Contribution to Book
Framing the Talk: Scholarship as Conversation in the Health Sciences
Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts
(2017)
Abstract
Abstract:
One frame of the ACRL’s information literacy threshold concepts is “Scholarship as Conversation.” Students often do not appreciate the discursive element of research. Knowledge practices for this frame include exercises and discussion to help develop the notion that scholarship is an ongoing conversation—a conversation where they can contribute and lend their voices and opinions, not merely accept or consume. This chapter will examine how the expansion of scholarly venues through weblogs, research repositories, and social media allow more opportunities for a larger variety of perspectives and participation, allowing students, community, and any other stakeholders to add their thoughts and opinions to the mix. Even if they lack the authority to participate in certain conversations, we can help them develop the ability to critically evaluate the conversation and the contributions of those involved.
Students in the health science disciplines view this concept through the lens of evidence-based practice, which includes many concepts, such as study design, clinical questioning, and understanding and applying the medical literature to health care decisions. In the three-credit-hour information literacy class at Murray State University, we critically examine the original Wakefield article which proposed a connection between childhood vaccinations and autism. The social impact of the article, as well as the comments, retraction, and citation history of the study serve as a significant and vivid example of the influence of scholarly conversation and the responsibility of scholarly discourse. In our class we discuss the media’s role in this conversation and how it led to user-generated content, creating a great deal of social unrest. The fall-out was precipitous, leading to some parents deciding against childhood vaccinations, allowing new outbreaks of diseases previously considered eradicated.
Librarians in the health sciences can frame this concept in numerous ways. Examples include tracing the development of scholarship in a particular disease theory or by examining the wide array of venues of scholarly conversations or by finding and identifying the experts in a specific complex problem.
Keywords
- ACRL Framework,
- Health Information,
- Information Literacy,
- Misinformation
Disciplines
Publication Date
Fall November 7, 2017
Editor
Samantha Godbey, Susan Beth Wainscott, and Xan Goodman
Publisher
Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
ISBN
978-0-8389-8970-8
Publisher Statement
The definition of threshold concepts has been expanded over the years based on the work of many educational scholars and practitioners, but are essentially described as a portal, transition, or threshold to additional learning and deeper understanding for a learner. Threshold concepts are transformative, integrative, irreversible, bounded, and troublesome, and can be a valuable tool in both facilitating students’ understanding of their subject and aiding in curriculum development within the disciplines.
In 25 chapters divided into sections mirroring ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education—Authority is Constructed and Contextual, Information Creation as a Process, Information has Value, Research as Inquiry, Scholarship as Conversation, and Searching as Strategic Exploration—Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts explores threshold concepts as an idea and the specifics of what the concepts contained in the Framework look like in disciplinary contexts. The chapters cover many disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences, and a range of students, from first-year undergraduates to doctoral students.
Disciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts provides a balance of theoretical and practical to help readers both conceptually and pragmatically with their work in supporting student learning, including chapters in which librarians have designed learning outcomes aligned with the frames of the Framework. These examples demonstrate different approaches to working with information literacy threshold concepts and how librarians are incorporating them within their disciplinary and institutional contexts. As Ray Land says in the Foreword, “This volume marks a significant new departure in the development of the threshold concepts analytic framework.”
Citation Information
Candace K. Vance. "Framing the Talk: Scholarship as Conversation in the Health Sciences" ChicagoDisciplinary Applications of Information Literacy Threshold Concepts (2017) p. 251 - 261 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/candace-vance/5/