The new ACRL Framework for Information Literacy is strikingly different from the earlier version. As opposed to concrete behavioral objectives (i.e. ‘‘The information literate student will …’’), the new framework presents a cluster of interconnected core concepts. The concepts were derived from a study of 59 librarians who described the big ideas that their students struggled to understand. As we work to interpret how this framework will change our teaching, we should first understand the idea of threshold concepts. How are they identified? Who are they for? Are threshold concepts a real construct in learning theory?
This session will review how threshold concepts may impact academic librarians’ teaching practice and provide approaches to using the framework in different instruction settings. Discussion between librarians and a professor of educational psychology will help us unravel the research behind these threshold concepts and how they can both help and hinder us.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Deconstruct the origins and nature of threshold concepts.
2. Describe the impact of the new framework on information literacy instruction and assessment.
3. Critique a single threshold concept and its relationship to the knowledge practices and dispositions.
4. Evaluate the challenges and enablers of threshold concepts
