The Myth about Student Competency

Extraordinary nutshell analysis here: the technical competency assumption and information literacy.

EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 12–13.

The Myth about Student Competency
“Our Students Are Technologically Competent.”
Diana G. Oblinger and Brian L. Hawkins


"College and university students today seem so technologically competent. When they wake up in the morning, they don’t turn on the TV to find out about the weather; instead they go to the Web site WeatherBug.com. For news, they use CNN.com, not channel 21. Of course, this is after they check to see what instant messages (IMs) they missed while sleeping. To learn about friends, they turn to Facebook.com. Going online for entertainment is normal for them. Computer games, massively multiplayer games, and music downloads are an assumed part of their environment (for example, 85% of 18- and 19-year-olds download music).1 And when they want to communicate, sending IMs or text messages is as natural as picking up the phone. There is no question that students go online before they go to the library; Google has become this generation’s reference desk.

...

...Whereas colleges and universities often focus on technology skills, it is actually information literacy that should be the concern. Information literacy is much more than knowing how to open a Web browser and type a search term into Google. Information literacy is the ability to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, and use that information effectively...."

Time to mention here, I think, Judy Bastian's new course. Judy is the Butler Community College librarian on the El Dorado campus, although she is part-time at Andover as well. The course is titled:
Research Techniques and is located in the College Orientation division, as it applies to everything a college student might research, from auto tech to literature, from anatomy and physiology to criminal justice, from soup to nuts.

The course is offered online for the first time this fall, after having a full independant study load of 5 this spring. Judy's course is the only online course offered by a librarian at any of the Kansas community colleges, except Johnson County, which offers one face-to-face or two online for one credit each, like Judy's; Scotty Zollars has a well-attended face-to-face one over at Labette CC in Parsons.

Consider signing up.

--Micaela

American Book Review

American Book Review

The best first lines in fiction: 100 bests from English novels. I hope you enjoy this, and are inspired to read more than just the first line.

ALA | Info Lit for Faculty

ALA | Info Lit for Faculty: "In its narrowest sense information literacy includes the practical skills involved in effective use of information technology and information resources, either print or electronic.

Information literacy is a new liberal art "...

For awhile, I thought that Information Fluency was a term that would catch on. It expresses something beyond mere information literacy. But you have to start somewhere, and literacy comes before fluency.

This link came from the Wichita State University Professional Development Seminar, which I missed Monday, since I was home sick. The librarians at University of Louisville have provided a great overview of information literacy.

Off to Tri-Conference, tra-la!

The library staff and I head off to Wichita over the next couple of days for our Kansas Library Association's annual conference, "Tri-Conference."

The sessions and meetings are always rewarding, and provide us with a boost in terms of innovative ideas, an opportunity to consult with fellow librarians, and, occasionally, the chance to present some of what we have learned for the benefit of our peers.

I'll be looking forward most to the 2-year Academic Librarian's gathering, and to the fashion show...

Later!

Micaela

Time Trivia

Ronda sent me this:

>...thought that you might want to know this piece if information: :o)
>
>
>On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00
in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
>
>
>
>That will never happen again.

Thanks Ronda. Not sure I will be up to appreciate it then, but I do now.

--Micaela

April eBook of the Month

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine 16th Edition

The Harrison's name is synonymous with internal medicine, and Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine continues to be the most authoritative and #1 selling medical textbook throughout the world. Now in full color, the new 16th Edition Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine continues to define the practice of medicine and includes timely, thoughtful and supremely useful coverage of every major internal medicine related update and current controversy of note.

From its unique section on signs and symptoms through to the most comprehensive coverage of most all conditions seen by physicians, Harrison's 16th Edition features new, expanded, revised and updated material on the key topics in medical practice today. From the latest research findings to up-to-the-minute advances in diagnostic and treatment methodologies, the facts clinicians and students need are only a mouseclick away.

Homestay in Mexico

Rachel's saga continues:

Homestay, not to be confused with stay home. I´m at the home of the pastor of the church here in Guaymas, and I´m spending the night in what´s known as a homestay. Deana, his wife, has kindly shown me to the internet connection, and therefore I´ve plugged in for a few minutes of your time.

The past few days have been interesting, to say the least. Liz and I have reflected on the meaning of ¨Mexico Days,¨ which are both very very long, and very very short. It´s amazing how much a person can get done in a Mexico Day, how each day seems to hold a week of ativities, and looking back on events of the morning feels like looking back on things that happened a week ago. And yet the time flies by... tomorrow is our last full day here, and I can hardly believe it. Back in the U.S., ask me what time it is and I´ll be off by half an hour at most. Here, on the other hand, I am constantly surprised to learn what time it is, as I simply let go of the concept and just do whatever I am doing.

We´ve finished building all the picnic tables, and four of them are painted. I´m hoping to get to finish them tomorrow, but I don´t know if I´ll end up at that worksite. The catch-word of the trip is ¨flexibilidad!¨ And so it goes, every day, as we make plans and throw them away as suits the moment.

It´s been a different trip from my other Mexico trips... but as they say, every trip is different. I´ll have to reflect on that later, as I am not even sure what I think about it. Guaymas itself is everything I´ve come to expect from a Mexico city; crowded and colorful and full of life. (All kinds of life, some more welcome than others, as Liz pointed out when she told about spotting a mouse in the middle of the night.)

As I am struggling with coherency, I will wrap this up for tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rachel and her Dad left for Kansas yesterday, so I expect to see them Sunday. I find that kind of driving insanity-making. But there's always a good book to read...


--Micaela