Information Literacy
Be your own research analyst.
In today’s knowledge age, it’s not enough to skim the surface of a search engine. Employers want information savvy professionals who can nimbly research, analyze information and monitor trends of the field. Technical knowledge has a short shelf life, so informational research skills are vital for today’s competitive labor force.
Information literacy — the ability to identify, locate, evaluate and use information effectively — is a national standard for higher education and a university-wide learning outcome at Capella.
Library Guides
The Capella Library has developed hundreds of instructional guides to help learners achieve information literacy learning outcomes. 10s of thousands of users access these guides monthly. Guides tend to fall into three main categories: program-level research guides, assignment-specific guides and general research skills. Over 2000 library instruction links are offered within courses to date.
First Course Experience
The development of effective research skills begins in First Course. Learners in their first courses are asked to complete in-depth research assignments using the library. The library’s initial skills website provides customized navigation of the modules, based on a knowledge and confidence assessment. Aggregated assessment scores are reported back to faculty, so they can help guide the research growth of their classes.