Page:Wikipedia and Academic Libraries.djvu/32

Rh contributing to Wikipedia felt more meaningful and elicited feelings of pride that traditional, disposable assessments did not. They saw themselves as knowledge creators and scholarship creation as part of an ongoing conversation rather than an “end product.” By engaging in peer-review assignments, participating in edit-a-thons, and discussing the assignments with librarians who were not their professors, students also saw their work as part of a broader academic conversation. Through Wikipedia assignments, students can appreciate their own information privilege in terms of access to costly resources and become proactive in sharing that knowledge and their own growing expertise with a wider public.

Keywords

Open education, information literacy, open educational practices, open pedagogy.

Introduction

Critical approaches to information literacy invite us to “co-investigate the political, social, and economic dimensions of information, including its creation, access, and use” (Tewell, 2016, para. 1). Drawing from critical pedagogy and extending beyond merely learning to use library resources, critical information literacy develops a critical consciousness in students around information so that they might take control of their own lives and learning (Freire, 2003; Giroux, 1988; hooks, 1994). As active agents in their own learning, students need a community with which to explore their information privilege, test and contest ideas, and create meaning. When students see themselves as authentic contributors to an ongoing conversation, instead of as mere consumers of information, their level of motivation increases (Elmborg, 2006; Jacobson & Xu, 2002).

Open pedagogical practices complement critical information literacy. These practices have clear connections to the open education movement and offer students opportunities to do inquiry-based work that is both available and accountable to a public beyond the classroom. With open pedagogy, assignments transition from being disposable to renewable. Laid to rest are assignments that both students and faculty know will likely be tossed in the recycle bin once the semester is