Description of Project

As the information age impacts the way we teach and learn we look to changing the curriculum to include information literacy skills. CSUSM has adopted a model of General Education in which information competencies have been outlined for each lower-division GE course. Library faculty and disciplinary faculty work together to ensure that student successfully master these competencies. Unlike other efforts, our program is based on active learning activities, class assignments or research papers using the information resources available through (not just in) the library. Information literacy instruction is delivered actively through library-use assignments. Instructing the students in using this "learning laboratory" and its tools becomes the educational mission of the library and the primary responsibility of instruction librarians.

The structure of the GE program allows us to focus goals and competencies. The criteria for lower-division GE courses require that the faculty demonstrate how information literacy and use of the library will be represented in their courses. Librarians have worked closely with the faculty teaching courses in GE Areas A-D. The courses meeting the requirements for Area E focus on understanding the electronic library and targets student use of technology while introducing them to issues surrounding the "Information Age".

Through this project CSUSM  develop and implement an assessment of this integrated information literacy model. We will pilot an assessment to encompass both qualitative and quantitative means. We want to move beyond the multiple-choice test to a more global assessment that would at the same time be easily reproduced at other campuses. CSUSM Information Literacy Program (ILP) has been widely publicized and many are looking to us as a model. We hope to be able to prove our success but more importantly we wish to help others in their search for ways to assess the attainment of information literacy skills in graduating students.

The timing of this project is critical. CSUSM began accepting Freshmen students in Fall 1995 and will see a first cohort of students graduate in Spring 1999. The opportunity to gather information on our program from this class of students is fast approaching. We hope to use this small group (30 students) to pilot a test to be used with subsequent classes of graduating seniors. With this grant we will develop a systematic assessment that can help us begin to evaluate our program while measuring student attainment.

This project is a natural outgrowth of the various activities of the ILP. It is a natural next step to focus assessment of the CSUSM ILP on assignments in the GE program and on the skills and attitudes of graduating seniors.

Last updated: Friday, August 27, 2004 G.Sonntag