Introduction

Benjamin Franklin said, “tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Learning is intrinsic and interwoven into all elements of our lives from birth to death. To function and grow we must learn, and therefore we must have teachers and systems of delivering information so that it can be understood and learned. There are five widely accepted learning theories to build foundations for teaching: behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, humanism and connectivism that are generally the foundations for teaching techniques. These were developed from the field of psychology on how people learn. As the ACRL states in the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education (Framework), “Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.” There is no best, all in one, correct learning theory and there are now many new categories and subcategories of learning. Thus we must focus on the ideas and themes within the theories, combine, mix and match, to fit our own teaching philosophies and practices. We must determine what best benefits the student’s learning, experience and information literacy. 

Statement of Competency

Teaching is a privilege and an extension of my lifelong love of learning. Much of my evidence for this competency is based on work experience. For the last year and a half while in graduate school I have worked and gained experience teaching as Dr. Loerstcher’s assistant for his graduate students. Along with weekly Zoom workshops and instruction I facilitated one on one instruction meetings with graduate students to assist students in reaching their learning outcomes using active learning techniques. For the last ten years I have also worked running my own fine art business online, and one of the many services I have offered is art workshops for groups or individuals utilizing different learning theories and practices as needed. I also regularly do tech support lessons for basic technology tools like Microsoft, Google Suite and other scholarly technology tutoring sessions on Zoom with graduate students. The next article of evidence is a blog I wrote on teaching and learning using intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation theories for learners. I then include a finding aid I created for the National Parks as a learning tool to assist users and students in accessing and understanding oral histories. 

My last two pieces of evidence  include my work experience shadowing a CSUF librarian teaching information literacy classes at CSUF, and a discussion post on information literacy for INFO 254. With the theories explored below and a personal teaching statement I can apply and adapt these learning models for the needs of future students I will serve.

Theory

There are many theories surrounding how we learn, but the following five are the most commonly stated with learning techniques. 

Behaviorism & Cognitive Learning Theories 

The movement of behaviorism which became one of the foundational learning theories is rooted in the 19th century with psychologists studying human behavior. This theory focuses on positive reinforcement for student behaviors with repetition to motivate. These kinds of teaching strategies look like drills, question and answers, and positive reinforcement with reward systems (Lamb, 2016). Secondly, we have cognitive learning theory developed from cognitive psychology in the 1950’s with the foundation that thoughts influence behavior. This theory includes student reflections, metacognition and cognitive load theory developed in 1988 by John Sweller. He broke cognitive architecture into three types of memory that all work together for long term retention: intrinsic cognitive load where things must be broken down into small bite size amounts before reassembled later. Extraneous cognitive load which teaches big picture concepts, but leaves out confusing details. Lastly, German cognitive load which focuses on information construction as a learning experience (Lamb, 2016). 

Constructivism, Humanism & Connectivism 

After behavior and cognitive the theories become even more conceptual and interrelated with other variables of the learner. In constructivism learning theories variables like the learner’s personal experiences help the learner make their own models of learning. This often looks like lots of questions, exploration and reflection with the teacher as a guide rather than a lecturer. Collaboration and problem based learning with real life examples improve this process and often looks like students constructing knowledge rather than having it transmitted to them. With this comes the humanism theories where students' natural desire to learn and know is woven into lessons with the ultimate goal of the student thought to be self-actualization. This theory explores how students want to be emotionally, physically and cognitively fulfilled. It stresses autonomy of learning experiences to allow students to satiate their own learning needs (Lamb, 2016). Finally, there is connectivism learning theory that takes the broadest perspective that learning is formed through connection with others and all elements of life. This theory proposes that how these connections are formed creates a network of learning. This builds off of cognitivism, but focuses on learning residing within the commuting and connection network and knowledge within individuals (Gandhi & Mucherji, 2022). From this theory many universal designs for learning and inclusive teaching strategies have been developed (Cash et al., 2021).

Active Learning Technique

My favorite learning technique is active learning, this is what I participated in regularly as Dr. Loertscher’s student teaching assistant where students were encouraged to think, discuss, and create in group collaborative online documents and do on the spot problem solving together. The goal is to encourage engagement with course materials through active methods drawing on constructivist and humanist theory. Instead of lecturing passively at students as an expert, this technique rejects the “teach by telling” approach and engages students in the learning process producing “higher-order thinking” with the expert instructor offering feedback and guidance as needed (Freedman et al., 2014). This technique has been shown to promote equity in university settings in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) courses reducing or eliminating achievement gaps (Theobald et al., 2020). 

Designing Learning Experiences

When designing learning experiences we must recognize the “curse of knowledge” that we might be an expert for the lesson, but the student is a novice, and so we must create learning experiences designed with them in mind and their information needs with the path of least resistance (Booth, 2010). Many librarians who teach information literacy in academic settings have developed theories of instructional design models utilizing the principles above to aid students in reaching their learning goals (Davis, 2013). This often starts with an evaluation of the “problems” learners face, in learning performance and then creating and designing instruction based on their needs and understanding of learning theories. Students have diverse needs and thus learning experiences must be designed individually for them to all succeed. 

Conclusion 

I believe with enough time, and creative approaches to the content, a student can learn anything and spark a deeper curiosity that could grow to new levels of knowledge and understanding. By embracing our diversity and unique perspectives we can work collectively in learning environments. A successful lesson is one where students walk away with more than they came with. Often in digital literacy lessons I see students leave with the skills and understanding to get started on the next lesson independently, and with a deeper understanding of the process. So even when they do not know the answers, they know how to start on their journey. None of us have all the answers, but if we know the process of discovery, and a foundation of tools and understanding to begin, we can learn anything.

Further Exploration of Information Literacy Tools and Evidence: 

Return to MLIS Index

Next Comp L