Information Literacy refers to a set of competencies for acquiring,
understanding, manipulating, deriving, generating, storing, and presenting
information for the purpose of problem analysis and decision-making. The
purpose of gaining these competencies is for students to understand the
importance of information and information technology to their studies, career,
and personal lives, and to empower students to be proficient in an information
society. Information Literacy competencies allow students to be better
scholars, to understand the quality and usefulness of scholarship, to
understand the nature of an information-rich society, and to use a variety of
information sources and technologies for common information processing in
scholarship and life.
Each new class at the University of Dayton brings more experience and
sophisticated skills in the use of information technology. Many faculty now
expect students to be able to use a word processing program, use the Internet
and e-mail, and log on to a server and download information. Those students
who do not have these skills must be taught to develop them as soon as
possible in their university experience. All students at the University of
Dayton should continue to develop their information technology skills within
the framework of the Information Literacy competencies.
There are five Information Literacy competencies. Each general competency
is followed by a brief statement of the goal and examples of specific skills
which illustrate the competency.
Because Information Literacy is not situated in a specific academic
department, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Schools of Business
Administration, Education, and Engineering should work in collaboration with
their academic departments and programs to identify the specific skills needed
to support each of the general competencies and then develop appropriate
instructional activities and measurement instruments.
5. Students will demonstrate an interest in and ability for
life-long learning about information technology.
This set of competencies relates to students' ability to gain a
broad, integrated view of information literacy and to understand the ways in
which information and technology have and will re-define many aspects of
their academic, work, and personal experience.
- Use the basic capabilities of productivity tools for word processing,
storage of files, access to computer files and remote information sources,
and interpersonal communication, information sharing, and research.
- Use terminology related to computers and technology appropriately in
written and oral communication.
- Use computer-based technologies, including telecommunications, to
access information and enhance personal and professional productivity.
- Use computer software to present textual and numeric data in prose,
tabular, and graphical formats.
Graduation Information Literacy
Competencies
Graduation competencies are extensions of the general competency areas and
should reflect the information literacy competencies, such as deriving and
generating information for research, central to the academic discipline or
area of specialization. The College of Arts and Sciences and the Schools of
Business Administration, Education, and Engineering in close cooperation with
their departments and programs must identify and define the graduation
information literacy competencies they will develop through course work in
their major disciplines. Development of graduation competencies should emerge
from guidelines and recommendations set forth in the j Basic Skills
Subcommittee Report, with guidance from the academic unit's curricular body
and discussions within each department and program, and, when appropriate,
from external standards established by professional organizations and
accrediting bodies.
Information Literacy
Recommendations
Recommendation I
That all academic departments and programs at the University of Dayton
adopt the five competencies for Information Literacy at both the general and
graduation competency levels.
Recommendation II
That all academic departments and programs adopt curriculum management
procedures to ensure that all students develop their Information Literacy
general competencies through course work necessary to complete the
Introduction to the University, Humanities Base, Thematic Cluster, General
Education, and other first and second-year courses required by a student's
academic unit. When possible, students should master some or all of the
Information Literacy general competencies before assuming sophomore
status.
Recommendation III
That all academic
departments and programs develop curriculum and other educational
opportunities to help students master the Information Literacy graduation
competencies central to their profession or area of specialization.
Recommendation IV
That all academic departments and programs define and establish in their
assessment programs specific, measurable outcomes to assess whether students
are receiving appropriate development of Information Literacy general and
graduation competencies.
Recommendation V
That academic departments and programs provide the resources and incentives
needed to develop Information Literacy general and graduation competencies in
all their faculty, and that the departments and programs provide information
technology support services to facilitate the development of Information
Literacy general and graduation competencies among their faculty and
students.
Recommendation VI
That academic departments and programs work with the Learning Village,
university libraries, and other campus units to develop faculty, design
curriculum and other learning experiences, and provide the educational
computing environment in which students and faculty can develop the
Information Literacy general and graduation competencies. (The Learning
Village is eager to be a facilitator for developing Information Literacy on
the campus.)
