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The Journal of General Education 50.4 (2001) 323



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Abstract

[General Education and Distance Education:
Two Channels in the New Mainstream]

Jacobsen, Trudi E. & Mark, Beth L. (2000). "Separating Wheat from Chaff: Helping First-Year Students Become Information Savvy." Vol. 49, No. 4, 256-278.

Students arrive on campuses knowing how to search the internet but without the key skills needed to be successful as "savvy consumers of information." Specifically, they need competency in the interrelated skills of information literacy, critical thinking, and database-searching proficiency. There are a variety of models for the delivery of information literacy instruction to first-year students including course-related instruction, web-based instruction, general education embedded library instruction and credit courses (usually 1 credit), as well as library instruction in First-Year Experience or First-Year Seminar classes. Two specific programmatic models for first-year library instruction integrated into general education courses are presented. These include Project Renaissance, a first-year living/learning seminar at the University of Albany which integrates inquiry, community service work, and the development of technological and writing skills and a first-year seminar at Messiah College designed around a specific theme or topic with particular emphasis on reading, writing, critical thinking, and discussion. Followup assessments indicate that these are effective intervention programs that assist students in effectively seeking, evaluating, and using information throughout their academic career and beyond.

While research on critical thinking has led to some helpful insight, much remains unexamined or unsubstantiated. In their review, Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) noted that while "there is a considerable body of research on teacher behavior and its relationship to students' learning of subject matter content....there has been surprisingly little inquiry concerning the influence of teacher behavior on general cognitive skills" (p.146). Investigation of faculty impact on the development of students' critical thinking has focused narrowly on instruction, and for the most part has resulted in mixed findings as no single instructional factor has been consistently shown to enhance students' critical thinking (McMillan, 1987; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). While greater empirical evidence regarding effective instructional strategies in this area is clearly needed (Tsui, 1988a), it is also important to examine why some professors choose to pursue critical thinking development while others do not, and why certain pedagogical approaches are adopted over others. Behind these consequential decisions made by faculty members are beliefs and assumptions about student learning. To grasp fully the influence of faculty on the learning process we need to discern not only what instructors do but also what they think, so that we may better understand why they do what they do. This paper aims to provide an amplified view of how educators shape students' skill acquisition by investigating the perceptions and beliefs that underlie teacher behavior with regard to critical thinking development.

 



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