Making Information Literacy Relevant to Professional Degree Students

ALAO 39th Annual ConferenceOctober 25, 2013

John B. NappEngineering LibrarianUniversity of Toledo

What is problem-based learning (PBL)?

•First used in medical education in the 1960s

•Pedagogy where students are given a problem they might encounter while working

•Learning is done through discovery•Concepts are retained more readily because students can see their relevance

PBL and information literacy instruction for professional degree students• Information literacy is seen in the context of their real world work life

• Healthcare and engineering are applied sciences• Professional degree students often work in groups• Jobs in business, healthcare and engineering involve working as part of a team

The beginning• Five University Core Competencies:• Communication• Scientific and quantitative reasoning and literacy

• Personal, social and global responsibility• Information literacy• Critical and integrative thinking

• Meeting with instructional designer

The design

• Making an assignment that could be customized for multiple departments and classes

• Customization needed to be simple to encourage adoption by faculty

• Instructions and assignment needed to be easily understood by faculty and students

Thank you!John.Napp@utoledo.edu