reflect on their experience on Wikipedia to discuss the significance of the documented gender bias on the platform (Maher, 2018) in a reflection essay.
Though this project was the culminating assignment, it was a semester-long project. We identified six learning outcomes for this assignment, based on defined information literacy objectives. We utilized these learning outcomes to create our assignment and assessment, an approach known as backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). e assignment included professor-led discussions, two librarian-led sessions, a librarian-led working session, learner reading outside of class, and the research and writing for the Wikipedia page that learners completed outside of class. By weaving the assignment throughout the course, we helped learners see connections between course content and online knowledge production. See Appendix for the full lesson plan, including learning outcomes.
Wikipedia and the Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education
In 2016, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) revamped its information literacy standards to reflect today’s more complicated and nuanced information landscape, where much information access occurs in an unfettered, increasingly data-driven online environment. The revised framework better allows users to address the information issues we face today. It defines information literacy as a “set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning” (ACRL, 2015, p. 8). Information literacy is no longer defined as a set of concrete skills to be learned; instead, it is a network of interrelated core concepts and understandings that inform our ideas around and use of information. Its goal is to help users successfully adapt to and navigate information presented in a variety of contexts and formats.
