2016 Chapters (Layout Features)

How Unplanned Events Can Sharpen the Critical Focus in Information Literacy Instruction

Beilin, Ian G.

Critical pedagogy prompts teachers to make connections with students on an affective level in order to achieve the larger goal of liberation and the radical transformation of society. This chapter demonstrates how unexpected moments of surprise or shock in the classroom can play a special pedagogical role, especially for a critical pedagogy that is responsive to students’ realities, and that places students’ knowledge of and perspectives on their information worlds at the center of learning. It uses examples taken from the author's experience teaching information literacy in both one-shot and credit-bearing information literacy classes at a large public urban college.