Embedded Information Literacy Training Material for Undergraduates and Postgraduates

Following the publication of a recent journal article, I have been re-imagining and re-designing library training. The training material is part of an ongoing conversation with library staff and academics in the Faculty of Theology and Religion. Academics agree that we must teach our student's information literacy and critical thinking in light of changes in higher education.

Through holistic research and previous personal experience, I have discovered new pedagogical approaches to communicating library training to University of the Free State students. 

I firmly believe in grounding library practice in theory. Library training should be rooted in education theories and blended learning models. Information literacy programs should enhance students' abilities to identify, use and evaluate information sources for self-directed learning.

These training materials are a springboard for transforming how librarians communicate library training/instruction, particularly to first-year students. 

There has been an ovewhelming response to the social constructivst approach employed in the embedded information literacy program by students in the module Introduction to Old Testament (TOTT1513). 

The package consists of a guide, and appendices (e.g. syllabus with blended activities, and lessons plans).

Plans are underway to translate the content into different local languages.