Putting the "Pop" in Information Literacy eCourse

Chicago—ALA Editions announces a new iteration of our popular eCourse, Putting the "Pop" in Information Literacy. Dawn Stahura will serve as the instructor for a 5-week facilitated eCourse starting on October 31, 2016.

Learning outcomes

After participating in this eCourse, you will:

• Understand how to adequately assess your instructional sessions
• Understand how you can incorporate popular-culture themes and narratives into one-shot instructional sessions and full-length information literacy courses
• Be able to create a fully defined, one-shot instructional session using a popular-culture theme

In this course, Dawn Stahura will offer you two tools that can make it easy to liven up your instructional sessions—popular culture and assessment. Learn how to incorporate pop culture into your instruction—through your weekly assignments, you’ll build a fully defined, one-shot instructional session using a popular-culture theme. Along the way, you’ll learn about how you can effectively assess your instruction by engaging with students to discover your strengths and weaknesses.

eCourse outline

Week 1: Introductions, Assumptions We are Making and the Problem We are Facing

Objectives:

• To define information literacy instruction and active learning
• To identify typical problems in library instruction

Week 2: Solutions! Bringing Pop Culture Themes into Information Literacy

Objectives:

• To introduce various pop culture themes and how they can be used in library instruction
• To assess a past session and identify how it could be improved

Week 3: Scenario 1—Database Instruction

Objectives:

• To describe typical problems in database instruction and pop culture solutions
• To create ways to present database instruction

Week 4: Scenario 2—Evaluation and Citing Sources

Objectives:

• To introduce various methods of evaluation instruction
• To create your own evaluation lesson based on a pop-culture theme

Week 5: Assessing Your Sessions and Course Conclusion

Objectives:

• To describe how pop-culture themes can carry into session assessment
• To construct an assessment tool for use in a future class

About the Instructor

Dawn Stahura is a Research Services Librarian at Simmons College, specializing in Africana Studies, Sociology, Education, Psychology, and Women and Gender Studies. She has taught information literacy courses using the premise of a zombie apocalypse to engage students in the material, and she currently teaches one-shot instructional sessions. Stahura recently co-authored the article “Teaching with Zombies: Bringing Information Literacy Back from the Dead,” which appeared in the July issue of C&RL News.

Registration for this ALA Editions facilitated eCourse, which begins on October 31, 2016, can be purchased at the ALA Store. Participants in this course will need regular access to a computer with an internet connection for online message board participation, viewing online video, listening to streaming audio (MP3 files), and downloading and viewing PDF and PowerPoint files.

ALA Editions publishes resources used worldwide by tens of thousands of library and information professionals to improve programs, build on best practices, develop leadership, and for personal professional development. ALA authors and developers are leaders in their fields, and their content is published in a growing range of print and electronic formats. Contact ALA Editions at editionscoursehelp@ala.org.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness, and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide.