A Student Success Librarian with a Ph.D. in mass communication and an Information Literacy Librarian with an M.A. in secondary English education were empowered to design a semester-long media and information literacy course at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The result was IMS 202: Information Studies and Digital Citizenship. In this session, we report on our efforts to use current events and the apprenticeship model of teaching and learning to reimagine media and information literacy education. Such an approach taps into student interests, promotes engagement, enables dynamic course content, and positions librarians to do what they do best—to wade into a developing story and identify diverse, authoritative experts capable of providing both contemporary analysis and historical perspective. We teach students problem-solving strategies and promote the development of media and information literacy best practices by modeling, coaching, and scaffolding activities in the classroom. We sequence increasingly complex and diverse activities that vary across learning environments, from situated learning in a community of practice to intrinsic motivation and group cooperation. We model for students the ways to best engage with and understand the messiness of the real world by thinking out loud and making visible our own cognitive strategies to the students. Moreover, we put them in charge of their learning by incorporating their feedback and giving them an opportunity to select the topics we investigate. Finally, we will share a website designed to support librarians who want to adopt a similar approach.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participant will be able to define the apprenticeship model of teaching and learning.
Upon completion, participant will be able to identify strategies to create engagement-driven course content.
Upon completion, participant will be able to apply the apprenticeship model of teaching and learning in their own instruction.