Studying music in an online setting requires that students and instructors leverage digital resources and participatory technologies with understanding and intentionality. Meta-literacy, a framework promoting critical thinking and collaboration, is an inclusive approach to understanding the complexities of information use, production, and sharing in a digital environment. This chapter explores the implications of meta-literacy for the online music classroom and identifies ways in which the librarian and music instructor can collaborate to promote student self-reflection on the use, creation,...

Developed for the University of Connecticut's "Research Now!" online curriculum. This activity is designed to provoke critical thinking about information sources throughout the research process. Students begin by recalling any prior knowledge of the subject, then consider what they would like to learn about it during their research. The activity then prompts them to consider how they will find information on their topic, and finally to describe what they have learned about it having completed their research.

Need to add an active learning exercise in your info lit workshop? Consider designing an escape room where students work in teams and compete against other while self-teaching how to conduct research. 

This hands-on activity was piloted as part of a teach-in on fake news at Purchase College, SUNY. To convey the idea that “fake news” exists on a continuum, we did a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey activity using a blank version of Vanessa Otero’s Media Bias chart. The chart is a useful tool for showing the nuances between nonfactual, biased, and inflammatory news sources. Participants are asked to research a news media organization and decide where to place it on the chart, then compare their choices to Otero's original infographic. Two groups can also compare their choices to each other. The...