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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H |
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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Information Literacy Curriculum for Online Delivery
According to the National Forum on Information Literacy, information literacy is “the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand.” Successful learning in today’s rapidly changing information age thus requires students to develop skills for finding and utilizing relevant and reliable information. Christinger Tomer, Library and Information Sciences, and Kelly Otter, General Studies, have developed their project, Developing an Information Literacy Curriculum for Online Delivery, to help students navigate the complex modern information environment. Susan W. Alman, director of online education for the School of Information Sciences, and Jessica Bauer, program coordinator in the College of General Studies, will also play key roles in the project. Through the creation of an online information literacy curriculum, this project will equip students in the College of General Studies and the School of Information Sciences with “crucial information literacy skills that will enhance the remainder of their educational experience” and will “establish an important basis for lifelong learning.” An innovative implementation of the Shapiro and Hughes curriculum model, which views literary development as “layered literacy,” this diverse curriculum will be offered via CourseWeb both as a unified individual course and as a series of subject-specific modules. Tomer says that these “may be employed as a linear offering, on a module-by-module basis, or as a ‘just-in-time’ solution.” The modules will include subject areas such as problem identification, information retrieval, and source evaluation; they will be designed for students in the arts, humanities, natural and social sciences, computer science, engineering, and health sciences. Tomer and Otter note that the project will enhance instruction beyond the primary goal of creating “a course of study that may be employed across the University to address the problem of information literacy.” They plan to “provide a framework in terms of revisions and additions which may be contributed to continuously by academic units,” to determine “the extent to which CourseWeb can be used as a collaborative instructional environment,” and to also “explore the scope of faculty interest in information literacy as an academic undertaking.” This project will also have a long-term impact on the University community, Tomer says. “We hope that this design will eventually influence academic policy on a much broader basis, inducing programs with the University to bring information literacy instruction directly into their respective programs.”
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A newsletter devoted to the support of teaching and learning at the University of Pittsburgh |
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