Sharing the ACRL Framework with faculty: Opening campus conversations

Abstract

I n the fall of 2015, my colleague Tish Hayes and I conducted a six-week professional development course for faculty on the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. The course, entitled "A New Framework for Information Literacy," was offered through the Moraine Valley Learning Academy (MVLA) at Moraine Valley Community College and organized by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). MVLA is a professional development program aimed specifically at faculty with the goal of improving teaching and learning. It is directed by a committee of faculty and implemented by CTL staff. MVLA offers face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses for faculty. By taking these courses, faculty earn credits that can be applied to promotions. Seven faculty members participated in our course, representing a variety of disciplines, including writing, philosophy, history, medical assisting, and ESL/GED.

Implementing the ACRL Framework: Reflections from the Field

“…16 Troy Swanson describes intense discussions on his campus about the threshold concepts in the Framework, to introduce faculty to these ideas and generate commitment to implementing the Framework. 17 Meredith Farkas writes that the Framework "has enriched my own teaching as I've made incremental changes toward instructional improvement and better facilitating student learning." 18 Gloria Willson and Katelyn Angell report an attempt to map the Framework concepts onto an assessment rubric for professional standards in nursing; despite some challenges, they believe that this approach holds promise for that field.…”

Embracing Challenges in Times of Change: A Survey of the Readiness of Academic Librarians in New Jersey for Transition to the ACRL Framework

“…Craven (2016) adds that "many community college librarians live in a results-driven world" (p. 3), and "for the purpose of communicating value in concise, compelling terms in a results-driven environment, it (the Framework) is a bug" (p. 4). Conversely, Swanson (2017) states that faculty "felt that the novice-expert trajectory outlined by threshold concepts presented a useful way to define the relation between faculty member, student, and learning outcomes" (p. 12).…”

“…The relevance of the Framework at the community college level is addressed in the literature (Craven, 2016;Dempsey, et al, 2015;Reed, 2015;Swanson, 2017). Reed (2015), by mapping knowledge practices of the Framework to the performance indicators of the Standards, finds that not all frames are applicable at that level.…”

“…11, NO. 1, 2017 However, there is general agreement that the Framework is a valuable tool for revisiting how we teach IL, and for exploring evolving information habits, contexts of information creation, and the needs of students in a changing higher education landscape (Bombaro, 2016;Burgess, 2015;Carncross, 2015;Christensen, 2015;Dempsey, et al, 2015;Drabinski, 2016;Foasberg, 2016;Jacobson & Gibson, 2015;Oakleaf, 2014;Pagowsky, 2015;Seeber, 2015;Swanson, 2017;Witek, 2016). Drabinski sees the Framework as "one point and platform in the ongoing scholarly conversation about IL, one that draws on work within and beyond our field" (p. 384).…”

Facing the frames: Using the Framework as a guide for a credit-bearing information literacy course

“…2 In January 2017, Troy Swanson wrote about a professional development course for community college faculty that encouraged them to consider the Framework as a tool for instructional design and assessment in their own courses. 3 So far, it seems that most librarians have been using the Framework internally: as a guiding document for creating one-shot lesson plans and departmental learning outcomes, with some examples of using the Framework to talk to other stakeholders around campus.…”