Credo's Information Literacy – Core (InfoLit – Core) is a set of online videos, tutorials, and quizzes covering information literacy and critical thinking, as well as related topics and skills. The Mansfield Library has subscribed to the resource that aims to help students learn how to:

• find relevant and reliable library and other research materials;
• formulate appropriate, workable research questions; and
• synthesize what they learn into a final product such as a research paper, including use of citations appropriate to their field of study.

Definition

"Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning," according to the Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL) Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Thus, information literacy provides a foundation for life-long learning, the ultimate goal of education, and is common to all disciplines, learning environments, and levels of education. For students, it often means the ability to begin with the requirements for an assignment and write a relevant research question; find materials in any medium that answer the question; analyze their accuracy, currency, and other criteria; and use the materials to create a paper that’s complete with citations and other scholarly requirements.

Student Benefits

A survey of 42,624 students in more than 1,725 first-year courses that included a library instruction component at 12 major research universities – reported in The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on Student Success: A Multi-Institutional Investigation and Analysis – showed that:

• Retention rates were higher for students whose courses included information literacy (IL) instruction.
• Students whose courses included IL instruction reported higher average first-year GPAs than those whose courses did not.

In the Association of American Colleges & Universities' report College Learning for the New Global Century, information literacy is discussed as an essential learning outcome students need to prepare for twenty-first century challenges.

Faculty Benefits

Students who are information literate are better able to come up with workable topics for their papers, research those topics independently, and write papers that conform to rigorous academic standards.

• Students can access Credo's Information Literacy – Core three ways:
  • Integrated within your online class via Moodle (e.g., for gradebook sync),
  • Embedded or linked from any website, or
  • Outside of class as online learning objects via this guide.
• All materials are mapped to national Information Literacy standards (ACRL, AAC&U).
• Videos are short (2-4 minutes) and produced in engaging motion graphic style.
• Tutorials support formative assessment with practice elements throughout.
• Quizzes can be applied to students’ final grade or used for extra credit.
  • Quizzes relate to specific topics in the videos and tutorials (there are typically 1-3 multimedia covered per quiz).
  • Use them in conjunction with multimedia to assess specific skills that are important for your course.
• Pre/post Tests
  • Cover all concepts in InfoLit – Core multimedia.
  • Best used when you are covering lots of IL-related topics.
  • Two sets of 20 unique questions each.
• Most instructors use 5-7 pieces aligned with course learning objectives, their course syllabus, or topics that need to be stressed to students. Typically these are spread across different weeks of a course, scaffolded beside an assignment. 5-7 multimedia typically equate to 25-40 minutes of total commitment for your students (average 5 minutes per item).

Before Library Instruction

• Use multimedia to flip your library instruction. Students can go through multimedia on their own time (before or after class) to get basic concepts of information literacy and librarians can then focus their in-person time with students on higher-level thinking or hands-on work for their assignments.

Scaffold Throughout Your Course

• “Flip” instruction - assign students materials as homework and benefit from more active learning during class time. Integrate the material in a class website to connect students with the content you want them to engage or add it to Moodle.
• Mix and match the tutorials, videos, and quizzes to address the demands of your course, a specific research or critical thinking assignment, the needs of specific students, or to begin incorporating information literacy content in your course. See Credo’s Teaching Guides, which recommend multimedia to match common course needs.
• Use the videos and tutorials in class as part of a lecture or hands-on instruction.
• Use the quizzes or pre- and post-test to assess student knowledge or learning.

As a Refresher

• Use multimedia as a refresher tool for students who need to review basic information literacy skills, without significantly impacting your course syllabus.
• Encourage students to use the materials independently outside of class.

Contact us for Moodle integration links or other questions.

Quizzes

• Recommended when your course is not heavily focused on IL, but you would like to reinforce IL principles. Can also work in conjunction with other IL-based assessments in your course, such as papers or annotated bibliography assignments.
• Relate to specific topics in the videos and tutorials (typically 1-3 multimedia are covered in 1 quiz). Use them in conjunction with multimedia to assess specific skills that are important for your course.
• Many instructors use these as formative assessments: offering extra credit or as a quiz grade with small point value to course overall.

Pre/post Tests

• Cover all concepts in Instruct multimedia and are best used when your course is heavily focused on IL.
• Pre and post tests can be used together, or separately; pretest as a benchmark (ungraded), then use the posttest as a graded test or alternatively, pretest or posttest as a standalone graded item.
• Can be used in conjunction with other IL-related assessments (annotated bibliographies or research papers) where students must apply what they have learned.
• Can be used across courses (or even all of Gen Ed) to see IL skills in broader context.

Content adapted from the following Credo publications: The Credo IL Strategy Handbook 2nd Edition, Faculty Guide to Information Literacy – Core: Why Information Literacy?, Increasing Information Literacy in Online and On-Campus Classes, and Teaching Guides.