Competency standards for higher education
Society is becoming increasingly knowledge intensive; as a result, information is becoming more important. The quantity of information is increasing sharply and its accessibility is continually changing. As a result, the demands on users of this information is continually increasing. It requires thorough expertise to recognize that one needs information and to efficiently find and use appropriate information.
The complete skill set that one needs to properly find and handle information is what is called information literacy. Higher education plays a crucial role in acquiring information literacy skills. Certain competency standards have been put in place in order to make information literacy concrete. These standards make information literacy
- transferable: standards make information literacy discussible and clear, and therefore serve as a means for teaching it.
- testable: standards make it possible to determine performance indicators and outcomes at various levels and to monitor progress. This makes the transition from primary education to higher education possible.
- usable anywhere: standardization is important, especially in a climate where students can move all over the Netherlands during the course of their studies. Competency standards and information literacy are independent of the various fields of knowledge and are therefore universally applicable. Standards and information literacy belong in the life-long learning process.
- maintainable: competency standards are indispensable for assessing careful treatment of information and for preventing plagiarism.
Application
By using the standards and agreements that are laid down in the competency standards, students and staff members
- can search for and assess information more effectively and efficiently and thereby produce better work.
- increase the quality of their work (theses, reports, etc.), since being able to clearly account for the creation of these products contributes to the reliability, exchangeability, and reproducibility of the products.
- can work more independently because these competency standards support them in using and incorporating the necessary information. These standards also contribute to careful and responsible treatment of information.
More information
We use standards based on the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education by the American Association of College & Research Libraries. You can also find concrete examples of standards in several fields including anthropology and sociology and political sciences here.
