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TLAC Home » Learning » Information Literacy

Critical Thinking & Information Literacy

Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) articulates several specific skills as essential to student learning:

  • information literacy
  • oral and written communication
  • scientific and quantitative reasoning
  • critical analysis and reasoning
  • and technological competency

While most of these are targeted as student learning outcomes in general education, MSCHE expects they also be addressed in degree and certificate programs. In particular, information literacy is considered an essential component of any undergraduate or graduate education program and, of necessity, must be represented in student learning outcomes and assessed accordingly.

Information Literacy. MSCHE's definition of information literacy from the Characteristics of Excellence document:

These skills relate to a student's competency in acquiring and processing information in the search for understanding, whether that information is sought in or through the facilities of a library, through practica, as a result of field experiments, by communications with experts in professional communities, or by other means...These skills include the ability to:

  • determine the nature and extent of needed information;
  • access information effectively and efficiently;
  • evaluate critically the sources and content of information;
  • incorporate selected information in the learner's knowledge base and value system;
  • use information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose;
  • understand the economic, legal and social issues surrounding the use of information and information technology; and
  • observe laws, regulations, and institutional policies related to the access and use of information. (p. 42)

WCU Library Services provides support and information about information literacy, including rubrics at http://subjectguides.wcupa.edu/InformationLiteracy.