Acrl
...for Networked Information. Copyright Joan K. Lippincott
It appears in published form in Student Engagement and Information Literacy, edited by Craig Gibson. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2006. Book ordering information is available at http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/nonserialtitles/engagement.htm
Learning, Engagement and Technology
Joan K. Lippincott, Coalition for Networked Information
Introduction
This chapter focuses on new ways of thinking about promoting information literacy, engaging students, and building community in technology-enabled environments, both physical and virtual. Whether or not a campus has a formal “learning communities” program, libraries can play a role in enhancing community development in the context of teaching, learning, and information literacy. The chapter will discuss some innovative current practices, and explore two arenas with as yet unrealized potential for uniting technology use, social learning and student engagement: virtual spaces such as simulated environments and virtual worlds; and new types of physical, technology-enabled learning spaces.
Learning Communities
Many researchers who have studied the nature of learning have concluded that a social process involving interaction with and observation of others, is an important component of learning. In the 1960s, some pioneers in higher education developed a movement to establish learning communities within colleges and universities to combat the isolation of students in their academic lives and intentionally to create an environment where students engaged each other and their faculty in sustained conversations about academic subjects. Typically, students in this established learning community model take a group of courses together so that they get to know each other and feel comfortable interacting with their peers. In...
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