Credo Instruct Faculty Guide: Why Information Literacy?

Information Literacy (IL) refers to the ability to recognize a need for information and to find, analyze, and synthesize related material from books, articles, websites and more.

How Can IL Benefit Students?
A 2017 survey of 42,000 students in more than 1,700 courses at 12 major research universities showed that:

• Retention rates were higher for students whose courses included IL instruction.
• Students whose courses included IL instruction reported higher average first-year GPAs than those whose courses did not.
• Students who took IL instruction successfully completed 1.8 more credit hours per year than students who did not.

Greater Western Library Alliance (2017). “The Impact of Information Literacy Instruction on Student Success: A Multi-Institutional Investigation and Analysis.” http://www.aserl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/GWLA_Learning_Outcomes_Study_Overview__ASERL.pdf 

How Can IL Benefit Faculty?

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

An ability to think critically is essential to a student's time in school and is a vital life-long skill.

Employers highly value critical thinking skills too, with a 2013 AAC&U study showing that “a candidate’s demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major."

It's not easy to teach students to adopt a new thinking style; in today's polarized environment, it can even be difficult to impart to them the importance of deliberate and critical thinking.