Active Learning for Information Literacy

Web Sites

First-Year Program 2005
Eastern Connecticut State University

First-Year Program: Plagiarism & Cheating
Eastern Connecticut State University

Active Learning
University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.
See also Activities: These worksheets offer options for incorporating active learning into your instruction sessions. You may combine and modify these exercises to meet your class goals.
See Class Plans for examples of how active learning is used in an instruction session.

Active Learning Ideas
University of Arizona; provides ideas for active learning activities adapted to match the ACRL Information Literacy Standards.

Active Learning Techniques for Library Instruction
Information Literacy Activities Designed by Librarians, For Librarians, a site maintained by Judi Hansen and Amber Tatnall. York County Community College, Wells, Maine (includes activities by topic).

Information Literacy Activities
Dalhousie University Libraries, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada List of activities, organized by ACRL Standard, including topic keywords, length and type.

Information Literacy Activities
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
These activities were developed by a group of librarians at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in order to promote the teaching of Information Literacy as part of the instruction program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The activities correspond to the competencies developed by the Information Literacy Committee of the Wisconsin Association of Academic Libraries. The activities feature active learning exercises and tools to assess student learning. Faculty and librarians from other institutions are welcome to use these activities. Microsoft Word files have been provided which may be modified to suit specific needs. Please sign our guestbook to indicate which activities you will be using or for any comments.

Cartoons and Humor
Dalhousie University Libraries, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Active Learning Presentations from Randy Burke Hensley, winner of the 2001 Innovation in Instruction Award and the 2002 Miriam Dudley Instruction Librarian Award:

Active Learning: Teaching for Ownership & Assessment
1st International Conference on Capacity Building for Information Technology Integration in Teaching and Learning, June 1, 2005, Hong Kong.

Designing Active Learning for Information Literacy Outcomes
(and working with faculty to make it happen), a two-day workshop for Crumb Library, State University of New York, Potsdam, April 6-7, 2001.

Extreme Teaching: Learning Styles, Presentation Techniques, Creativity, and Active Learning
An all-day workshop for the College of DuPage Library, Glen Ellen, IL, April 7, 2003.

Conferences (with links to PowerPoints and Handouts)

Active Learning and Library Instruction: A Workshop
ACRL Western New York / Ontario Chapter, Fall 2002 Conference, October 11th, 2002

Teaching Tactics: From the Library to the E-Classroom and Back
NELIG Annual Program, June 6, 2003:

Beyond "Active Learning": A Constructivist Approach to Learning
Sue Cooperstein, Loyola/Notre Dame Library and Liz Kocevar-Weidinger, Longwood University

As technology has transformed library instruction classrooms, librarians have worked to transform their teaching strategies to take advantage of these new educational settings. They have embraced concepts such as active learning, hands-on instruction, and cooperative learning. Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky, Kolb, among others, are often cited as the foundation of these “active” lessons. But a careful study of the concepts proposed by these educational theorists, which should also include Maria Montessori, reveals that these theorists meant much more by active learning than providing hands-on activity, encouraging class participation or having students move around the room. Active learning as prescribed by these theorists, and more appropriately called constructivist or discovery learning, moves from experience to learning and not the other way around. Using constructivist techniques, we will explore constructivist principles and ways to apply these principles to library instruction. We will turn active instruction into constructivist learning.

Driving the e-train: Keeping Library Instruction on Track: An overview and a discussion
Marilyn H. Steinberg, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

From the early 1990s and prior, we saw library instruction evolve from the lecture style format to the much preferred, interactive style of the early 2000s, to computer classrooms with hands-on experiential format. To analyze how the students and faculty have both benefited from this evolution, we have to consider the technology and the curriculum, to see exactly how that evolution took place, and perhaps predict where instruction is headed over the next 3-5 years. Investigating the history of instruction, and looking at where we have been may help us to see where we are now headed. With the fast-moving, technology-driven profession we are in, what exactly have we learned in the past 5-7 years? Since we leapt on the e-train, we are holding on tightly in an effort to secure our jobs, display our abilities to the rest of the college or university faculty, and win over those students who previously saw no need for our knowledge. We are sitting on committees helping to decide the requirements for commencement in the literacy realm, participating in designing spaces for additions or entirely new buildings, and we must have the expertise to feel confident giving our opinions. Reviewing what we have learned about the e-world can give us that confidence. Discussing with others, reviewing the literature, and openly evaluating the instruction that takes place in our various institutions will undoubtedly bring us to conclusions of what might be. Marilyn suggests that we can not only succeed but excel as we speed along the e-track!

Learning Station: Actively Engaging Students in the E-Classroom
Shelly Davis, University of Maine at Farmington

Learning stations are different spots in a classroom where students (in small groups) work on various tasks simultaneously. The stations include all materials the students need to explore a given concept, and they are provided with processes to follow and tasks to complete that guide this exploration. This instructional approach allows for cooperative, exploratory, self-guided learning. The role of the teacher is to briefly instruct the students in how to complete the activity and then be present to circulate among the groups guiding students' work and answering questions that arise. Learning stations have been used successfully in elementary classrooms for years. Could this teaching strategy work with a library instruction session for undergraduate students? Shelly will describe how she effectively implemented learning stations and the tremendous potential for library instruction.

Creativity in Instruction: Librarians Leading the Way
NELIG Annual Program, June 7, 2002:

Library Instruction: Active Learning and Humor
Teaching the Library: Best Practices for Library Instructors
Laura Saunders, Simmons College Libraries

This program is based the article “Teaching the Library: Best Practices,” published in the March edition of Library Philosophy and Practice, in which I reviewed current literature on library instruction, and extracted several teaching methods or techniques that are considered the most popular and/ or most effective for teaching library skills to college students. In this presentation, I will discuss two popular teaching methods: active learning, and the use of humor.
Active learning is widely accepted as one of the best ways to engage students attention and help them retain information. I will discuss and give examples of various types of active learning such as incidental learning, case-based learning, learning by exploring, learning by simulation, learning by reflection, and peer tutoring. Humor is another great way to engage students attention, and add some levity to an otherwise straightforward presentation. Best of all, the instructor does not have to be a stand-up comic to pull it off. I will outline a couple of ways to incorporate bits of humor into a presentation, including using comic strips, funny anecdotes, and jokes.

Online Articles

Arnold, Julie, Robert Kackley, and Stephen Fortune. "Hands-on Learning for Freshman Engineering Students." Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 37 (2003).

Cudiner, Shelley and Oskar R. Harmon. "An Active Learning Approach to Teaching Effective Online Search Strategies." T.H.E. Journal, August 2005.

Fosmire, Michael and Alexius Macklin. "Riding the Active Learning Wave: Problem-Based Learning as a Catalyst for Creating Faculty-Librarian Instructional Partnerships." Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 34 (2002).

Jayawardana, Champa, K. Priyantha Hewagamage and Masahito Hirakawa. "Personalization Tools For Active Learning In Digital Libraries." MC Journal: The Journal of Academic Media Librarianship 8. Number 1 (Summer 2001).

Lorenzen, Michael. "Active Learning and Library Instruction." Illinois Libraries 83. Number (Spring 2001).

Quigley, Brian D. and Jean McKenzie. "Connecting Engineering Students with the Library: A Case Study in Active Learning." Issues in Science and Technology Librarianship 37 (2003).

Twidale, M.B., D.M. Nichols, J.A. Mariani, T. Rodden and P. Sawyer. "Supporting the Active Learning of Collaborative Database Browsing Techniques." Association for Learning Technology Journal 3. Number 1 (1995).

Bibliography from Janice Wilson

PowerPoint