The development of Champlain's new Core Curriculum provides a wonderful opportunity to integrate Information Literacy skills and outcomes throughout the four-year educational experience.   Champlain's pioneering and interdisciplinary approach to the general education curriculum provides the context to help students draw important connections between their majors and the Core disciplines -- and also the perfect context to help students develop information skills that will serve them through their lifetime.  

This emphasis on the Core Curriculum complements Champlain's already-strong library instruction program in the professional disciplines.   By integrating information literacy instruction in both contexts -- professional programs and Core Curriculum -- we believe that students will graduate with a well-rounded and well-practiced set of information skills.

Developing an Information Literacy competency

The field of library and information science includes a strong focus on research- and theory-based models of information seeking, information problem-solving, and related skills.   Working with models developed by Kuhlthau, Eisenberg-Berkowitz, Irving, and others, as well as the national standards developed by the Association of College and Research Libraries, Champlain College has drafted a set of information literacy skills and outcomes. [Download a printable version in PDF format]  

Integrating and Assessing the competency

In the Core Curriculum, as in the professional disciplines, we believe that Information Literacy instruction and practice are most effective when integrated in the context and content of the course.   This integration is particularly evident in Champlain's new Core Curriculum:   information literacy skills are not confined to a particular assignment or even a particular course. Rather, they permeate the course sequence, allowing students to learn and practice these skills throughout the Core.   The reliance on critical and creative thinking and strong integrative learning that characterizes the Core Curriculum make this sequence a natural fit for the College's information literacy initiative.

Champlain librarians and faculty members are now collaborating to identify specific courses and assignments in which students receive instruction, practice, or assessment in information literacy as part of the Core Curriculum.   All three aspects -- instruction, practice, and assessment -- are integral parts of the courses.  A sample matrix (PDF format] shows how students receive instruction, practice and assessment in some first-year Core courses. Additional Core courses are being mapped as they are developed. The result, we hope, will demonstrate a strong four-year information literacy program embedded in the Core Curriculum.

Last modified: 21Sep2007