Information Literacy, Collaboration, and Teacher Education

Information literacy is a critical component of a 21st century education. Teacher educators are confronted with teaching about information literacy on two levels: Not only do pre-service teachers need to become proficient in IL skills for their own success, they also need to learn how to teach their future students to become information literate (Branch, 2003; Carr, 1998; Hinchcliffe, 2003). In an effort to determine the extent to which teacher education programs incorporate information literacy instruction, researchers at a large Midwestern university conducted a survey of teacher education faculty in selected states. The survey sought to gather data related to faculty knowledge, inclusion, and assessment of information literacy in teacher education programs, and the degree to which there was collaboration between librarians and faculty in the teaching of information literacy skills.