ASCRC Annual Report 2013 -2014
Summary
This report describes the activities of the ASCRC for AY 2013-2014. The Chairs of the General
Education Committee, Nadia White and the Writing Committee, Beverly Chin will report as
needed. The committee was under-staffed with open positions for three faculty, representing the
humanities and sciences, as well as three student representatives. More than 150 curriculum
submissions were reviewed as part of the regular Fall review and some exceptions reviewed in
the Spring. Among the new policies and procedures considered, key accomplishments included
 Replacement of the WPA with a university-wide writing program assessment,
 Clarification of the general education language requirement,
 Initiation of review of dual credit offerings with an eye toward formalizing procedures
for dual credit course implementation,
 Revision of English language proficiency requirements and academic support,
 Procedures guiding rubric creation and defining expected effort per credit hour awarded.
Membership
Faculty
Colin Henderson (Chair)
DeBoer, John (Chair-elect)
Gillison, Linda
Tully Thibeau
Nikolaus Vonessen
G.G. Weix
Tim Manuel
Ebo Uchimoto
Linda Eagle-Heart
Sue Samson
Department
Missoula College AAS
Theatre & Dance
Modern & Classical Languages
Linguistics
Mathematics
Anthropology
Accounting (fall only)
Physics & Astronomy
Missoula College AAS
Mansfield Library
Term
2013
2015
2015
2015
2015
2016
2016
2016
2016
2014
Students
Kamalashri Easwaramurthi
Mark Triana
Ex-Officio
Joe Hickman
Beth Howard
Nancy Hinman
Jasmine Zink
Interim Registrar
Interim Director, Office for Student Success
Interim Associate Provost
Academic Policy Manager
Curriculum
Annual Curriculum Review. This was the first year e-Curr was used for course forms. For
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the most part the new electronic system was well received. There was some confusion with
departments saving forms but not submitting them. Some requesters did not track the forms to
assure they were approved and some email notifications were found in junk email folders. An
Associate Dean was on leave so forms for that College had to be rerouted. Unfortunately there
is not support to create the other forms in e-Curr. It was also discovered that course data from
e-Curr cannot be electronically imported into other reports needed by the registrar and Provost’s
office. Consequently, e-Curr will be replaced in the near future by different software. The
Registrar’s Office is working with IT to research a workflow system that will integrate with
Banner to eliminate the manual data entry.
ASCRC acted on 145 curriculum forms. Among the total were 39 new courses, 8 course
deletions, 12 new general education designations, 41 program modifications, and 10 level I
proposals. Five service learning designations were renewed.
The Writing Committee reviewed existing writing courses in Humanities and Fine Arts in
accordance with the Writing Course Review Procedure (202.50.1), renewing approval for16
approved writing courses and 22 upper-division writing courses.
One-time-only general education designations were approved for 7 Global Leadership seminars
and 3 experimental courses. With its recommendation for approval of the GLI courses,the
General Education Committee submitted a document summarizing the difficulties with requiring
the Global Leadership Seminars to fit within a general education group. The document was
presented to the Faculty Senate as information on December 5th after an update from the Global
Leadership Taskforce. The General Education Committee completed its rolling review of
Mathematics, Historical and Cultural, and Natural Science courses begun in Spring 2013
(202.40). This spring the General Education committee initiated the review of Literary and
Artistic Studies, American and European, and Indigenous and Global courses.
Level I changes reviewed by the committee were:
 Native American Studies; Language Rejuvenation & Maintenance Certificate
 Forest Operations; New title for option, simplify requirements
 Wildland Restoration Minor; Rename and Change course listings
 Wildland Restoration BS; Rename and Change Course Listings
 Parks, Tourism and Recreation Management; Drop options and create tracks
 Missoula College; Applied Computing & Electronics, Network and Information Security
Certificate
 Management & Marketing; Sustainable Business Strategy Certificate
 Journalism, New Minor
 Tier 1 Welding Certificate of Completion (Missoula College and Bitterroot College
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Curriculum Consent agendas were presented to the Faculty Senate starting at the November 14th
meeting.
Following the Fall review, ASCRC elected to assign future curriculum requests from the
Department of Health and Human Performance to the Forestry and Biomedical Subcommittee
due to the content of the courses.
Spring Curriculum Review Items. Several requests for exception to the normal fall timeline
were accepted, resulting in the following actions.
Six new Mansfield Center Defense Critical Language courses were approved after the syllabi
were revised. Several members of ASCRC visited the off -campus program on March 18th. The
visit included a primer on the facilities, offerings, and funding structure. The program is
projected to graduate 1352 at the end of this grant year.
