Counseling
and Library Faculty Issues Committee 1996-97
Richard Rose, Santa Rosa Junior College, Chair
Rosalie Amer, Cosumnes River College
Kevin Bray, Sierra College
Dan Crump, American River College
Faye Dea, Los Angeles Valley College
Penny Gabourie, Cypress College
Valencia Mitchell, Cerritos College
Ron Vess, Southwestern College
Counseling
and Library Faculty Issues Committee1997-98 Richard Rose, Santa Rosa Junior College,
chair
Paula Banda, Los Angeles Trade Tech College
Michelle Blackman, Grossmont College
Arthur Boyd, San Diego City College
Dan Crump, American River College
James Matthews, Chabot College
Miki Mikolajczak, Saddleback College
Ron Vess, Southwestern College
ABSTRACT
Information competency
is essential to student success in the Information
Age. As stated in Resolution 16.2.0 passed by
the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges
at its Fall 1996 Plenary Session, the position
of the Senate is "that any development of
information competency components and/or programs
be the primary responsibility of the Academic
Senate for the California Community Colleges."
This paper seeks to address issues associated
with information competency and commence the discussion
on how these competencies can be incorporated
into the California Community College curriculum.
Issues to be discussed in this paper include a
clear and concise definition of information competency,
a listing of key components for information competency,
expectations of what students need to know before
they complete their educational endeavors, and
how information competency will be implemented
in the California Community Colleges. In addition
to the student focus on information competency,
the paper discusses the need for faculty development
opportunities to develop and provide information
competency.
INTRODUCTION
Competency in information
skills is important for students to learn and
use in life. Information competency is a topic
that will affect the curriculum of the California
Community Colleges. The faculty of the California
Community Colleges will have the primary role
in determining how it will be included in curriculum.
The purpose of this paper is to respond to issues
raised by the Academic Senate for California Community
Colleges when it passed Resolution 16.2.0 at its
Fall 1996 Plenary Session. The Resolution reads
as follows:
Whereas information competency is the ability
to: a) recognize the need for information, b)
acquire and evaluate information, c) organize
and maintain information, and d)interpret and
communicate information, and
Whereas
information literacy is a curricular development
responsibility of library faculty, and
Whereas library faculty see information competency
as an important component of learning, and
Whereas a Board of Governors member plans to propose
at the November 1996 Board of Governors meeting
that the 10% Fund for Instructional Improvement
set aside be used for the development of information
competency components,
Therefore be it resolved that the Academic Senate
for California Community Colleges urge the Chancellor's
Office and the Board of Governors to acknowledge
that any development of information competency
components and/or programs be the primary responsibility
of the Academic Senate for California Community
Colleges.
The need for an
expansion of students' information-gathering skills
beyond that typically implemented at the present
time in the California Community Colleges and
other segments of higher education in California
has been documented by two reports issued in 1995---a
report based on survey results of a Intersegmental
Joint Faculty Project reportand a report from a California State University
(CSU) work group which addressed the issue of
information competency in the CSU system (these
reports are listed in the bibliography for this
paper). Both of these reports were important in
the development of this paper, for information
competency is a key issue in all segments of public
higher education in California.
Because of the
connections between the California Community Colleges
and other institutions--- it is noted in the CSU
report that two-thirds of all CSU graduates are
transfers from community colleges---the need for
intersegmental discussion and coordination of
information competency is vital. The CSUs have
identified the area of information competency
as a high priority and a critical skill for all
students. Principles for implementing information
competency include the importance of faculty working
with librarians (note: Librarians do not have
faculty status in the CSU system), spreading information
competency and the incorporation of information
competency in general education requirements.
The focus of the CSU system has been for each
campus to develop its own plan to incorporate
information competency, with encouragement for
multi-campus projects. One such project consists
of interactive computer-based modules teaching
certain components of information competency.
DEFINITION
It is recommended
that the definition of information competency
be the following:
Information
competency is the ability to find, evaluate, use,
and communicate information in all its various
formats. It combines aspects of library literacy,
research methods and technological literacy. Information
competency includes consideration of the ethical
and legal implications of information and requires
the application of both critical thinking and
communication skills.
