Teaching the ACRL Frames Using Credo (Part II)

ACRL blog post pic.jpg By Kenya Flash and Raymond Pun

Thinking of creative ways to teach the ACRL Frames using Credo? We began our discussion of Credo and the ACRL Frames, here. In this piece, we’ll cover three additional frames that will assist you in diving deeper into the complexities of research for your students. The three frames we will explore through this post:

Research as Inquiry
Scholarship as Conversation
Searching as Strategic Exploration

Further exploration of the frames within the ACRL Framework
In the last blog on the ACRL Framework, we explored how integral the three presented frames are to the learning process. The frames indicated within this blog are as essential to the process as the others. The previous blog highlighted the interconnected nature of the frame, and while this post may do the same, it is important to note that each frame can also be explored independently.

When the frames are explored together, students can be guided through a process that situates their research process and research results within their discipline or within specific guidelines. Students can utilize scholarly conversations to develop a research question that they can continue to refine while exploring scholarly conversations and topics strategically. The combination of these three frames can get confusing. The key to emphasize to students is that research is iterative, there is no linear process and so, any one of these frames may overlap the other at any point.

How Credo can help

How does one address these frames within Credo? One example of engaging all the frames can include the exploration of a topic such as social media, and viewing the articles in a Credo-adjacent database (one of the local databases linked to Credo from your library) to help the student identify some of the conversations occurring regarding social media. This can demonstrate how one may formulate a research question by linking terms or asking questions of the areas not studied within the articles.

One can also use Credo to expand or narrow a topic, having the students find relatable, but more refined concepts that may be encapsulated in the topic being explored. One can then use these refined concepts to explore whether there are images, videos, or context that may give students further insight into the concept being explored. Encouraging students to formulate research questions based on these concepts can help them engage in research as inquiry.

As a reminder, these sources may also provide alternative ways to utilize the Framework:

The adaptability of the ACRL framework is quite evident. It works with many of the learning activities we traditionally use. Overall, we encourage you to reexamine your current teaching practices and how they support the frames or use the frames to guide your instruction to engage your students to think about their research topics and information critically.

Kenya Flash recently began work as the librarian for Political Science, Global Affairs, and Government Information at Yale University. Previously, she served as the Political Science and Sociology Liaison, as well as Diversity Resident Librarian and Research Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a role she held for two years. Before then, Kenya worked as a Circulation Supervisor at Kings College, as an Adjunct Reference Librarian at Wilkes University, and in several other academic institutions, both in libraries and in residential life/student services. Kenya earned her MLIS from Drexel University, her MA in Political Science from East Stroudsburg University, and her BA in Government and Law from Lafayette College. She has written and presented on a number of topics in librarianship, including uses of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, assessing the needs of graduate students, and diversity and cultural initiatives led by academic libraries.

Teaching the ACRL Frames Using Credo (Part II)

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