Changes to course prerequisites in Communication Studies and Political Science were approved
by request from the departments upon discovery that changes could no longer be made
editorially to the course schedule.
The summer offering of PHL241 N History and Philosophy of Science and BIOH 470 Summer
Clinical Laboratory, BIOH 471 Professional Training I, and BIOH 472 Professional Training II
were approved.
Procedure and Policy Review items
Writing Assessment Motion. The motion to end the Upper Division Writing Proficiency
Assessment, effective October 10, 2013, and to implement a University-wide Program-level
Assessment of Student Writing Proficiency in Approved Writing Courses, effective October 10,
2013 was approved at the October 10th Faculty Senate meeting.
General Education Language Motion. The motion “Effective fall, 2015, undergraduate
students must fulfill the general education modern and classical language requirement (and
cannot use a symbolic-systems exception to this requirement) unless they are enrolled in a
program of study requiring over 48 credits for a first baccalaureate degree. “ was introduced at
the Faculty Senate November 14th, it was postponed at the December 5th meeting, and approved
at the February 13th meeting Group III catalog language was included as information. Senators
received email communications from the Anthropology and Forestry and the ASUM leadership
indicated students were not in favor of the motion. ASCRC invited ASUM leadership to the
2/11/14 meeting to discuss concerns. ASCRC also drafted a response for senators.
Dormant course report. Assistant Registrar Holzworth prepared the dormant course report.
Department chairs were notified that the courses had not been offered in three years and would
be removed from the catalog unless a rationale was provided to retain the course. The rationale
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was included on the report for those courses. The report also went to the Faculty Senate as
information for senators to take back to their units in case a course had been missed. Senators
were instructed to contact the Registrar’s Office.
Experimental course report. Camie sent notice to department chairs regarding experimental
courses offered three times. Some of the courses in the report are in the schedule for next fall.
ASCRC briefly reviewed these and instructed the Registrar’s Office to remove the courses from
the schedule. The departments were informed of the decision prior to course removal. The
procedure should be updated to include this step, since there is no mechanism to automatically
track the number of offerings. ASCRC approved the request for an exception to allow EDU 491
Classroom Management and Field Experience to be offered a fifth time.
Review of Dual Credit Course Data. The Committee reviewed the dual listed course data (see
appendix 1). The majority of courses are English and Math. Instructors teaching the courses
must meet university standards same as adjunct instructors and the curriculum must match the
college course. Instructors must be certified to teach high school. Students pay an additional
$50 for the course. The Missoula College is under pressure to create 200 level courses. There
are still questions and concerns with how dual credit is administered. The committee would like
to review an annual report given the pressure to increase the offerings. A procedure should be
drafted next year.
Pre-CCN Course numbering. ASCRC agreed that the pre-CCN course numbers currently listed
in the catalog after course numbers in parenthesis should be eliminated.
Prerequisite Enforcement. Prerequisites will be enforced fall 2014. There are currently 240 that
required prerequisite clarification. The Registrar’s Office is working with departments to clarify
enforceable prerequisites.
New Policies/ Procedures. Rubric Procedure is listed in Appendix 2.
Course credit policy is listed in Appendix 3.
Annual Review of Policies. The annual review of policies eliminated several that duplicated
existing catalog language. The remaining polices that were reviewed, and the changes made are
listed below:









201.00 Curriculum Review Overview -revised due to e-Curr
201.30.5 Crosslisting –revised by ad hoc subcommittee of ECOS to incorporated
Common Course Numbering (4/10/13) All programs will need to submit forms to renew
cross-listing designations next fall. (see Appendix 4)
201.90 Special Topics - revised to address permanent topic courses
202.60 UDWPA Appeals Subcommittee – delete
203.10 AP / Clep Credit Policy – revised, will be presented to the Faculty Senate next fall
203.20 Credit Max - delete: duplicates catalog language
203.30 Declaration of a Major - delete: duplicates catalog language
203.40 Drop Add Policy - delete: duplicates catalog language
203.80 Minors Policy - revise: remove catalog language
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
Revised Learning Outcomes language on the eCurr form
Pending

There has been an increase in graduation appeals in a number of categories. It may be
necessary to create a list of acceptable substitutions for these cases and make
recommendations to ASCRC. The Graduation Appeals Committee will consider whether
revisions are needed for 203.50.
