Speaking Truth in Community: The Role of Networks in Critical Pedagogy, Theory, and Practice

n this presentation we will share our understanding of critical pedagogy focusing on what critical pedagogy has to offer to information literacy pedagogies (with tales of success and failure from our own experience) and the relationship between theory and practice in information literacy and library work. Throughout this presentation we will present and discuss opportunities to participate in distributed networks of academic library colleagues engaged in this work.

By using the critical pedagogical learning framework Experience-Reflection-Action as the presentation’s organizing principle, we will model critical pedagogy for and with session participants. We will offer our knowledge and experience in this area as a means of facilitating participants’ construction of their own understanding of what critical pedagogy is and how to use it. It is our desire that this session clearly demonstrates the significant benefit we have received from each other and from each of our own distributed networks, while transparently modeling that we each are in process and inviting the session participants to join in that process.

While we share similar viewpoints, our coming to critical pedagogy was very different. The concept of critical pedagogy can be daunting or even intimidating, particularly as different theoretical viewpoints are discussed. Using Experience-Reflection-Action as a pedagogical model allows us to take the view that engagement with critical pedagogy is a long journey with multiple paths. This presentation will welcome participants to both begin and continue this journey with us, building on the knowledge of information literacy, teaching, and learning they already possess.