The UTEP Library's Information Literacy Course Enhancement Grant

The Information Literacy Course Enhancement Grant has the following goals:

Promote collaboration between faculty/instructor and instruction/subject librarian.

Create information literacy-based assignments and assessments that can be used in similar courses.

Increase the inclusion of Library resources, services, and expertise in curriculum development and course design.

Bolster student's research and critical thinking skills to prepare them for greater academic success.

Intended Student Learning Outcomes

• Students demonstrate the ability to develop an effective research strategy, including a well-formulated thesis statement based on the specifications of the research assignment.
• Students are proficient in identifying and selecting appropriate resources with which to conduct their research (i.e., books, journal articles, subject-specific databases, Internet, etc.)
• Students demonstrate understanding of sophisticated search strategies through appropriate use of keywords and subject headings, as well as Boolean operators and wild card characters.
• Students are able to critically evaluate the reliability, validity, accuracy, and timeliness of a source, regardless of its format.
• Students demonstrate an awareness of legal and social issues involved with the use of information such as copyright infringement, plagiarism, censorship, etc. by their ability to differentiate among various types of sources and to cite these sources using instructor assigned citation styles.

Faculty Outcomes and Expectations

• Faculty will become better acquainted with library resources and services in their subject area in order to design research projects and assignments for their students. Recipients of the award will share the results of their experience with colleagues at a University forum or workshop. They will also need to:
• Identify expected student learning outcomes for their particular class.
• Assess the extent to which they achieved these outcomes using clearly defined metrics or rubrics.
• Provide evidence of student improvement based on analysis of the results.
• Collect data on the effects of an information literacy intervention for the purpose of evaluation across a set of similar proposals.