the collaboration method both the librarian and the academic staff work for the information literacy programme.

  10. Improvement in Quality of Information Literacy Content

   The institutions constitute committee consisting of library staff members and academic staffs, which is responsible to suggest measures for the quality of information literacy content, in order to retain its relevance for the learners.

  11. Existing Curricula

  A  large  number  of  information  literacy  curricula  have  been  developed.  For  example,  Purdue University’s Library developed information literacy instruction in 1995, University of Cambridge has developed a new curriculum for information literacy in 2011, etc.

  12. Summary

  Information literacy is a set of critical skills required for the information age. Information literacy training is developed based on any information literacy model and could be imparted as a stand-alone version or embedded in the curriculum. The curriculum is imparted through a set of assignments and projects.

Further Reading:

1. Anderson, Karen (2006). Teaching about electronic records in an online learning environment. Archival Science.
2. Ardis, Susan and Haas, Jennifer (2001). Specialized Remote User Education: Web-Based Tutorials for Engineering Graduate Students. Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship.
3. Association of College & Research Libraries. (n.d.). Information literacy competency standards for higher education. Retrieved April 12, 2008, from http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency
4. Chu, Samuel Kai Wah, Tse, S.K.and Chow, Ken (2011). Using collaborative teaching and inquiry project-based learning to help primary school students develop information literacy and information skills. Library & Information Science Research 33 (2011): 132-43.
5. Consortium of National and University Libraries. Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum. ILAC Continuous Improvement Team. (2003, August). Information Literacy Across the Curriculum Action Plan. Retrieved October 1, 2014, from College of DuPage: http://www.cod.edu/library/services/faculty/infolit/actionplan.pdf.
6. Dadzie, Perpetua S. (2007). Information Literacy: assessing the readiness of Ghanaian universities.Information Development 23.4 : 266-77.
8. Dawson, Patricia H, Jacobs, Danielle L and Young, Sharon Q. (2010). An Online Tutorial for SciFinder for Organic Chemistry Classes. Science & Technology Libraries 29.4 : 298-306.
9. Ferrer-Vinent, Ignacio J. and Carello, Christy A. (2011). The Lasting Value of an Embedded, First-Year, Biology Library Instruction Program. Science & Technology Libraries 30.3 : 254-66.
10. Gabster, Ligaya A. and Walsh, Tiffany R. (2008). Enhancing Library Instruction to Undergraduates: Incorporating Online Tutorials into the Curriculum. College & Undergraduate Libraries 15.3 : 314-33.
11. Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum. http://www.library.nuigalway.ie/media/jameshardimanlibrary/content/documents/support/CONULACIL bookletfinal.pdf Accessed 10th September 2014.
12. Information Literacy Curriculum. https://www.lib.purdue.edu/services/instructor-services/curriculum. Accessed 10th September 2014.
13. Jarson, Jennifer. (2010). Information literacy and higher education: A toolkit for curricular integration.College & Research Libraries News 71.10 : 534-538.
14. Owusu-Ansah, Edward K. (2004). Information Literacy and Higher Education: Placing the Academic Library in the Center of a Comprehensive Solution. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 30.1 : 3-16.
15. Purdue University. (2014). Information Literacy Curriculum. Retrieved November 15, 2014, from Purdue University Libraries: https://www.lib.purdue.edu/services/instructor-services/curriculum
16. Robertson, A., McMurray, I. I. and Roberts, P. Embedding a Curriculum-Based Information Literacy Programme at the University of Bedfordshire. Journal of Pedagogic Development , 2 (1).
17. Story-Huffman, R. (n.d.). How to Integrate Information Literacy into Higher Education Curriculum. Retrieved September 25, 2014, from The Big 6: http://big6.com/pages/lessons/articles/how-to-integrate-information-literacy-into-higher-education-curriculum.php
18. Varalakshmi, R. S. (2007). Information Literacy Models: An Indian Perspective. Journal of Library and Information Science, 33(1), 41-60.
19. Wesleyan University. (n.d.). Integrating Information Literacy into the Curriculum. Retrieved September 20, 2014, from Wesleyan University: http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/infoforyou/infolitintegrating.html
20. Work Group on Information Competence. (1995, December). Information Competence in the CSU: AReport. Retrieved September 23, 014, from http://cdigital.uv.mx/bitstream/123456789/6044/2/Information1.pdf