Quality Time: Fostering Information Literacy

Do your students tend to rely on Wikipedia or Google for scholarly research? If so, and if this concerns you, you’re certainly not alone. As we face vast amounts of information so instantly, easily accessible, our encouraging students to examine how they locate and use that information becomes increasingly important – if increasingly difficult at times.

Our CCCOnline Librarian, Mary Cash, defines information literacy as “the set of abilities that allow a person to recognize a need for information, to search for and find the necessary information, and to best know how to use that information.” The Association of College and Research Libraries stresses information literacy’s worth as forming “the basis for lifelong learning” and empowering learners with “greater control over their own learning” (read more at the source here). In addition, information literacy has garnered a fair amount of recent attention from educators at all levels.

Our question to you: how do you address information literacy in your courses? If you have found particular activities or assignments to be effective, please share with colleagues. Post your comments in the appropriate discussion in the CCCOnline Community.

Quality Time is a series of posts concerning course quality issues, best practices, and/or CCCOnline policy.