Human Rights and the War on Terror: Complete 2005 - 2007 Topical Research Digest

“9/11 changed everything.” Not really. In fact, there has been far more continuity than change over the past six years in both international and domestic politics. Nonetheless, human rights often have been harmed—although not by terrorism but by “the war on terror.

Instructional Experience and Teaching Identities: How Academic Librarians’ Years of Experience in Instruction Impact their Perceptions of Themselves as Educators

As academic librarians’ instructional responsibilities evolve, it is useful to consider what factors influence how they consider their teacher identities. In this research, the author used a survey instrument grounded in transformative learning theory to explore whether librarians with varying years of experience in instruction held different beliefs about how their teaching identities had developed. She found that individuals\u27 years of teaching experience impacted whether fellow librarians or those outside of librarianship influenced how they thought of themselves as educators. Moreover, academic librarians who had more experience indicated that changes in their job responsibilities impacted their instructional identities at greater rates than their less experienced counterparts. Understanding these influences can help library leaders to design, provide, and facilitate meaningful learning opportunities for instruction librarians

Motivational Design in Information Literacy Instruction

Motivational design theory complements instructional design theory and, when used together, both principles can impact learning, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge retention. In information literacy instruction, motivational design exists throughout the appropriate standards documents. However, there is limited current research on the best practices for using motivation in information literacy or library-based instruction. The existing research does indicate that librarians who deliver information literacy instruction attempt to implement motivational design theories such as Keller\u27s ARCS model into their teaching, although often at a low level. Furthermore, studies of face-to-face and online library learning environments illustrate that using the ARCS model – and, more broadly, considering student motivation – can impact student learning and achievement. In considering how future information literacy instruction can be most effectively designed, expanding research on the meaningful inclusion of motivational design in information literacy instruction could help to impact this discipline\u27s instructional significance, knowledge retention, and learning application

Designing for Engagement: Using the ADDIE Model to Integrate High-Impact Practices into an Online Information Literacy Course

In this article, the authors share how a team of librarians used the ADDIE instructional design model to incorporate best practices in teaching and learning into an online, four-credit information literacy course. In this redesign process, the Association of American Colleges and Universities\u27 high-impact practices and e-learning best practices were integrated as scaffolds for course content. The authors\u27 experience with this systematic process and the concepts of instructional design suggest that the ADDIE model can be used to achieve several different ends in information literacy instruction. First, it can provide a structure around which librarians can develop a variety of instructional interactions. Second, it can help librarians consider student engagement, learning, and assessment more intentionally. And third, it can help to marry information literacy-specific standards and other learning guidelines, such as high-impact practices and e-learning best practices. From the authors\u27 experience, other academic librarians may find applications for instructional design constructs into their own teaching practices, both in online and face-to-face learning environments

Academic Librarians’ Educational Factors and Perceptions of Teaching Transformation: An Exploratory Examination

Objective – As information literacy instruction is an increasingly important function of academic librarianship, it is relevant to consider librarians’ attitudes about their teaching. More specifically, it can be instructive to consider how academic librarians with different educational backgrounds have developed their thinking about themselves as educators. Understanding the influences in how these shifts have happened can help librarians to explore the different supports and structures that enable them to experience such perspective transformation.Methods – The author electronically distributed a modified version of King’s (2009) Learning Activities Survey to academic librarians on three instruction-focused electronic mail lists. This instrument collected information on participants’ demographics, occurrence of perspective transformation around teaching, and perception of the factors that influenced said perspective transformation (if applicable). The author analyzed the data for those academic librarians who had experienced perspective transformation around their teaching identities to determine if statistically significant relationships existed between their education and the factors they reported as influencing this transformation.Results – Results demonstrated several statistically significant relationships and differences in the factors that academic librarians with different educational backgrounds cited as influential in their teaching-focused perspective transformation.Conclusion – This research offers a starting point for considering how to support different groups of librarians as they engage in information literacy instruction. The findings suggest that addressing academic librarians’ needs based on their educational levels (e.g., additional Master’s degrees, PhDs, or professional degrees) may help develop productive professional learning around instruction