This paper compares the results of a comprehensive exam taken by undergraduates enrolled in face-to-face and online sections of a three-credit course in information literacy. Authors discuss choosing, adapting, and implementing the comprehensive exam. Questions are mapped to the ACRL Competency Standards for Information Literacy for Higher Education to assess the effectiveness of the course. Preliminary results indicate that online students performed slightly better than their face-to-face counterparts.

This article explores various models of online faculty development programs as described in the literature, and finds that they fall into a wide range of models from those that are highly structured to more organically grown examples. The Online Teaching Fellows program at the University of Rhode Island is shown to be an example of an internally-created course that follows best practices of both the structured and organic models. The author's experience as a participant in the course is described illustrating how the lessons learned informed his strategies for effective teaching in an online credit course in information literacy.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to describe the development of a series of forums on issues of the information age, created to address ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standard Five.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a case study, including citations to relevant literature.FindingsThe paper provides a technique for addressing ACRL Information Literacy Standard Five, examples of topics, discussion of logistics, and value to students.Originality/valueThe ideas and methods presented in the paper may be used by other librarians to arrange forums at their own institutions. A checklist to assist in preparation is also included.