Joanna Bartow, professor of Spanish, and Pamela Mann, associate research & instruction librarian for the arts & humanities, led a workshop titled “Community-Based Spanish and Critical Information Literacy” on October 18, 2019, at the AACU Conference of Global Citizenship for Campus, Community and Careers: Crossing Borders and Boundaries.
The workshop presented the results of a collaboration between Bartow and Mann that demonstrated how critical information literacy integrated into semester-long course goals and assignments can further the objectives community-based Learning. Critical information literacy fosters research practices that reflect on the social, political, economic, and cultural contexts of information and authorship; when integrated into community-based learning, it enhances parallel reflective activities students use to analyze their community and academic work. During the workshop, after an overview of the theories underlying their collaboration, Bartow and Mann had participants engage in activities that increased awareness of how information is framed, accessed, and disseminated. Participants then brainstormed academic assignments that emphasize process over product as vehicles to focus student attention on their sources of information and ways of knowing.
The workshop received funding from the Association of College & Research Libraries.