Options Clarification Letter. A letter clarifying that an option is on a student’s transcript
and specializations or advising tracks are not. Faculty should be consistent in how they use
the terms to reduce confusion for students. The letter was an information item at the April
Faculty Senate meeting and was sent to all Faculty members by the Provost’s Office. (See
Appendix 5)
English Proficiency policy. ASCRC discussed concerns regarding non-native English speaking
students understanding of English as well as oral proficiency. Support service information for
international students was removed from the admissions section of the catalog in 2008.
ASCRC met with Director of International Programs Paulo Zagalo-Melo – Office of
International Programs, Effie Koehn –Foreign Student Scholars Services 2-18-14 to discuss
various issues. A workgroup was established to create a policy / procedure to best serve
students. The revised policy increases the minimum TOEFL scores for full admission and better
defines the support services. The revised policy was presented at the April 10th Faculty Senate
meeting (see appendix 6)
Other Communication / Discussion Items
Demonstration of UM 101 (10/8/13). Shannon Jansen an Undergraduate Academic Advisor
in the Office for Student Success provided a brief demonstration of UM 101. It has a similar
design to MOOCs and addresses some of the problem issues students on academic probation
have identified. It is a pilot project this year with the goal of helping first-year students’
transition to college and become academically engaged. Moodle provides a secure environment
for students to blog and chat. The course is 19 weeks and starts three weeks before classes start
(the schedule is appended). It has four dynamic learning categories (Academics, Student
Services, Social Weekly Challenge, and the Basics). Students self-select categories. The portal
for parents, staff, and faculty has identical course information with one additional category
(Supporting Your Student).
Greening UM Courses. At the recommendation of the Sustainable Campus Committee, Robert
Squires, Director of Instructional Design & Technical Support gave a presentation on the idea of
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greening UM courses. The idea is to have faculty self-evaluate the extent to which their course
can be considered ‘green’ by completing an online checklist. Faculty members are then awarded
a badge that can be placed on their course. The primary purpose of the self-evaluation is to raise
awareness of how everyone’s actions can make a difference. The focus of the self-evaluation is
not course content.
ASCRC is charged with the study of undergraduate academic standards and curriculum, so the
Committee did not feel it was the right body to collaborate on the project.
Degree builder. Loey Knapp, the Information Technology Strategist and Interim Registrar
Hickman provided a demonstration and status report on Degree Builder. It will provide a single
source of data that can eventually feed into a degree audit system.
Information Literacy. There have been anecdotal reports that some students do not have the
skills to do research in upper-division courses. The Library teaches over 450 classes to 8,000
students each year. The library liaisons also work with instructor to integrate information
literacy into courses. Information literacy is a requirement for all approved Writing courses.
ASCRC informed the Senate of the experimental upper-division ad-on course: (LSCI 391)
Literacies Advanced Research (see Appendix 7). Efforts to work on the issue will continue next
year. Some suggestions included
Early Alert. In response to the discussion at ASCRC the Office worked on enhancements to the
current Early Alert system. These should be available next fall.





faculty can indicate that they use a mechanism for providing students with feedback
independent from the “Early Alert” system,
faculty can tie the notification to organization of the course
implementation via multiple channels including Moodle,
Ad hoc reports throughout the semester, and
provides feedback on multiple parameters, such as attendance, performance, etc.
The enhanced system should be available next fall. ASCRC suggested that a demonstration be
given at the September Faculty Senate meeting.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Appendices
Appendix 1
Dual Credit Statistics
Students Enrolled*
201070 201130 201170 201230 201270 201330 201370 201430
272
41
396
45
329
83
386
156
6
Students with
Enrollment Pending
Credits Attempted
Average GPA**
Number of students
who matriculated to
UM/MC***
Pending enrollment
credits attempted
N/A
1010
3.25
N/A
126
3.51
N/A
1462
3.12
N/A
135
3.09
N/A
1330
3.21
N/A
259
3.25
N/A
1474
3.24†
49
523
N/A
151
29
210
34
159
51
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
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*Students Enrolled does not include students who were cancelled or
back dropped.
**Average GPA does not include any students who withdrew.
***Students may be counted in more than one semester.
†
The majority of grades are not in for this semester.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Apendix 2
Procedure Number:
Procedure:
Date Adopted:
Last Revision:
Approved by:
201.75
Rubric Creation Process and Criteria
2/13/14
2/13/14
Faculty Senate
Background
Adopting a common course numbering system across the Montana University System created the
need for a mechanism to monitor the creation of new rubrics for courses.