ISSUES
Information competency
is a critical skill for student success. It is
necessary to ensure that students are able to
function well in the Information Age. There is
currently no organized effort in the California
Community Colleges that seeks a comprehensive
approach to information competency. Addressing
this need, the Academic Senate for California
Community Colleges adopted Resolution 16.2.0 at
its Fall 1996 Plenary Session to highlight the
faculty leadership role in the curricular development
of information competency requirements and courses.
This position paper
will examine several issues that will be facing
the faculty of the California Community Colleges
as they explore ways to provide information competency
skills. Issues to be discussed will include:
How should information competency
be established, developed, and supported as
part of instructional programs within each
college?
What methods should be used
to assess the information competency of students?
(both across the curriculum and within the
disciplines).
What factors in the California
Community Colleges might encourage the adoption
of information competency into the curriculum?
What factors in the California
Community Colleges might inhibit the adoption
of information competency into the curriculum?
How can faculty knowledge
of information competency be enhanced?
How should information competency
be discussed intersegmentally?
Due to both the
diversity of available information technologies
and the increasing amount of information conveyed
through electronic interfaces, the instructional
coverage of information competency must be expanded.
Library orientations and bibliographic instructional
programs as currently implemented by the majority
of California Community Colleges are not comprehensive
enough to fill the needs of our students as they
cope with the explosion of information in which
they are immersed. The knowledge obtained in traditional
library orientations and bibliographic instruction
sessions is important and needs to be expanded
to include an understanding of the issues such
as copyright, free speech, censorship, access
and privacy. The goal is to prepare students to
work independently using electronic databases
and information networks in addition to using
traditional written materials to locate and present
information.
KEY
COMPONENTS
In order to be
able to find, evaluate, use, and communicate information,
students must be able to demonstrate the following
skills in an integrated process:
State a research question,
problem, or issue.
Determine information requirements
in various disciplines for the research questions,
problems, or issues.
Use information technology
tools to locate and retrieve relevant information.
Organize information.
Analyze and evaluate information.
Communicate using a variety
of information technologies.
Understand the ethical and
legal issues surrounding information and information
technology.
Apply the skills gained
in information competency to enable lifelong
learning.
Some of these components
may already be included in curriculum. It is recommended
that faculty review their curriculum to assure
that these components are covered.
The emergence of
the Information Age makes the ability of students'
to locate information for themselves of vital
importance to a full educational process. If students
are unable to locate, synthesize, and evaluate
information, they will not have the skills necessary
to succeed in any field. Even if student retention
of course content were high, knowledge changes
at a rate so great that what is learned today
may be inaccurate or irrelevant a few years from
now.
This rate of change
will impact students' lives. Students must be
prepared to navigate successfully through a profusion
of print and nonprint media. The challenge is
to equip students with the skills and knowledge
that will enable them to live satisfying and productive
lives in the Information Age.
MODELS
OF IMPLEMENTATION
The implementation
of an information competency program will be most
effective if it is integrated horizontally and
vertically across the curriculum. An ideal plan
would integrate information competency in all
courses in the curriculum. A separate course,
taken once in a student's career, should not be
expected to thoroughly satisfy the key components
of information competency. It is recommended that
the fundamentals of information competency be
introduced in a college orientation/learning skills
course. The concept of information competency
can then be further developed by embedding them
in general education transfer courses and in courses
that are required for certificate and/or degree
programs.
Because the ability
to use information effectively and wisely is crucial
to a student's success in higher education, it
seems natural to incorporate information competency
into the general education curriculum required
of all students. It could be added as a separate
course, or it could be added as a component in
several, or all, of the courses included in the
general education curriculum.
It is possible
to identify competencies that all students should
have, but sometimes discipline-specific competencies
are needed. Those competencies should be integrated
into the curriculum of that discipline. For example,
there are some things about the acquisition of
information that nursing students should know
that are different than what needs to be known
by a student studying fine arts.
Some models for
inclusion of information competency into the discipline
integrate it into the introductory courses in
the discipline sequence. These introductory courses
in a discipline typically familiarize students
with the methodologies, terminologies, and resources
of a discipline, including a variety of ways to
acquire information.
