Incorporating Information
Competency into the Curriculum
Carol Womack
Santa Monica College Library
http://homepage.smc.edu/womack_carol/Library15/default.htm
The Project
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Present the project as you would give it to your
students
Goals: identify (or quantify) what you are
trying to accomplish and what students will
learn
Topic or range of topics
limit as much as possible
set parameters
identify timelines, if necessary
History
Academic Senate resolutions for IC
graduation requirement
 2002 Board of governors
 Present: on hold
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The Grant
Santa Monica College
 Fund for Instructional Improvement
 $97,048
 Fall 2001 – Summer 2002+
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Background
Initiated by faculty
 Info comp need
 Info Comp Task Force
 SMC
 30,000+ students
 90+ academic programs
 20+ vocational programs
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The Goal
Promote innovation via faculty/staff
development
 Develop lifelong learners
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The Objectives:
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To establish a common core of
understanding:
 what information competency is (and
isn’t)
 its importance in instruction
 faculty required to incorporate
information competency assignments in
their classes.
The Objectives:
To create information competency
assignments
 To increase students’ level of competency
 To create an information competency course
 To present the course online
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The FII Grant Team
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Director of Academic Computing
Assistant Dean, Library
Dean, English Dept.
President, Academic Senate
Chair, Professional Development Committee
Chair, Curriculum Committee
BI Librarian
The Procedures:
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Create a series of
modules covering info
comp issues
 Technology
changes
 Pedagogical impact
 Best practices
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Faculty practicum
(summer session)
Pilot Test (History 10)
Distance ed class for
students
Benefits:
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For Faculty:
 Understanding
concepts of info
comp
For Students:
 Development of
info comp skills
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For the California
Community College
System:
 Presentation and
dissemination of
info comp
professional
development
curriculum
The Process:
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Info Comp task force
recommendations
 Content
 Audience
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Creation of 2-unit
class
 Pedagogy
 Assignments
 Organization
 Presentation
The Info Comp Team
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Project Director - Jennifer Merlic, Director of
Academic Computing
Faculty
 Carol Womack (Library)—Team Leader
 Lawrence Driscoll (English)
 Nancy Grass-Hemmert (Speech)
 Richard Bailey (Business)
Information Competency Task Force
The Product
Library 15/Education 15—2 unit class
 Debut: summer 2002
 Faculty: English, History, Business,
Nursing, Library
http://homepage.smc.edu/womack_carol/
Library15/
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Research planning and design
Planning
 define the writing
assignment/assessing the situation
 specify general purpose (inform,
persuade, entertain)
 specify audience (teacher, classmates,
professional organization
 specify recency required (10 yrs. vs. 6
months--is old info still relevant?)
 specify the scope of the topic to be
covered
Research planning and design
exploring the topic
 generating ideas
 quantity not quality
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Research planning and design
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Creating a working thesis
Research planning and design
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Creating a research plan
Process:
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Current or historical information needed
Select books: Library online catalog
Select periodical articles: Library databases-indicate which ones
Select websites: search engines
Evaluate sources
Cite sources(?)
Annotate bibliography or rank sources and
explain ranking
Class Plan:
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students will present a class assignment
they have designed, incorporating
information competency elements.
Presentations may utilize PowerPoint,
eCompanion, web page or other
presentation software.
Information exchange: students will
compare/contrast assignments,
recognizing differences required by
discipline, offer advice and suggestions.
Class evaluation.
The Nature of Research, by
Discipline
Arts & Humanities:
current and historical research
 primary and secondary research
 criticism of the work itself
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The Nature of Research, by
Discipline
Social Sciences
 current and historical research
 statistics
 behavior studies
The Nature of Research, by
Discipline
Business
 current research for competitive
intelligence
 historical performance data
The Nature of Research, by
Discipline
Law:
historical precedent case law
 current competitive intelligence
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The Nature of Research, by
Discipline
Science
 current info needed most;
historical info important
 clinical trials, experiments
 search for proof
 blends logic and imagination
evaluating websites
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Go to this website: website:
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~abutz/di/dc/camps.html
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Is this a valid site? Why? or Why not? Use the
FIVE CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING WEB
PAGES in your response.
Searching a library database
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Find the 10 colleges in California which
offer a master's degree in sports medicine.
Name the schools. (5 points)
 Describe how you found them. (5 points)
(CollegeSource)
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Searching a library database
Find the most current home prices for your
neighborhood. Where did you look
first? why?
 Where did you find the answer?
(RAND California)
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Searching a library database
Find a copy of Martin Luther King Jr's I
Have a Dream speech. Where did you look
first?
 Where did you find it?
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(Landmark Documents in American History)
Researching a Country
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Look up a country in CountryWatch. Look
up the same country in the CIA World
Factbook
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbo
ok/index.html
Do both sites say the same things about
the country? Where are there
differences?
Searching a library database
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Ford recently announced that it would market its
Jaguars, Aston Martins, Land Rovers, and Volvos
to a particular population group in the U.S. Find
an article that identifies that group.
Where did you look first?
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Where did you FIND the article?
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What is the population group?
(ABI/Inform)
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Creating Assignments
http://library.smc.edu/webresearch.html#Teaching
http://www.sacollege.org/students/library/nealley/pathfinders/effective_a
ssignments.htm
http://www.lib.umich/edu/instruct/assignments.tips.html
http://servercc.oakton.edu/~wittman/find/assign.htm
http://www.sacollege.org/students/library/nealley/pathfinders/effective_assignments.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/assignments/promoting_infolit.html
http://www.library.fullerton.edu/information_comp/Assignments.htm
http://www.library.csuhayward.edu/library_assignments.htm
http://library.csun.edu/assign.html
http://dometest.sdsu.edu/about/depts/instruction/pitfalls.shtml
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Tips.html
http://library.tamu.edu/reference/instruction/successassign.htm
http://www.lib.umd.edu/UES/assignment.html#PIT
http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Steenbock/bipage/assignqu.htm
http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/infosrv/lue/effectiveassignments.html
http://www2.canisius.edu/canhp/canpub/ciq/CIQ_May96/library.html
Term Paper Alternatives:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/PaperAlternatives.html
Writing Learning Outcomes:
http://www.aallnet.org/prodev/outcomes.asp
Improving Assignments:
http://www.csulb.edu/~ttravis/GESI/revised.htm
Future:
Expand scope—lifelong learning
 Work with other faculty and librarians
 K-12
 4-year higher ed institutions
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