This work is a collection of previously unpublished papers in which contributing authors describe and recommend best practices for creating, developing and teaching credit-bearing information literacy (IL) courses at the college and university level. Contributors include academic librarians from universities, four-year colleges and community colleges to demonstrate successful IL course endeavors at their respective institutions. It includes several case studies of both classroom and online IL courses; some are elective and some required, some are discipline-specific and others are integrated into academic programs or departments. Contributors discuss useful and effective methods for developing, teaching, assessing and marketing courses. Also included are chapters on theoretical approaches to credit bearing IL courses and their history in higher education. Organized around three themes, create, develop and teach, this book provides practitioners and administrators with a start-to-finish guide to best practices for credit-bearing IL courses.

Critical Approaches to Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Courses includes chapters that examine how both critical pedagogy and critical information literacy are applied throughout a credit-bearing course as well as in specific lesson plans. The ideas explored in this book can be adapted for a variety of class and course lengths and for a range of students, from first-year undergraduates to doctoral students. Chapters include case studies of how information literacy courses can respond to preconceptions and unexamined ideologies students may bring to the course; explorations of marginalized knowledge and racial bias and justice in the information literacy course; individual lessons or sets of lessons situated within the larger course context; and reflections on the process of developing a more critical approach. Critical Approaches to Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Courses can provide valuable strategies for those just starting to adopt a critical approach as well as new perspectives for those with more experience in this area.

Assessment of student learning continues to be an urgent topic in higher education. For librarians who provide information literacy instruction, creating and implementing authentic assessment instruments asking students to “analyze, synthesize and apply” what they learn is especially challenging, since most librarians have little more than an hour in which to teach students and assess their learning. Using Authentic Assessment in Information Literacy Programs: Tools, Techniques, and Strategies offers teaching librarians practical resources and approaches that will help them to implement authentic assessment in any instructional setting. Sections include: What is “authentic” assessment? Authentic assessment tools and techniques across teaching modes How to adapt authentic assessment to individual library needs Using authentic assessment to inform teaching strategies and instructional design Whether you provide one-shot instruction sessions or for-credit courses, in person or online, this book will help you to develop and implement authentic assessment of student learning.

This book takes a comprehensive look at first-year library instruction from examining why first-year students struggle with academic assignments to exploring instruction roles at different institutions. It offers step-by-step guidance for planning, teaching, and assessing first-year students in and beyond the library instruction classroom.

"Offers academic librarians practical, and actionable, strategies for critical assessment of teaching and student learning"--Provided by publisher.