Information Literacy In Action:
Supporting General Education in the Twenty-First Century
In April 2007 the UC Commission on General Education in the Twenty-First Century issued its report on general education throughout the UC system. Co-chaired by Michael Schudson, professor of communication and adjunct professor of sociology at UC San Diego, and Neil J. Smelser, professor emeritus of sociology at UC Berkeley, the commission was established in 2003 with the approval of the Office of the President and the systemwide Academic Senate.
The full eighty-four-page report is available online in downloadable Adobe PDF format. With regard to library support for instruction, its recommendations in section eight, on new technologies and general education, are particularly interesting.
This section of the report focuses on the applications of what it calls information and communications technologies (ICTs) to higher education and calls for the training of undergraduate students in the disciplined use of information resources.
To help faculty and TAs achieve this goal, the UCLA Library’s Information Literacy Program offers a number of services and approaches. Librarians can:
- Provide research instruction tailored to a course topic and goals;
- Collaborate with faculty and TAs to develop information-rich assignments that develop ICTs skills;
- Teach students about plagiarism and information ethics;
- Participate in course message boards to share information on resources and approaches appropriate for assignments.
- Customize and teach one-credit research and information literacy courses to support a course;
- Create resource Web pages customized for a course’s content;
Information on these and related services and links to useful resources are available on the UCLA Library information literacy Web page. New to the site this fall is a technology “toolkit,” which offers faculty and TAs a step-by-step approach to assessing needs, identifying appropriate technologies, gathering information, finding resources, and implementing solutions.
To discuss how best to integrate information literacy into a course; schedule a class session; or talk about issues, solutions, and ideas related to student ICTs or broader information literacy skills, contact Patti Caravello, head of the Information Literacy Program, by phone at extension 55025 or by email or the appropriate subject specialist.
