Educational development partnerships and practices: helping librarians move beyond the one-shot

Given the current, widespread concern about “fake news” and information disorder, those working in post-secondary contexts have recognized a pressing need to develop students’ digital literacy (DL). Based on our experience collaboratively designing and delivering a faculty workshop on “Teaching Students about Fake News,” we see library connections to educational development as one way to address this need. Because faculty members design, develop, and deliver the requisite curriculum—and are often called upon to address the challenges that their students face in navigating, evaluating, and applying online content—they are frequently a first point of contact for help. Research examining student interactions with online news, social media, and other digital content also demonstrates how faculty play a vital part in facilitating and supporting critical digital engagement. All of this underscores the importance of faculty roles in promoting digital and information literacies. A fruitful strategy for librarians to build better connections with faculty is through educational development strategies.