1. Specific Context of the Teaching/Learning Situation
My focus for this course will be the credit course I will be teaching in January at California State University, East Bay. It is a two-unit, freshman-level course. Each section has approximately 30 students. It is a 10 week course, and the instructor can choose how many of the weeks have an in-person meeting vs. "online meeting" (via Blackboard). At this point, I'm planning for 8 in person meetings/weeks (1 hour, 50 minute classes) and 2 "online" weeks (when students will be meeting with me to discuss their research projects, and class content will be available via Blackboard).  For the in-class meetings, we will be in one of the two library classrooms. Neither classroom is outfitted with computers, but laptop carts are available to provide laptops for students on the days they are needed. They do have furniture that can be moved to suit a variety of learning activities. There is projection capabilities for both the instructor and student presentations.


2. General Context of the Learning Situation
This course is a required course needed for graduation, and is part of year-long freshman learning communities. Students can choose a topical area of their choice, and they are then matched with general studies courses that correspond with the topical theme. The campus has recognized the importance information literacy-related education, and the course has specific learning outcomes tied to the ACRL Information Literacy Standards.

3. Nature of the Subject
Within the context of this course, students are expected to think critically and apply what is learned in the course to efficiently and effectively locate and "consume" quality information in a wide variety of contexts and formats. As mentioned above, the current course student learning outcomes are mapped to the previous version of the ACRL Information Literacy Standards, but I plan to incorporate elements of the new standards when I teach the course in January. In addition, I plan to bring in relevant activities and examples that help students see the usefulness of the skills and concepts being learned beyond producing student research papers.

4. Characteristics of the Learners
Students that take this course are planning to obtain a bachelor's degree from CSU East Bay (a wide variety of majors are offered, but many students pursue degrees in business and nursing). a majority of the students at CSU East Bay work 20 or more hours a week in addition to taking a full course load. Many are first generation college students. I plan to have students complete an anonymous survey the first day of class to ascertain their learning goals, expectations for the course and preferred learning styles. I do know from colleagues that many students are opposed to the fact that they have to take the course, as they assume that they already know enough to get by without successfully completing the course.

5. Characteristics of the Teacher
As the teacher of the course, I have over ten years of experience working with college students' information needs, and I have two years of experience teaching a credit-based research skills course. I am passionate about the subject and believe that students can greatly benefit (in school, in work, in life) from the concepts and skills covered in the course. My greatest strength as a teacher lies in my desire to continuously improve the course based on student input, feedback and formative/summative assessment mechanisms included in the course.