Process
1. Units propose new rubrics to the campus curriculum committees on program modification
forms. The proposal should note whether the rubric is proposed for use at the campus-only or
Montana University System Level.
2. After review and approval the curriculum committee will submit a summary of program
modifications to the Faculty Senate for vote.
3. Once approved the recommended rubric is forwarded to OCHE for inclusion in the common
course numbering matrix to be used throughout the MUS.
Rubric Criteria
A new rubric must meet the following criteria:
1. The courses do not fit in any existing rubrics at the campus or MUS level.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
The rubric is distinct from existing rubrics.
It offers a unique and attractive opportunity for study that will promote the University.
It is organized around a clear, coherent, and focused area of study.
It will be recognizeable and meaningful outside of the campus environment.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Appendix 3
Procedure Number:
Procedure:
Date Adopted:
Last Revision:
References:
Approved by:
201.35
Credit Hour Definitions
4/15/14
4/15/14
ASCRC Procedure 201.40, 201.55, BOR Policy 303.3, 309.1, Code of
Federal Regulations 34 (C.F.R.) 600.2
ASCRC, Graduate Council, Faculty Senate
Definition of Credit Hour
Credits for all coursework completed at the University of Montana shall be awarded in
accordance with the Department of Education's regulations as set forth in 34 C.F.R. § 600.2.
Credits awarded for short courses and workshops shall comply with ASCRC procedure 201.40
and BOR policy 309.1.
Laboratory work, internships, practica, studio work, and similar activities shall be awarded 1
credit for 2 hours of organized activity per week.
Evaluation of Compliance
Compliance with the federal credit-hour policy is evaluated when a course is proposed, when a
course is changed, and as part of regular program review.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Appendix 4
Procedure Number:
Procedure:
Date Adopted:
Last Revision:
Approved by:
201.30.5
Crosslisting
11/26/85
4/8/14
Faculty Senate
To qualify for consideration for cross listing, all courses must:
 be requested by both departments or programs;
 count as credit toward an existing major, minor, or certificate program;
 not be experimental or have a reserved variable content course number (x90-X99) carry
the same title (both parent and sibling courses) and, if possible, carry the same course
number;
 be implemented within comparable course levels, e.g., (U), (UG), or (G);
 be offered under an existing rubric.
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A course may have three cross listings only under extenuating circumstances. Under no
circumstances will a course be cross listed under more than three rubrics.
Only the parent (CCN) course number will show on the student’s transcript.
Rationale:
Cross listing serves UM students by providing easy access to a wide range of courses. It fosters
the University’s commitment to interdisciplinarity and enhances small programs by promoting
their classes. However, it is expensive to maintain. Thus, departments requesting courses to be
cross listed must provide a justification that addresses the following:
 Identify external requirement and provide documentation.
 Explain why only cross-listing this course serves the need for delivering academic
content.
 Identify how both the parent and sibling units contribute to the cross-listed course’s
content and how cross listing contributes to the respective units’ missions of serving
students
 Identify additional reasons for cross listing such as a specialized need for advertising to
prospective students, sharing resources across departments (equipment, space, instructors,
etc.), or mutual contribution to course content.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Appendix 5
MEMORANDUM
DATE:
March 4, 2014
TO:
Department Chairs and Program Directors
FROM:
ASCRC
SUBJECT:
Clarification of “options” and other terms
There are currently a variety of terms used interchangeably in the catalog to describe areas of
study within majors (e.g. concentration, option, track, specialization, focus area, etc.). The term
Option, in particular, is a reserved term defined by BOR policy (303.1); other terms are used
inconsistently with the potential to confuse students about the actual degree/minor/option that
will appear (or not) on their transcript. To ensure that students are advised appropriately and to
conform with Board of Regents’ policy, ASCRC has prepared the following clarification of the
correct use of such terms.
Options
 Options must be approved by ASCRC and the BOR. They are listed in the MUS
Academic Inventory and the University of Montana’s degrees and majors inventory.
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
o Any changes to the option (deletion, renaming) must also be approved by the
BOR.
o Any new options or significant changes (including termination) require
submission of a Level I form.
o Minor changes to options require program modification forms.
o The number of graduates in each option can be tracked and is reported to the BOR
every seven years as part of program review.
Options appear on the student’s transcript.
The Board of Regents defines an option as:
…. a core of required courses in the program plus required and/or elective courses in the
specialty area indicated by the title of the option. The core of required courses must
constitute at least one-third of the hours required for the program. (BOR policy 303.1)
Other terms: Advising Tracks, Specializations, Areas of Study, etc.
