Companion Document to the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education: Instruction for Educators

Teacher Preparation and Education

As they prepare for service as educators, teacher education students:

• develop an awareness of the role that the process of information creation plays in source selection;
• evaluate the format in which information is presented;
• understand the different creation processes and audiences for scholarly and practitioner sources;
• stay up-to-date on new modes for the information creation process within particular fields or disciplines;
• recognize the different creation processes for online information sources such as blogs and social media; and
• evaluate the strengths, capabilities, and restrictions of different information creation processes.

Teacher Pedagogy Practice

In their instructional practice, educators:

• apply the concepts they have learned about the information creation process to their instruction;
• recognize students encounter information in a variety of non-traditional formats; they may not recognize the processes by which sources are created and the relationship between the creation process and the credibility of the source;
• ensure students understand how information is created for various distribution methods and how that applies to the students' information needs; and
• describe the distinctions in the creation process between those traditional sources and the newer sources such as blogs, social media, OERs, and other online outlets.

Social Justice

There are many ways for teachers to incorporate social justice ideals into their classrooms, including:

• articulating the capabilities and constraints of information developed through various creation processes; and
• critiquing systems that place value on different types of information products, standards, and research methodologies.

Incorporating these ideals means that teachers understand:

• how information is created and manipulated impacts how people find, evaluate, and use information.

Digital/Media Literacy

As teachers develop their digital and media literacy skills, they:

• recognize that information may be perceived differently based on the format in which it is packaged and how it is presented; and
• select appropriate information formats for their audiences (students, parents, colleagues) and learn how to create information in new and appropriate formats.

Metacognition/Reflection

As teachers assess their information literacy processes, they:

• develop, in their own creation processes, an understanding that their choices impact the purposes for which the information product will be used and the message it conveys; 
• recognize the importance of documenting the steps taken and sources consulted to develop lesson plans, teaching activities, and other materials. Understand the need to cite these materials; and
• use reflection and discussion activities to encourage students to reflect on and assess their own information creation processes and the information creation processes of their source materials.

About the Objective: This objective and corresponding activity address several knowledge practices from the Information Creation as a Process frame of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education. Teacher education students will learn to “articulate the traditional and emerging processes of information creation and dissemination in a particular discipline” and “recognize that information may be perceived differently based on the format in which it is packaged.” 

Related InTASC and ISTE Standards: InTASC 4o, 9e; ISTE 2.3.b 

Suggested Activity:

• Step 1: Adapt the lesson plan in "Beyond 'Is it peer-reviewed?': Exploring information creation in the sciences” to focus on education resources.
• Step 2: Teacher education students work in small groups to analyze a set of documents. Potential documents include:
  • A blog post from Cult of Pedagogy or a similar source
  • An ERIC report
  • A scholarly journal article
  • An article from Education Week or a similar source
• Step 3: Teacher education students identify the types of resources and explain how the documents relate to each other.
• Step 4: Ask teacher education students to consider how they will use each type of resource to continually improve their teaching.

About the Objective: In this objective and activity, teacher education students will reflect on how the format influences how a resource is perceived. The activity addresses two dispositions from this frame in the Framework. Teacher education students will “resist the tendency to equate format with the underlying creation process” and “understand that different methods of information dissemination with different purposes are available for their use.” Additionally, ISTE standard 2.3.b notes that teachers will “establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.”

Related InTASC and ISTE Standards: InTASC 9e; ISTE 2.3.b

Suggested Activity:

• Step 1: Ask teacher education students to watch the Inform Your Thinking Tutorial, “How is Your Information Created?”
• Step 2: Have teacher education students work in small groups to answer questions about their experiences with information creation.
• Step 3: For a reflection question, ask teacher education students to describe how they will explain information creation in their future classrooms. 

About the Objective: Government information sources may be used by teachers and teacher education students to both guide and determine their approach to teaching and as educational resources for their students. These unique sources have their own information creation processes and the InTASC standards 5k and 5p recommend teachers "understand the demands of accessing and managing information" and "how to access resources to build global awareness and understanding."

Related InTASC and ISTE Standards: InTASC 5k, 5p, 9d; ISTE 2.3.b, 2.4.c

Suggested Activity:

• Step 1: Adapt the lesson plan in “The Information Life Cycle” from Teaching Information Literacy Threshold Concepts, to focus on the state and national education government information life cycle. For example, take an issue like school safety or the Common Core standards and trace information on a topic through news stories, blogs, surveys, research studies, government documents, and reports.
• Step 2: Have students reflect on where different types of government sources fall in the information creation lifecycle, how to find these resources, and when to use them.

Relevant InTASC Standards

Relevant ISTE Standards for Educators

 From Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0:

3m. Learning Environments--Essential Knowledge: The teacher knows how to use technologies and how to guide learners to apply them in appropriate, safe, and effective ways.

5f. Application of Content--Performances: The teacher engages learners in generating and evaluating new ideas and novel approaches, seeking inventive solutions to problems, and developing original work.

5k. Application of Content--Essential Knowledge: The teacher understands the demands of accessing and managing information as well as how to evaluate issues of ethics and quality related to information and its use.

5p. Application of Content--Essential Knowledge: The teacher knows where and how to access resources to build global awareness and understanding, and how to integrate them into the curriculum.

9d. Professional Learning and Ethical Practice--Performances: The teacher actively seeks professional, community, and technological resources, within and outside the school, as supports for analysis, reflection, and problem-solving.

From International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Educators:

2.2.c. Leader: Model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning.

2.3.b. Citizen: Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.

2.4.b. Collaborator: Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.

2.4.c. Collaborator: Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally.

Mapping the ACRL Framework to the AAC&U VALUE Rubric