IOPN Journals (Illinois Open Publishing Network)
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Graduate Students as Adult Learners: Andragogy and Instructional Design
Full text linkHigher education instructors generally teach adult learners and given that LIS programs in the United States are typically graduate degree programs, LIS faculty may work exclusively with learners who are even older than the traditional undergraduate. Adult learners have a different set of motivations for learning and a different set of expectations for their learning experiences than younger students. The challenge is that most higher education instructors are not taught how to teach at all, much less introduced to the nuances of teaching and learning with adults. In this session, panelists with a range of experience and background with pedagogy and instructional design will offer insights into theories of adult learning, including andragogy, humanism, constructivism, and critical pedagogy and discuss how to put these theories into practice using Backward Design as an instructional approach. The session will feature interactive portions where attendees will be invited to share their experiences and to apply their knowledge and learning to their own curricula.
Theories of teaching and learning as well as more practical approaches to designing instruction are often gathered together under the term pedagogy. However, most of the research and application of these ideas has focused on younger learners, typically from kindergarten, or even preschool, through high school. Knowles (1988) was among the first to acknowledge that adult learners have different needs and motivations than younger learners and proposed andragogy as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (p. 43). One of the major differences between children and adult learners is that children generally do not have much choice in participating in learning, as school attendance is generally mandatory. Also, much of what they learn as children will not be immediately useful or applicable, but is expected to be important knowledge for the future. When learning is compulsory and not necessarily immediately relevant, external motivation might be necessary to encourage learners to engage. Adult learners, on the other hand, typically do make their own choices to engage in learning and graduate students, in particular, are more likely to be financially responsible for their education. As such, adults are typically more self-motivated and self-directed in their learning. Moreover, especially if their motivation is related to career goals, adults may be particularly interested in the relevance of what they are learning and connecting that learning to their lives and goals. At the same time, adults generally have more demands on their time than younger students do, and might be balancing work and family responsibilities along with their education. To be effective with adult learners, instructors need to understand their context and design their instruction to meet those needs and expectations. Instructors can help tap into adults’ motivation to learn by being transparent about their instructional design choices; building flexibility and choice into the curriculum; and acknowledging adult learners’ experiences and drawing on those experiences to contextualize learning. Backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005), with its emphasis on learning outcomes and creating experiences to demonstrate learning, can be an effective approach for designing instruction for adults.
This panel session will begin with an overview of the theory of andragogy, or adult learning, including constructivist and humanist approaches to teaching adults, along with strategies for tapping into their intrinsic motivation and building on prior knowledge. This section will be followed by a primer on instructional design and lesson planning, including the Backward Design approach of identifying outcomes, designing assessments, and planning instruction with a focus on adult learners. These presentations will be followed by an activity in which attendees will be invited to select a course, module, or lesson from their own curriculum and revise or redesign it with one or more of the andragogy and Backward Design principles in mind. After a brief share out, the panelists will open the discussion up to attendees. Drawing on the community of practice model from LIS Pedagogy Chat, which two of the panelists co-host, the presenters will prepare a series of questions related to the topics of andragogy and instructional design and moderate a facilitated discussion. Questions may include:
What motivated you to attend this session?
Do any of the ideas shared here resonate with your own experiences as a learner or instructor? How so?
What are some of the challenges you have encountered in teaching adult learners? What realities do you think underlies these challenges?
What are some successful strategies you have used with adult learners? What made them successful?
Knowing that adult learners are often motivated by relevance, what are some ways that you connect your course content to the “real world”? Are there any content areas you find particularly easy or difficult to make explicitly relevant?
What is one technique or strategy that you would like to try and how might you use it?
The panelists bring a wide range of knowledge and experience. Two of the panelists, Laura Saunders and Melissa Wong, regularly teach a course on library instruction and have co-authored the open access textbook Instruction in Libraries and Information Centers: An Introduction, which presents learning theories and instructional design approaches with a focus on teaching and learning in library settings. They also founded and co-host LIS Pedagogy Chat, a community of practice in which librarians and LIS faculty share ideas and discuss issues related to teaching and learning related to library and information science. Sarah Appedu is a doctoral student and adjunct professor. In addition to having expertise in instructional design and the philosophy of learning, she brings a unique perspective as a current LIS student
Generating Transparency: LIS Journals and Developing Policy on the Use of Generative AI
Full text linkConversations around Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) have proliferated in the LIS journal community since the late 2022 release of ChatGPT (Felländer-Tsai & Overgaard, 2023; Stokel-Walker, 2023). The profession’s conversations have run the gamut from wholeheartedly welcoming GenAI to categorically banning its use. While there are strong opinions at both poles, these conversations tend to conclude with the same compromise: requesting author and journal transparency (Gaggioli, 2023; Ganjavi et al., 2023; Staiman, 2023).
This call for transparency stems from the overarching ethical concerns with GenAI around accuracy, bias, and authority (Walters & Wilder, 2023). With these concerns in mind, the editorial team of an academic journal detailed issues and potential solutions regarding the use of GenAI at every step of the publishing process, from proposal to publication.
