Curriculum & Pedagogy

Reform of undergraduate education has included discussion of inquiry-based learning, research-based learning, problem-based learning, evidence-based learning, service learning, or undergraduate research on campus. As Patricia Breivik notes, "they all rest on the foundation of resource-based learning, which is the basis for student achievement of information literacy." (Breivik, P.S. Student Learning in the Information Age (Phoenix, AZ: American Council on Education and Oryx Press, 1998), p.25.

Even a cursory review of the Information Literacy Competency Standards will show that there is much more to information literacy competence than library-related research. Students must demonstrate competencies in formulating research questions and in their ability to use information as well as an understanding of ethical and legal issues surrounding information. In fact, it may be difficult to separate information literacy from the goals of a good undergraduate education.

There are several sections of this website that are useful for the issues of curriculum and pedagogy:

Our Introduction to Information Literacy takes you through a basic outline of the concepts.

The Step-by-Step section of our Standards Toolkit takes you through the Standards individually.

Using the Standards in our Standards Toolkit has ideas for using the Standards when developing workshops, courses, assignments, assessment, activities, and programs.

Our Information Literacy in Action section is a good place to see what others have done.