 Are not submitted for approval by the BOR
o Any changes made to these advising tracks do not require BOR approval.
 Do not appear on the student’s transcript
o Often, a program will have ways of organizing coursework that allows students to
focus on a particular area of study. If such a track has not been formalized as an
option, it should be very clear to students that it will not appear on their transcript.
We appreciate your help in alleviating the confusion surrounding these terms.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Appendix 6
English Language Proficiency Requirements for Admission of
International Students as Undergraduates
[To be implemented for students enrolling Academic Year 2015-2016]
Montana University System campuses require international-student applicants to present
evidence of proficient English use. Campuses may impose additional requirements on applicants
from other countries in order to assure student success.
The University of Montana considers applicants to be international students if they are neither
U.S. citizens, immigrants (permanent residents) nor refugees. These applicants may include
holders of F (student) visas, J (exchange visitor) visas, and M (vocational training) visas.
All international students must be academically prepared and demonstrate sufficient proficiency
in English to qualify for admission. In order to demonstrate sufficient proficiency, students must
meet one of the following admissions standards at the undergraduate level (see TABLE 1):
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TABLE 1
Proficiency Examination
TOEFL iBT
TOEFL PBT
TOEFL CBT
IELTS
MELAB
SAT - Writing Score
ACT - English Writing
STEP EIKEN
UM English Language Institute
Full Admission
Conditional Admission
70 and above
525 and above
192 and above
6.0 and above
74 and above
Any grade or score below the
440 and above
levels indicated for Full
18 and above
Grade Pre-1
525 TOEFL ITP
or recommendation from ELI
ELS Language Center
Successful completion of
Program Level 112
Kaplan Aspect
Successful completion of
Higher Intermediate Level 112
Vancouver English Centre
Successful completion of
Level 11
All inquiries about evidence of English proficiency and English language proficiency test scores
should be directed to Enrollment Services-Admissions.
EXEMPTIONS
Exemptions to the English proficiency policy may be considered for any one of these grounds:



an applicant is a native speaker of English,
an applicant has attended for two or more years an institution of higher education where
English functions as the primary language of classroom instruction, or
an applicant has transferred a course-equivalent for WRIT 101.
FULL ADMISSION
The University of Montana will consider for full admission only those undergraduate students
providing evidence of English proficiency in the form of one of the scores listed in TABLE 1.
Full Admission with Academic Support: Undergraduate applicants qualify for full admission
with academic support if they have (i) completed one of the following proficiency examinations
(either TOEFL, IELTS, or MELAB) and (ii) earned Intermediate or Advanced Proficiency scores
within ranges presented in TABLE 2:
TABLE 2 – Proficiency Ranges for Academic Support
Proficiency Exam Superior Proficiency Advanced Proficiency
iBT TOEFL
92 or higher
81 to 91
PBT TOEFL
575 or higher
550 to 574
CBT TOEFL.
234 or higher
213 to 233
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Intermediate Proficiency
70 to 80
525 to 549
192 to 212
IELTS
7.0
6.5
6.0
MELAB
83 or higher
78 to 82
74 to 77
All inquiries about evidence of English proficiency and English language proficiency test scores
should be directed to Enrollment Services-Admissions.
Any student scoring in advanced or intermediate proficiency ranges are strongly recommended
to enroll in academic-support service courses.
• During their first semester of attendance, advanced-proficiency students may take 3 but
no more than 6 credits of English as an Academic Second Language (EASL) coursework.
• During their first two semesters in attendance, intermediate-proficiency students may
take 6 but no more than 12 credits of EASL coursework.
Academic Support coursework entails EASL courses, credited toward a degree. The University
offers EASL 250 and 251 (intermediate) as well as 450 and 451 (advanced) in order to assist
international students in becoming ready for and effective in mainstream college coursework.
See http://www.umt.edu/catalog/cat/cas/linguist.html.
CONDITIONAL ADMISSION
Students who do not meet the required English language proficiency for full admission but are
otherwise academically qualified may seek eligibility for conditional admission. Students submit
international applications and all required supporting documents to the Admissions Office, and
upon a review of their academic eligibility, these students may then be admitted conditionally.
Enrollment Services issues the conditional-acceptance letter and an I-20 form and then forwards
this information to the English Language Institute.
Summary: Proficiency scores help determine full admission; scores below superior proficiency
compel explicit guidance be given to fully admitted international students; they are encouraged
to take one or more courses that support academic English uses and also count for degree credit.