This poster presentation will outline one academic LIS journal’s process for developing a GenAI policy for authors, reviewers, and editorial staff. This poster will share background research and provide a model for how journals can protect their authors, reviewers, staff, and readers. By sharing our experience of creating thorough policy around the use of GenAI, we intend to support LIS journal editors as they work to provide our community with high quality, integrous information while mitigating the cultural, linguistic, and ideological biases that can arise in the use of GenAI.
New Ontology-Based Model for Sentiment Aspect Detection
Full text linkSentiment aspect detection aims to identify the presence of sentiments towards specific aspects of an entity, such as a product, restaurant, or policy. Sentiment aspect detection plays a crucial role in aspect-based entity sentiment analysis. A typical approach for detecting sentiment aspects involves applying machine learning techniques to train a model based on human-annotated data. Although machine learning-based models have achieved significant progress, these models often act as a “black box” and lack transparency in their reasoning processes. It is unclear what factors contribute to the models’ effectiveness in detecting sentiment aspects.
To address the issue of intransparency in machine learning-based sentiment aspect detection models, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of ontology-based models for sentiment aspect detection in restaurant reviews. The model was developed based on ontology terms related to six key restaurant aspects: food, service, ambience, cleanliness, location, and price, using 6,000 annotated Yelp reviews. Different ontology model construction strategies, including the source of ontology terms and part-of-speech (POS) tags, were explored. The ontology-based models were evaluated based on performance improvement over a baseline model for accurately detecting sentiments associated with sentiment aspects.
The results showed the effectiveness of the ontology model as compared to the baseline model across all restaurant aspects except food: service (21.81%), price (12.95%), cleanliness (9.49%), ambience (7.81%), and location (3.69%). These findings help to understand the impact of an ontology model on sentiment aspect detection and provide an ontology-based approach for more interpretable sentiment aspect detection models
Case Studies as a Pedagogical Approach in Responsible Data Literacy: A Conceptual Exploration
Full text linkGiven the increased usage of data-driven systems, being data literate calls for a combined understanding of computational foundations and the critical considerations associated with the contextual implications of deploying such systems. Drawing inspiration from Freirean principles aligned with situational awareness theory, this article highlights how case studies can be developed and used as pedagogical tools for the multidimensional competencies (intertwining critical and computational thinking) needed for the future data worker to responsibly engage with the different facets of data analysis and usage, including data acquisition, data exploration, computational modeling and data storytelling. Essential facets of case studies involving narrative formation, mechanisms for arousing critical thought and student engagement strategies are discussed in conjunction with the combined theoretical frame. The article concludes with considerations to boost educator preparedness and instructional design by envisioning resources and enabling the creation of communities of practice around using case studies in data literacy.
Disciplinary Diversity in Academic AI Adoption: A Comparative Analysis of Tool Usage Declarations
Full text linkThis study maps the adoption patterns of AI tools in academic writing by analyzing 7,953 AI usage declarations from journal publications. AI adoption increased from 62.6% (October 2023) to 78.2% (March 2025), approaching a projected 85% saturation level. Physical and Social Sciences show highest adoption rates, while Health and Life Sciences lag behind. ChatGPT dominates across all disciplines (67-75% of usage), with disciplinary preferences emerging: multidisciplinary research favors writing tools while Physical Sciences utilize more translation tools. Language-related functions comprise 80-90% of all usage, with discipline-specific emphasis patterns. Network analysis reveals Physical Sciences exhibit the most diverse tool ecosystem, with ChatGPT serving as the central hub across fields. This first comprehensive cross-disciplinary analysis of actual AI usage patterns contributes valuable insights for academic publishing policies and discipline-specific AI literacy development
Experiential Learning without Student Exploitation? An Autoethnography of Cultural Heritage Stewardship Pedagogy
Full text linkCo-authored by University of North Texas students and faculty in the Colleges of Information and Visual Arts and Design, this autoethnographic paper reports on the Latino Art, Museums, and Preservation fellowship—an initiative to strengthen the creation, production, and access to history and cultural activities of Latino communities in the US. Using an experiential learning approach, the fellowship serves the needs of graduate students through adaptive curriculum design, relationality through mentorship and cohort building, on-site learning at the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI), tuition support, internship stipends, as well as funding for lodging, travel, and sustenance. Beyond supporting individual fellows, the fellowship catalyzed a graduate certificate program in cultural heritage stewardship. Preliminary results include growing interdisciplinarity and collaboration between students, faculty, and cultural heritage stewards outside of academia, as well as an increased educational capacity that is sustainable for future cultural heritage training efforts—even in the absence of federal funding.
WARNING! Sensitive Content Ahead: Conceptualizing Content Warnings as a Form of Trauma-Informed Archiving
Full text linkLIS education programs are designed to ensure students gain mastery of technical, managerial, reference, and other skills needed in day-to-day work in library and archives collections. However, LIS pedagogy may not fully prepare students to handle moments when that work becomes personal and traumatic. While liberatory practices may be a goal that individual LIS educators are working towards, current LIS education programs are rarely designed with consideration for individual students’ identities, experiences, and emotional needs. This paper conceptualizes content warnings as tools for mitigating harmful reactions to archival materials. However, for any harm-reduction tool to be effective in the LIS work setting, both the uses and limitations of the tool should be critically examined and taught in the LIS classroom.
