Design Training Programs Based on Appropriate Learning Principles and Theories Information Literacy Instruction Essay

ILI

Information literacy instruction (I LI) is the process of instructing people how to use information resources in order to effectively search for and retrieve information. Thus, librarians have been teachers and instructors for many years. ILI can be most effective if the teacher (librarian) engages in the most efficient means of instruction. This method of instruction is most effective if it includes empirically validated the learning principles, active learning techniques, and incorporates principles of constructionism. Constructivism attempts to account for how knowledge is conceptualized when new information merges with existing knowledge or belief systems. Thus, new information is recreated within the individual in order to allow the person to adapt to the world. According to this viewpoint, which has its origins in cognitive psychology, constructs are filters that the person uses to merge with new information in order to create meaning and order in the person's subjective experience.

Thus, librarians (teachers) should consider both general and specific aspects of the learner. Constructionism considers learners to be self -- motivated and innovative. The purpose of ILI should be to foster learning through innovative analysis, providing new information, and fusing this with the learner's prior experience in order to build on the learner's existing knowledge/beliefs. Constructionist principles would suggest that the librarian be a sort of mentor to the learner. This includes helping the student arrived at their own conclusions regarding incorporation of new knowledge with existing beliefs. Therefore the cultural background of the learner is quite important to allow the librarian (instructor) to help the learner incorporate new knowledge. Constructionist viewpoints of learning incorporate social construction into the learning process. This viewpoint also helps to increase the effectiveness of active learning principles by allowing the learner to readily identify with unfamiliar information and to incorporate it into their own viewpoint or understanding.

Some of the most effective active techniques and principles to learn and promote positive learning experiences in the classroom come from behavioral psychology. Teachers can implement techniques based on behavioral modification techniques in their classrooms by first setting guidelines as to what is to be accomplished that are straightforward and then by reviewing these guidelines as they are approached and accomplished. The general principles of behaviorism suggest that behaviors that are reinforced have a higher probability of being repeated, whereas behaviors that are not reinforced or punished are associated with a higher probability of NOT being repeated.

Therefore, the first step in applying active behavioral principles to the ILI situation to set and apply a specific set of goals that the learner will attempt to complete and use these goals appropriately. These goals should be clear-cut and set at the beginning…