Justification: Scores below the threshold of full admission indicate a pre-emergent proficiency
for academic purposes; scores above the full-admission threshold indicate emerging proficiency
for academic purposes, thus meeting a standard including recommendation that support is vital
to the extent that emerging proficiency is intermediate or advanced. Emergent students may
enroll in a program of study delivering academic support that respects timely paths to degree,
reflects most universities' admissions standards, and sets a ceiling near those of prestigious
ones.
It is recommended, (i) this policy be revisited for review and revision to respond to developments,
(ii) a new admission deadline for international-student applications be changed to 15 May 2015
for Academic Year 2015-2016, and (iii) ASCRC coordinate these recommendations for setting
this undergraduate international-student standard with Graduate Council in order to calibrate it
with the graduate international-student standard.
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Appendix 8
ASCRC Statement of Support for Advanced Research Literacies, LSCI 391
ASCRC strongly recommends LSCI 391, Advanced Research Literacies, as a
complementary and collaborative class in support of required upper-division
writing classes. LSCI 391 is a 1-credit class designed to develop an advanced
understanding of critical literacies and lifelong information- seeking skills. This
class will be offered beginning fall semester 2014. It will also be shared with the
Writing Committee for further discussion about how to best incorporate
information literacy into upper-division Writing classes.
Class Description
The ability to locate, evaluate and use information effectively and ethically is essential. In this course
students will develop an advanced understanding of critical literacies and lifelong information seeking
skills. Students are encouraged to take this course as a complement to “W” designated courses in their
major. Students will complete an in-depth literature review relevant to their major that includes all
aspects of information literacy, including visual literacy, media literacy, news literacy, and scholarly
communication literacy. Students will hone their abilities in critical thinking, resource analysis, and the
ethical and appropriate use of information through an in-depth analysis of publication practices.
Learning Outcomes
· Construct an original argument, position or question based on research findings and/or analysis
and interpretation of texts within their historical and cultural contexts.
· Complete a literature review.
o Implement a research strategy appropriate to research need.
o Recognize the value of original scholarship;
o Compare and contrast research from various sources to create an holistic analysis of a
topic.
o Identify gaps in research findings and modify research strategies accordingly.
· Apply discipline-specific understanding and style guide to research productions.
o Describe key discipline-specific information resources and how they are organized and
used.
o Construct advanced searches using controlled vocabularies and Boolean operators.
o Execute cited reference searches.
o Recognize and explain the value of tracking citations forward and backward.
· Document and organize personal research process and information sources.
· Understand the economic, legal, political, and socio-economic impacts on information access and
use (e.g., censorship, constraints, costs, funded research, policies, scholarship).
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……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Appendix 8
ASCRC Statement of Support for Advanced Research Literacies, LSCI 391
ASCRC strongly recommends LSCI 391, Advanced Research Literacies, as a
complementary and collaborative class in support of required upper-division
writing classes. LSCI 391 is a 1-credit class designed to develop an advanced
understanding of critical literacies and lifelong information- seeking skills. This
class will be offered beginning fall semester 2014. It will also be shared with the
Writing Committee for further discussion about how to best incorporate
information literacy into upper-division Writing classes.
Class Description
The ability to locate, evaluate and use information effectively and ethically is essential. In this course
students will develop an advanced understanding of critical literacies and lifelong information seeking
skills. Students are encouraged to take this course as a complement to “W” designated courses in their
major. Students will complete an in-depth literature review relevant to their major that includes all
aspects of information literacy, including visual literacy, media literacy, news literacy, and scholarly
communication literacy. Students will hone their abilities in critical thinking, resource analysis, and the
ethical and appropriate use of information through an in-depth analysis of publication practices.
Learning Outcomes
· Construct an original argument, position or question based on research findings and/or analysis
and interpretation of texts within their historical and cultural contexts.
· Complete a literature review.
o Implement a research strategy appropriate to research need.
o Recognize the value of original scholarship;
o Compare and contrast research from various sources to create an holistic analysis of a
topic.
o Identify gaps in research findings and modify research strategies accordingly.
· Apply discipline-specific understanding and style guide to research productions.
o Describe key discipline-specific information resources and how they are organized and
used.
o Construct advanced searches using controlled vocabularies and Boolean operators.
o Execute cited reference searches.
o Recognize and explain the value of tracking citations forward and backward.
· Document and organize personal research process and information sources.
· Understand the economic, legal, political, and socio-economic impacts on information access and
use (e.g., censorship, constraints, costs, funded research, policies, scholarship).
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