Developmentalism: Learning as the Basis for Evaluating Information

The developmentalist conception of information’s value makes learning the central consideration for evaluating information. Following philosopher Richard Kraut, this article argues that developmentalism provides an important complement to prevalent methods of teaching the evaluation of information. These methods emphasize (a) trustworthiness—for example, CRAAP (currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose) and CARS (credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and support) and (b) the use of information in an argument—for example, Joseph Bizup’s BEAM (background, exhibit, argument, method). The neglected link between evaluation and learning is crucial for early college researchers; otherwise, students can easily just find sources to “back up” their existing opinions. Learning-centered evaluation also challenges students to question how selective exposure influences their media habits. The article includes suggested applications for information literacy instruction in first-year composition

Ways That Information Can Be Good

Evaluating information is fundamentally a matter of judging an information source according to its value. Current practice in library instruction is somewhat limited insofar as it equates the value of information with credibility or usefulness in a persuasive argument. Philosopher Richard Kraut proposes a theory of value that links a thing\u27s goodness to its capacity to promote well-being. Applying this idea to information, I argue that information is most valuable when it disrupts our current ways of thinking and feeling and leads us to consider new possibilities. We need to incorporate this aspect of value into our current strategies for teaching students to evaluate information. Given unlimited time and ideal collaboration with partners in K-12 and higher education, I would teach my undergraduates that the most important aspect of a source\u27s value lies in its capacity to stimulate the researchers\u27 growth intellectually, affectively, and socially. When teaching, it is easy to overlook this sense of information\u27s value, particularly when one is engrossed in teaching criteria for assessing a source\u27s credibility (e.g., the CRAAP Test) or discussing the ways that sources can contribute to a persuasive argument (e.g., Bizup\u27s BEAM categories). A complete education in evaluating sources, one that reinforces the threshold concept that research is inquiry, will deepen students\u27 thinking about information\u27s trustworthiness, its rhetorical usefulness, and its value as a catalyst for growth. In this conceptual talk, I will briefly introduce Kraut\u27s developmentalist account of value and apply it to information. I will also show how considerations of credibility and rhetorical strategy are not sufficient to promote deep learning in student research and writing. Finally, I will suggest goals for collaborative partnerships to provide an information literacy education that imparts skills for the persuasive use of information while also developing students\u27 appreciation for information that stimulates lifelong learning

Engaging Student Veterans as Researchers: Libraries Initiating Campus Collaborations

Student veteran enrollment in higher education has increased significantly following the Post-9/11 GI Bill (Molina & Morse, 2015). The professional literature of academic libraries includes several examples of outreach to this growing population, most of which involve marketing to student veterans differently, customizing existing services and spaces for student veterans, and honoring student veterans for their military service. But reaching out to student veterans can be difficult. Student veterans frequently have work and family responsibilities competing for their time and attention, and, as outreach librarian and former Army sergeant Sarah LeMire notes in her 2015 ACRL contributed paper, they are often reluctant to participate in programs that make them seem more needy than other students. We expanded our library’s outreach to student veterans by hosting a symposium for student veterans to present their research projects. This approach is distinctive insofar as we address potential participants foremost as competent researchers, emphasizing their strengths rather than their needs. We also collaborated with various campus offices to integrate student veteran researchers into campus-wide research showcase events. This paper shares strategies for working with student veteran researchers and for securing buy-in among relevant campus stakeholders

Motivated Reasoning, Political Information, and Information Literacy Education

Research in psychology and political science has identified motivated reasoning as a set of biases that inhibit one’s ability to process political information objectively. This research has important implications for the information literacy movement’s aims of fostering lifelong learning and informed citizenship. This essay argues that information literacy education should broaden its scope to include more than just knowledge of information and its sources; it should also include knowledge of how people interact with information, particularly the ways that motivated reasoning can influence citizens’ interactions with political information

Should We Flip the Script?: A Literature Review of Deficit-Based Perspectives on First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Information Literacy

This mixed method systematic review considers recent literature on the information literacy (IL) skills of first-year undergraduate students. The review uncovers the following themes: faculty and librarians perceive first-year students as lacking IL skills; students have varying perceptions of their IL skills; assessment studies yield conflicting findings on first-year students\u27 IL; communication between high school and college librarians is challenging; and some IL researchers emphasise and leverage first-year students\u27 prior knowledge and experience in IL instruction. These themes emerge from extensive searches in four research databases for scholarly and professional articles written in English within the past ten years. With the exception of a few articles, studies reviewed consistently express their findings in terms of students’ gaps or deficits. We question whether this is the most productive basis for developing effective IL programs. Instead, we call for further investigation of students’ existing knowledge and skills as a basis for implementing constructivist and strengths-based pedagogies

Lose the Lecture: Gamble on Peer-to-Peer Learning

How do you facilitate meaningful engagement in a single class period? We used a low-stakes strategy that makes students comfortable presenting new material in 75 minutes. This peer-to-peer activity is a high-energy alternative to lecture. We broke the class up into teams and gave them unique learning challenges. Once completed, they presented this new information to the class using a free cloud-based design software (Canva). We will share examples of prompts we used, the work students developed, and best practices for implementation. Each participant will leave with ideas for using our activity in their own instructional context

Open-mindedness is an achievement: Prototyping a New Threshold Concept for Information Literacy

Open-mindedness is an achievement, not a trait that one has by default. It requires careful attention to the best available evidence and argument on a question. It finds its fullest expression in the context of a loving pursuit of truth