Purpose
This study aims to explore the application of reflective pedagogy within a course-embedded library instruction session (as opposed to a semester-long credit bearing course) as a means to foster transfer learning of research practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual essay adapts theories of reflection for transfer learning as found in composition and rhetoric literature to the traditional course-embedded library instruction classroom.
Findings
The application of reflection as a structured learning construct may have the potential to transform the library instruction classroom into an environment where transfer learning is more likely to take place.
Research limitations/implications
Most models for transfer learning are based on semester-long courses and do not take into account the abbreviated context of the traditional library instruction event. This presents a challenge to any adaptation of theory, as library instruction is often an event isolated to one or a few sessions.
Practical implications
This study provides a structure for reflective pedagogy for librarians who desire to engage students in practices that offer the potential of fostering transfer learning.
Originality/value
Librarians are practicing reflective pedagogies in semester-long information literacy courses, but few have used reflection in traditional instruction sessions beyond the documentation of student learning for assessment purposes. This essay provides a theory that extends reflective pedagogies into the traditional library instruction classroom with the hope of fostering transfer learning.
Library instruction is predicated on the assumption that transfer learning can take place, but how do librarians determine whether transfer is occurring? This study examines the use of reflection as a learning theory within the one-shot library instruction classroom to facilitate metacognition and transfer learning. Through the analysis of student work, researchers demonstrate that students connect past skills with current learning and are able to assess what they know and what they need. This essay provides a framework for applying reflective pedagogy for broad application within the library instruction classroom.
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