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Apply Now for Virtual Faculty-Librarian Information Literacy Learning Community

By WashU Libraries

In the current social and political climate, with the rise of misinformation campaigns about Covid-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other issues, the need for information literacy is increasingly evident. As we prepare for a semester of hybrid or fully online instruction, having support is vital to the success of our courses.

To that end, on August 31–September 3, 2020, the Washington University Libraries and the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement will co-sponsor a virtual Information Literacy Learning Community for Faculty and Librarians (ILLC). The community will give participants the chance to explore information literacy within a disciplinary course and receive support through co-teaching in new online and hybrid formats.

During the ILLC, faculty will be paired with a librarian (likely their subject librarian) to collaborate on the preparation or revision of a course that each pair will co-teach during the 2020-2021 academic year, with the goal of better developing students’ information literacy skills. Each faculty-librarian team will have time to work together on the creation of a syllabus and course assignments and on the design of content for particular class sessions. Maybe you want your course to…

  • Explore how our biases can lead us to be fooled online
  • Promote an understanding that search results are not neutral and are biased
  • Consider how to use social media for needed social change
  • Engage popular media forms that can be both problematic and useful
  • Design a creative assignment that has students approach a scholarly conversation from a nuanced perspective so that you don’t have to grade another lackluster term paper
  • Or, in some other way, consider how your discipline can contribute to more critical engagement with information

When faculty members teach their courses, their librarian colleagues will be embedded to support students as they learn to better discern, engage with, and contribute to information online, be it in the form of an Instagram post or an academic journal article.

To learn more, visit the Information Literacy Learning Community website or apply today. Applications are due Monday, July 27, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. Faculty will be notified by August 10, 2020, about selection. This initiative is generously supported by the Leslie Scallet Lieberman and Maury Lieberman Information Literacy Education Fund.

An informational poster about the course. On the left, the poster displays a quote reading "Misinformation is pretty rampant [...] this [course] underscores the importance of all writers and creators thoroughly checking their sources. Knowledge builds upon itself, and the spread of misinformation is akin to putting a house on top of a rotten foundation." The quote is accredited to "Student from SP20 ILLC Course. On the right is the course title - Information Literacy Learning Community for Faculty and Librarians - and the Application Deadline, July 27; Learning Community Dates, 31 August - 3 September; Stipend allotted is $1,500; and there is a URL for "Learn More and Apply" that is gephardtinstute.wustl.edu/illc-2020.

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