Information Competency Graduation Requirement

Spring
2001
Resolution Number
09.01
 
Contact
Assigned to
Curriculum Committee
Category
Curriculum
Status
Completed
Summary
Recommend to the Board of Governors that information competency be a locally designed graduation requirement for degree and Chancellor's Office Approved certificate programs; urge the Board of Governors to provide resources for implementation and appropriate faculty development activities; support the concept that each college be empowered to use its local curriculum processes to determine how to implement the information competency requirement, including the possibilities of developing stand-alone courses, co-requisites, infusion in selected courses with or without additional units, and/or infusion in all general education courses with or without additional units; and develop a best-practices paper to be presented at the Spring 2002 Plenary Session that includes suggested competencies, recommended models, and colleges that are implementing each of the models.
Status Report

The ASCCC did all that was requested, but funding was not provided for an information competency requirement.

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has adopted an issues paper entitled Information Competency in the California Community Colleges and formulated the definition of information competency that includes the following skills:
State a research question, problem, or issue.
Determine information requirements in various disciplines for the research questions, problems, or issues.
Use information technology tools to locate and retrieve relevant information.
Communicate using a variety of information technologies.
Understand the ethical and legal issues surrounding information and information technologies.
Apply the skills gained in information competency to enable lifelong learning.

Whereas, In May 1999, the Board of Governors recognized that the implementation of information competency as a requirement for a degree or certificate program is an academic and professional matter and delegated to the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges the responsibility for developing a recommendation relative to information competency;

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges held a breakout during the 2000 Curriculum Institute and regional discussions/ hearings during Spring 2001 to study the impact of including information competency as a graduation requirement and to share good practices as directed by the Academic Senate (16.01 S00), and that the consensus of the participants at the discussion/hearings is that information competency is a valuable and necessary skill for student success, and identified multiple and flexible options for implementing an information competency requirement into the curriculum and indicated that local academic senates should determine an appropriate model for ensuring information competency and safeguarding students' academic progress; and

Whereas, The California State University System has mandated a systemwide regulation that each one of its campuses must establish an information competency requirement and appropriate courses, training, and procedures;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate recommend to the Board of Governors that information competency be a locally designed graduation requirement for degree and Chancellor's Office Approved certificate programs;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate urge the Board of Governors to provide resources for implementation and appropriate faculty development activities;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate support the concept that each college be empowered to use its local curriculum processes to determine how to implement the information competency requirement, including the possibilities of developing stand-alone courses, co-requisites, infusion in selected courses with or without additional units, and/or infusion in all general education courses with or without additional units; and

Resolved, That the Academic Senate develop a best-practices paper to be presented at the Spring 2002 Plenary Session that includes suggested competencies, recommended models, and colleges that are implementing each of the models.