Building a Professional Learning Community at the University Level: A Case Study of an Information Fluency Initiative

• Main Author: Slavicz, Susan Bennett
• Format: Others
• Published: UNF Digital Commons 2014
• Subjects: Thesis; University of North Florida; UNF; Dissertations; Academic > UNF > Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership; Academic > UNF > Education; Information literacy; Plagiarism; Information Fluency; Learning Organization; Professional Learning Community; Professional learning communities > Florida > Case studies; Information literacy > Study and teaching (Higher) > Florida > Case studies; University of Central Florida > Case studies; Education; Educational Leadership; Higher Education Administration; Information Literacy
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/486; http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1531&context=etd

An examination of the research regarding the problems associated with student academic writing indicated that two abilities, writing abilities and information literacy skills, intersect, and that an accepted term for this intersection is information literacy. The University of Central Florida’s Information Fluency Initiative recognized information literacy as a key component in developing students’ information fluency skills. This qualitative case study of the initiative used semi-structured interviews, study of documents, and observations to gather data in order to describe how the university planned, developed, and implemented the initiative. Study of relevant literature, narrative analysis (Tierney & Lincoln, 1997), inductive analysis (Hatch, 2002) and the elements of educational criticism (Eisner, 1998) informed the analysis of data. Participants in the Information Fluency Initiative identified as successful the creation of online information literacy modules by librarians and faculty, program-wide efforts to embed information fluency into curriculum, and individual faculty projects. Additionally, the initiative encouraged a scholarly approach to the study of information fluency with the implementation of an annual Information Fluency Conference held at the University of Central Florida and publication of a peer-reviewed Information Fluency Journal. Results from the study suggested that administrative support for the initiative and the leadership’s empowerment of faculty and librarians to undertake leadership roles were important factors in the initiative’s success. Results also suggested that collaboration between faculty, librarians, and instructional technologists to construct curriculum produced a professional learning community that proved valuable to participants both professionally and personally.