Another model treats
information competency as an enhancement to already
established courses in the discipline- - -as an
"add-on" to the course. For example,
students enrolled in a psychology course might
gain one extra unit of credit for completing the
information competency component, developed by
the faculty teaching the course, in consultation
with library faculty or other faculty having specific
expertise.
ASSESSMENT
Faculty assessment
of students' ability to find, evaluate, use and
communicate information can be tested through
various methods: examination, performance, demonstration,
or application of the skills. Just as information
competency skills should be distributed throughout
the curriculum, so too, should the assessments
of student mastery. Information competency skills
need continual assessment at every level of the
students' course of study.
FACULTY
DEVELOPMENT
Before the information
competency of students can be ensured, information
competency of the faculty must be ensured ,and
the time and money needed to do this must be provided.
If faculty are to foster information competency
skills in their courses, faculty skills must be
enhanced. With the rapid pace of technological
change, skills need continual updating and renewing.
The need for faculty development
is paramount and support must be provided for
instructional design. Information competency must
also compete with a variety of other faculty development
needs and these funds for reassigned time and
materials to develop these competencies are often
not available.
COLLEGE
INFRASTRUCTURE
The information
infrastructure of the colleges must be strengthened
in order for students to be exposed to the broad
range of information and knowledge necessary for
a college education and needed for the full development
of skills in information competency. In order
for students to obtain a good education, they
must have access to a wide variety of sources
that challenges their minds, encourages them to
read and research broadly, and makes them aware
of the range and breadth of the knowledge developed
by many people and many cultures. Expanding information
competency will help students achieve this goal.
INTERSEGMENTALCONSIDERATIONS
Public K-16 education
is an interdependent and interconnected system.
The high schools prepare students for community
colleges and community colleges prepare students
to transfer to four-year institutions. This same
interdependence is crucial in information competency.
There must be a concerted effort made among all
levels of public education so that information
competency skills are emphasized --and funded--
from elementary through four-year institutions,
and that these skills also need to be articulated
between the different segments of public higher
education.
CONCLUSION
Students entering
California higher system lack information retrieval
skills necessary for a successful collegiate or
vocational experience, or to support life long
learning. Competency in information skills is
paramount for students to learn and apply in life
.
Community college
faculty have a primary responsibility in determining
curriculum and developing a program for information
competency on the local campus. In conclusion,
an effective program of information competency
should:
be infused throughout the
curriculum,
use a wide range of information
resources in problem-solving strategies,
make effective uses of instructional
technologies to teach information competency,
encompass finding, evaluating,
and using information,
emphasize the ethical and
legal issues connected in information, and
prepare students as producers,
as well as consumers, of information.
An environment
that will encourage the growth and development
of information competency:
respects the individuality
of each community college,
is built on a collegial
partnership of library faculty, instructional
faculty, and media and instructional technology
professionals,
is founded on collaboration
and articulation with other sectors of California
public education,
promotes the professional
development of faculty,
provides the necessary human
and fiscal resources, and
provides the necessary information
and technology resources.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations
are:
1. The Academic
Senate for California Community Colleges adopt
the following definition of information competency:
Information competency
is the ability to find, evaluate, use and communicate
information in all its various formats. It combines
aspects of library literacy, research methods
and technological literacy. Information competency
includes consideration of the ethical and legal
implications of information and requires the application
of both critical thinking and communication skills.
2. The fundamentals of information
competency should be introduced into college orientation/learning
skills courses. The concepts of information competency
can be further developed by embedding them in
general education transfer courses and in courses
that are required for certificate and/or degree
programs.
3. The faculty
should review their curriculum to assure that
the key components of information competency are
covered.
4. The training
of faculty on the educational uses of information
competency should be a priority in the distribution
of faculty development funds.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cohen, Inez, and
Elmer Jan. Basic Library
and Information Competencies: A Unified State-wide
Approach. Survey Results. Intersegmental
Joint Faculty Project. 1995.
Curzon, Susan (Chair).
Information Competence
in the CSU: A Report. Submitted to the
Commission on Learning Resources and Instructional
Technology. 1995.
Maricopa Center
for Learning and Instruction.
Ocotillo Report '94--Information
Literacy. Maricopa Community College District.
1994.
