Chapter 3 Curriculum and Curriculum Integration of Information Literacy in Higher Education

Information literacy education plays a vital role in developing students’ information capabilities in higher education. Curriculum integration of information literacy is advocated by ACRL (2000) in the United States and ANZIIL (Bundy, 2004) in Australia and New Zealand. Research (Derakhshan & Singh, 2011; Dixon-Thomas, 2012) suggests that the most effective way to provide information literacy education is to integrate information literacy throughout the curriculum. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss curriculum in higher education and to introduce a model of curricular integration of information literacy. The curriculum of a university (as one form of higher education) is usually seen as an educational plan to engage learners in the acquisition of knowledge and skills leading to a degree, diploma or certificate. The curriculum can be viewed at various levels, namely: institutional, faculty, programme, course and class levels. Therefore, information literacy can be integrated at different levels: university, faculty, programme, or courses and associated classes. This chapter will explain a model of curriculum integrated information literacy developed by Wang (2010) which was based on sociocultural theories and practitioners’ experiences in information literacy curriculum integration in higher education. Explanations of how to apply it in curriculum integration and curriculum design in higher education will also be provided.