MacKay, Bruce
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- ItemAha moments and continued confusion: an analysis of threshold concepts through student reflections in the ACRL framework(Association of College & Research Libraries, 2021) Eva, Nicole; Rocca, Marissa S.; MacKay, D. BruceWith the advent of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education in 2015, librarians everywhere have tried to adapt their existing information literacy sessions to incorporate the revised concepts. This article discusses how the librarian responsible for a series of four labs in a first-year course reformed the lab content around the six ACRL Frames. Student reflections from three semesters’ worth of classes were analyzed for content related to each of the six Frames, as well as for areas of enlightened understanding (evidence of crossing a threshold into higher understanding, as first outlined by Meyer and Land, 2003) and continued confusion, with applicability for all instructors trying to incorporate the Frames.
- ItemInformation literacy and liberal education: from Google to scholarly sources(Brill, 2019) MacKay, Bruce; Eva, NicoleInformation literacy is a fundamental literacy which underlies all other disciplines and is interdisciplinary in nature – much like a liberal education itself. In this chapter, students’ struggles with certain threshold concepts in information literacy are explored, with possible solutions. In today’s age of information overload and fake news, information literacy and the critical thinking that goes along with it is more important than ever for students to acquire, not only for academics but for life.
- ItemThreshold concepts in the development of problem-solving skills(International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2015) Wismath, Shelly; Orr, Doug; MacKay, BruceProblem- solving skills are of ten identified as a key component of 21st century education. This study collected data from students enrolled in a university- level Liberal Education science course called Problems and Puzzles, which introduced students to the theory and practice of problem solving via puzzles. Based on classroom observation and other qualitative data collected over three semesters, we have identified three significant changes in student behaviour at specific points in the course. These changes can be posited to reveal three underlying threshold concepts in the evolution and establishment of students’ problem- solving skills.