CHAPARRAL

Core competencies for information competency—the Senate is on the case. If you were born in the last quarter of the 20^th century those words—core competencies and information competency—may make sense. For some of us they are new phrases that demand definition. In simple terms, core competencies refer to the sets of basic skills and abilities that we expect students to have when they have completed their undergraduate education at Glendale Community College. Information competency refers to the specific skills and knowledge that we all need to manage successfully and use productively the enormous quantity of information that is available to us in the 21^st century.

At no time in history has the average person been able to obtain such a quantity of information from so many places in so little time. In fundamental ways our culture is changing as a result. The course of that change is what we, as educators, need to worry about, and that is why the Senate has been working for the last five years to develop programs to increase information competency. Now we need your support so that we can move the critical work forward. Let me review the work done thus far and explain why and how we need your help.

The Research Across the Curriculum (RAC) Task Force (created in 2001 by the Senate and now called the RAC committee), our librarians and other faculty from several disciplines have worked to create a three-track approach to provide students with the skills they need to manage the Web successfully. Initially, one group reformulated the research component of English 101 where research methods are taught. After recognizing the demand for research across the curriculum, the workshop program was created to provide information competency instruction sessions that instructors can assign without taking time away from their own curricula. Likewise Library 101 and 191 were created and have done spectacular jobs in helping students to develop skills to research effectively, both in the library and on the Web, and find legitimate sources to complete research projects. Some of our colleagues have paired their courses with these library courses and have found that students do much better research and avoid plagiarism when they take both courses. Library and classroom faculty have also worked together to incorporate information competency instruction into existing courses. Workshops, paired classes, and the infusion model have all proved successful on our campus. Student success in these approaches has been measured and we can proudly say that they work! For reports on the work that we have done at GCC see the GCC Research Project on Information Competency at http://www.glendale.edu/library/libins/statusic.html and the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges report on Information Competency at http://www.glendale.edu/library/libins/fall_02_info_comp.pdf.

At this time, the RAC committee is busy researching information competency at other colleges to identify ways of improving our methods of providing instruction to students. We also would like to see how other campuses have attended to the needs of the faculty. Those of us who earned our degrees before the information revolution may have learned the techniques to make good use of the Web, but many of us have learned by the seat of our pants. And there might be better ways.

GCC has an information competency program for students in place. The success of the three-track program has been great, but up to now, campuswide information competency efforts have been piecemeal. There has been no campus coordination to ensure that faculty has help in incorporating information competency program components into their courses. That means we need a coordinator. The ASGCC has funded the RAC coordinator for the coming year, but in the future this position will need to be permanent as an RTEP position.

Real success for the RAC committee requires that the faculty be involved. We need to attend to the needs of our faculty. We have limited resources and want to make the most of them. We want to offer the workshops that most people want. Do you want an overview of resources that your students could use to do research? Do you want to learn tricks to use the Web better? Would a question and answer session help? We’re trying to assess faculty needs so we can plan workshops. Please let Deborah Moore (dmoore@glendale.edu or x5759) know what your preferences are so she can address your needs. &

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