In higher education, transparency is critical. Transparency is simply a process that enables students to see the connection between what you are teaching and what they want to learn (ideally, this is identical to the course or session objectives). Transparency can also aid the teacher by empowering them to focus their content solely on content that aligns with course objectives. In non-educational contexts, transparency is seen as critical. For example, transparency is often related to financial investments: before investors pledge funding to an organization, they want to know how that money will be spent. As students are investing in their higher education, likewise, prior to investing funding and time in a course or a program, students want to know how their investment of time will pay off. While the critical dynamic of transparency has impacted many of our institutions of higher education, many questions still remain. One question is: What does transparency look like for teaching theological research? Instructional design can play a critical role in aiding instructional transparency. This session will provide an overview of instructional design, showing how it can be used as a framework for transparency for teaching theological research. Theological research can be taught in a variety of contexts, and how transparency is implemented can vary depending on context. Transparency not only aids the student in knowing what is taught but can also be a tremendous benefit to the instructor. Transparency, through instructional design, aids the instructor by enabling them to know what is being taught and why it is being taught, and subsequently enables them to confirm that the means of instruction is the best venue for this. This presentation will provide examples of what transparency can look like for theological librarianship in both a one-shot library instruction session and a full three-credit course.
