Beginning college students often make assumptions that scholarly sources are inherently bias-free. Students may also hold the belief that if they find a source through a library database, it is automatically a useful and neutral viewpoint on a topic. These mindsets can limit students’ motivation to apply evaluation strategies beyond establishing credibility based on the author’s credentials.This lesson plan introduces the concept of positionality statements to help students understand that scholars do not leave their identities and life experiences behind when they conduct research. Students practice a new way to evaluate and understand the perspective–and limitations–that scholars bring to their research.The lesson plan is designed for first-year composition courses in which students are asked to develop a research topic based on their interests or experiences. It could be adapted for upper-level undergraduate courses in the social sciences.

The purpose of this activity is to recognize how a quote can be taken out of context in subtle (and overt) ways. The goal is to locate a quote within a news article and trace it through multiple layers of context to discover how journalists’ interpretations of quotes impact our understanding of actual events and news.

Powerpoint to accompany social media influencer/business information literacy activity, exploring roles and responsibilities of consumers and content creators, debates regarding influencer marketing tactics and misleading advertisements, and ways to distinguish sponsored content. Created by Mia Wells and Laureen Cantwell. Accompanies chapter "Bad Influence: Disinformation and Ethical Considerations of Influencer Marketing Campaigns on Social Media Platforms," from the book Teaching About Fake News: Lesson Plans for Different Disciplines and Audiences (Eds.: Benjes-Small, C. M., Wittig, C., & Oberlies, M. K.; 2021; ACRL).

This undergraduate course, offered online, combines the concepts of scholarship and information literacy in a set of five modules with instructions, guided tasks and assignments.  The course lies within an adult education Bachelor of Arts in Leadership (Trinity Western University).

This rubric was developed to assess students' written reflections about primary source materials they encountered in class.  Developed by Meggan Press and Meg Meiman at Indiana University Libraries in Bloomington, this rubric is designed for instructors to gauge students' primary source literacy skills for short- or long-form written projects.  It was adapted from the SAA/RBMS Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy and the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy.

Similar to my general "research snake" this one is specficially for history student searching for history resources, primary and secondary.  This is a visual resource you can use to show students how to start research and the steps they should follow along the way.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at samkennedy@gmail.com

This is a visual resource you can use to show students how to start research and the steps they should follow along the way.  This is applicable to all discplines.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at samkennedy@gmail.com

Paper discussing a proposal for an information fluency initiative at the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries.

EDU 100 / 300: Contexts of Education is a required course in the undergraduate Education program at the University of Alberta; EDU 300 is for after degree students. Students submit a research paper (library assignment) related to a current educational issue in Canada. For this assignment they need to locate at least four different sources: two sources must be articles from peer-reviewed academic journals, the remaining two sources may include additional peer-reviewed articles, books, book chapters, professional education-related journals (trade journals), newspaper articles, videos, etc. The original lesson plan was designed by Debbie Feisst and was taught with some modifications by various librarians at the H.T. Coutts Education Library.  Although emphasis is on the following two frames: Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a process, a mapping document has been included to illustrate where other frames are addressed throughout the lesson.

This matrix was developed as a result of conversations with the writing department faculty, FYS coordinator, and general education committee.  I condensed the language of the Framework as well as the learner/dispositions, and led the workshop with faculty and librarians on how to begin to look at their specific courses as well as across the program on how they might incorporate the FW at each level, for each course, and drill down to the classroom instruction, partnering with the librarian on activities, assessment, and outcomes. More work and a journal publication about this process and method TBD. Please contact me (rhondahuisman@gmail.com) or PM on Twitter if you have questions, discussion, etc.Pilot exercise presented at Marian University Faculty Con (May, 2017)