Meeting the Moment: A Call to Deploy LIS Expertise in the Service of Refugee Communities
Full text linkReporting on Records of Refuge (RoR), a refugee-led participatory action research study on the information and archival needs of refugees in the United States, this work-in-progress poster illuminates how displacement and resettlement are worsened by misinformation, disinformation, and missing information resources—leading to constant triage of crisis situations with little to no time for information sharing or creation of community best practices. As rising hostilities and anti-immigrant policies make these crises exponentially worse, immediate LIS interventions can help refugees access and utilize information resources they need to navigate escalating crisis conditions.
To meet this need, the RoR team is accelerating implementation of Our Refugee Stories Archive (ORSA; orsarchive.org) as a hub for information resources and curriculum for refugee personal archive and data management. While ORSA was originally envisioned as primarily a community-centered archival repository, a shift in focus was necessary to ensure that the project team’s skills and knowledge are deployed to minimize harm and empower refugees facing increasingly damaging documentary and information burdens. As the LIS field navigates the shock of current policy decisions it is imperative for us to remain mindful of the ways in which refugees (among many other marginalized communities in the United States) are reckoning not with any particular novelty of marginalization, but rather an escalation of tactics that attempt to force them into deeper isolation. Through active pursuits of solidarity, we as LIS researchers, educators, and practitioners can be a bridge that invites refugees into our information spaces and offers safety to their histories.
Exploring Legal Information Needs and Information Seeking Behaviors of Mixed-Status Immigrant Families
Full text linkAccess to information is a fundamental human right and a defining characteristic of democracy. However, access to legal information, despite its importance in creating an informed citizenry and increasing individuals’ understanding of their rights, is understudied in current information behavior literature. Legal issues affect many U.S. residents, significantly, however, often unequally. In 2019, at least one in three U.S. households faced legal issues (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2019). Among those, members of low-income communities faced a disproportionately greater number of legal issues, while rarely seeking and receiving legal assistance (Legal Services Corporation, 2022). Furthermore, the current anti-immigrant political climate threatening the human rights of immigrant members of our society calls for serious scholarship into this topic. With the current gap in the literature, this mixed-methods study focuses on the legal information needs and information-seeking behaviors of mixed-status immigrant families residing in the United States. Mixed-status immigrant families, despite facing various intersectional needs, remain largely underrepresented. Therefore, this study aims to 1) seek ways to deepen the scholarly understanding of specific legal information needs and information-seeking behaviors of the historically understudied populations in research, and 2) suggest community-driven recommendations to expand access to relevant legal information and services
Exploring LIS Curriculum: Agency, Identity, Practices
Full text linkThe practices of LIS educators provide agency and identity for developing LIS professionals. It is essential that LIS programs interrogate their curricula to best prepare emerging LIS professionals. The Curriculum SIG will present three projects that explore practices and curriculum for LIS training.
Dr. Amanda Harrison, Dr. Rene Burress, Kelly Pryde, Dr. Cari Cusick, and Dr. Lauren Hays, will present “Teaching Accessibility in a Library and Information Science MLS program.” LIS students must develop knowledge, skills, and awareness to create inclusive, accessible libraries (American Library Association, 2018; IFLA Standing Committee of Libraries Serving Disadvantaged Persons, 2005; Jaeger et al., 2013). Despite recognizing this need, surveys show minimal increases in ALA-accredited programs incorporating accessibility topics into core courses (Gibson, 1977; Walling, 2000). This study examines 2024–2025 syllabi and faculty interviews to assess how accessibility is taught in one MLS program. Researchers analyzed the pedagogical tools, techniques, and mindsets used to teach practical approaches to accessibility in libraries. The data was also examined to identify gaps. Preliminary findings will be presented, and a future scope and sequence for LIS curriculum development will be suggested.
Dr. Fei Yu will present “Empowering Research Tracking, Evaluation, and Reporting in Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities: The Essential Role of Academic and Research Librarians.” This proposal highlights the challenges and information needs of research support staff and administrators in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (ASH) disciplines, emphasizing the critical role of librarians in addressing these needs through targeted services, tailored training, and interdisciplinary collaboration. We advocate for strategically developing LIS training programs to equip current and future librarians with essential skills, empowering them to effectively support research tracking, evaluation, and reporting processes, reinforcing their essential role within academic research institutions.
Dr. Elizabeth Burns will present “The ALA Core Competences of Librarianship: Stories of Successful Integration.” How do LIS programs use the updated version of the Core Competences of Librarianship? The 2022 Core Competences of Librarianship were approved by the ALA Council after a multi-year revision process. These competences describe the knowledge, skills and abilities of a professional librarian. Two years post adoption it is a valuable time to explore the implementation of the ALA Core Competences of Librarianship. LIS programs must consider this document when developing and aligning their program curricula. This session will briefly introduce the Core Competences and then move into a discussion about the ways these newly revised competences can be considered by LIS program faculty. Specifically, speakers will share tangible examples of aligning the Core Competences with their program goals and learning outcomes.