General Education and Essential Skills

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General Education and Essential Skills
AACU Conference on Integrative Designs
forGeneral Education and AssessmentFebruary
21-23, 2008

• Jean Avnet Morse
• President
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education
• 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104
• www.msche.org ? jmorse_at_msche.org

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MSCHE Standards

• Standard 12 General Education
• The institutions curricula are designed so that
  students acquire and demonstrate college-level
  proficiency in general education and essential
  skills
• Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education
  (2006)

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MSCHE Standards contd

• Standard 11 Educational Offerings
• The institutions educational offerings display
  academic content, rigor, and coherence that are
  appropriate to its higher education mission. The
  institution identifies student learning goals and
  objectives, including knowledge and skills, for
  its educational offerings.
• Characteristics of Excellence in Higher Education
  (2006)

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Essential Skills

• include at least
• Oral and written communication
• Scientific and quantitative reasoning
• Critical analysis and reasoning
• Technological competency

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Information Literacy

• The interrelatedness of theessential skills is
  whatMiddle States callsinformation
  literacy,even though information literacy
  applies to all disciplines inan institutions
  curricula.

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Information Literacy Defined

• The ability to
• 1. Determine the nature and extent of information
  needed
• 2. Access the needed information effectively and
  efficiently
• 3. Evaluate information and its sources
  critically and incorporate selected information
  into his or her knowledge base and value system

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Definition contd

• 4. Use information effectively to accomplish a
  specific purpose
• 5. Understand the economic, legal and social
  issues surrounding the use of information and
  access and use information ethically and legally
• Information Literacy Competency Standards for
  Higher EducationAssociation of College
  Research Libraries (ACRL) (2000)

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AACU 2007 Report

• Principle 3 Teach the Arts of Inquiry and
  Innovation
• Immerse all students in analysis, discovery,
  problem solving, and communication
• Relates to ACRLsStandard 3 evaluate
  information (content) and incorporate selected
  information into ones knowledge base (discovery
  problem solving)
• Standard 4 use information effectively to
  accomplish a specific purpose (problem solving
  communication)

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AACU Report contd

• Recommendations for Principle 3
• 5 Harnessing the power of new technologies
• 6 Increasing the level of inquiry and
  project-based learning
• Important steps in developing the skills needed
  for inquiry, innovation, and effective
  communication
• Inquiry-based learning also is fundamental to
  information literacy

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AACU Report contd

• Principle 6 Foster Civic, Intercultural, and
  Ethical Learning
• Emphasize Personal and Social Responsibility, in
  Every Field of Study
• Relates to ACRL Standard 5 (a) understand
  economic, legal, and social issues(b) access and
  use information ethically and legally
• AACU Recommendation 12 (Principle 6)
• Communal values and ethical responsibilitiesnee
  d to be made explicit and fully explored among
  students and faculty.
• - Linked to ACRL Standard 5, which is
  incorporated in MSCHEs definition of information
  literacy

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Assessment toDeepen Learning

• Principle 7 Assess Students Ability to Apply
  Learning to Complex Problems
• Recommendation 13 The use of embedded
  assessments, linked to essential learning
  outcomes
• MSCHEs Standard 14 (Assessment of Student
  Learning) totally supports the AACU
  recommendation
• Applying knowledge to complex problems also lies
  at the heart of information literacy standards
• 3 Evaluate information and its sources
  critically
• 4 Use information effectively to accomplish a
  specific purpose

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Middle States Experience

• 1921 - The first standards recognized the
  centrality of the library in an institutions
  work (its mission)
• 1994 - Adopted the concept of information
  literacy
• 1999 - Participated in ACRL task force to shape
  the definition of information literacy in higher
  education
• 2002 - Emphasized the learning implications of
  information literacy in a cross-disciplinary
  experience

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Middle States contd

• 2003 Published Developing Research
  Communication Skills Guidelines for Information
  Literacy in the Curriculum
• Practical examples for faculty
• Moving toward the concept of embedded information
  literacy and away from the then-current idea
  that information literacy could be taught
  effectively in a separate course
• 2006 Recognized information literacy as a
  synthesis of essential skills for acquiring
  and processing information in the search for
  understanding