Backward Design for Information Literacy Instruction: 
Fostering Critical Habits of Mind through Learning Outcomes, Assessment, and Sequencing

Instructor: Andrea Baer
Dates: January 5 through March 13, 2015
Credits: 2.25 CEUs
Price: $250

http://libraryjuiceacademy.com/110-backward-design.php

As librarians look increasingly to integrated models of information literacy (IL) instruction that reach far beyond the one-shot and the mechanics of searching, it is becoming ever more essential that we design instruction that foregrounds learning as an incremental and ongoing process. Backward design - which involves identifying learning goals first, then determining acceptable evidence of learning, and finally addressing those outcomes through sequenced activities - offers powerful ways to develop IL instruction that fosters critical thinking and habits of mind like inquisitiveness and reflection.

In this 6-week course, participants will focus on three essential pieces of backward design – learning outcomes, assessment, and sequencing – and their applications for IL instruction. Throughout the course, students will dissect how these elements of backward design function in various activities and assignments, while simultaneously developing and refining their own activity, assignment, or lesson plan. Through weekly discussions and assignments, participants will reflect on course readings and instruction examples, share teaching experiences and ideas, and exchange constructive feedback on one another’s developing instruction plans. The course itself reflects the process of backward design, as is evident in these weekly themes:

Week 1: Introducing the key puzzle pieces: Learning outcomes, assessment, and sequencing
Week 2: Developing learning outcomes that cultivate higher order thinking
Week 3: Identifying evidence of learning and developing tools for authentic assessment
Week 4: Sequencing assignments and activities
Week 5: Bringing together the three key pieces: Integrating outcomes, assessment, and scaffolding in your activity or assignment
Week 6: Expanding the possibilities for backward design in library instruction services

Course learning outcomes:
- Articulate the value of backward design and its elements for information literacy instruction
- Develop and refine assessable learning outcomes that cultivate higher order thinking
- Develop a sequenced learning activity or assignment that aligns with stated learning outcome(s)
- Integrate authentic assessment that aligns with stated learning outcome(s) into the learning activity or assignment.
- Recognize the connections between learning outcomes, assessment, and sequencing, and apply them to refining the final learning activity or assignment.
- Identify potential applications of backward design to library instruction services, both within and beyond direct instruction

Andrea Baer is the Undergraduate Education Librarian at Indiana University-Bloomington, as well as an Adjunct Lecturer for the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences. She holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of Washington and a Masters in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee. Andrea’s work in libraries and education is deeply informed by her teaching background in writing and literature and by her interests in critical pedagogy and critical inquiry. 


Course structure
This is an online class that is taught asynchronously, meaning that participants do the work on their own time as their schedules allow. The class does not meet together at any particular times, although the instructor may set up optional sychronous chat sessions. Instruction includes readings and assignments in one-week segments. Class participation is in an online forum environment.

Payment info
You can register in this course through the first week of instruction. The "Register" button on the website goes to our credit card payment gateway, which may be used with personal or institutional credit cards. (Be sure to use the appropriate billing address). If your institution wants to pay using a purchase order, please contact us to make arrangements.


Library Juice Academy
P.O. Box 188784
Sacramento, CA 95818
Tel. 218-260-6115
Fax 916-415-5446

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