Illuminating Social Justice in the Framework: Transformative Methodology, Concept Mapping and Learning Outcomes Development for Critical Information Literacy

Abstract

The intentional omission of learning outcomes from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education has caused concern and criticism from some librarians; however, the call to action within the Framework to locally develop learning outcomes is an opportunity to illuminate the social justice, critical thinking, and higher order thinking elements of information literacy. This study applies the transformative research paradigm using the methodology of concept mapping to test the development of learning outcomes for one of the frames. Concept mapping is a mixed-methods approach and includes focus groups, hierarchical cluster analysis, and multidimensional scaling. The methodology has been used extensively in the social sciences but has limited representation in the LIS literature. Though the study provides learning outcomes developed by a small participant group following the concept mapping method, the results demonstrate the viability of this methodology for librarians seeking a new approach to locally develop learning outcomes.