• What is Infusion?
• Disciplines with Infused Information Competency
• Infusion Surveys & Evaluation Forms

What is Infusion?

Infusing information competency into a course or discipline means that the ability of students to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, and use effectively that information is an integral part of any research assignment in that course or discipline.

Courses and disciplines that have information competency infused into their curricula have made information competency (the ability of students to recognize when information is needed and to locate, evaluate, and use effectively that information) an integral part of that course or discipline.

Disciplines/Courses with Infused Information Competency

Ethnic Studies (ETS 110) - Contemporary Ethnic Women (Kronbeck): Students complete four research-related assignments throughout the semester. Each of the assignments involves infusing information competency skills in order to accomplish the project. The instructor for the class has designed the assignments in a manner that requires students to incorporate both class discussions and readings along with the use of outside sources.  A CampusGuide was created for the class where resources are collected to assist students in each of these assignments. Students come in to the library for an orientation and an introduction to the assignments, CampusGuide, and other resources for the class.

Below are the prompts for each of these assignments:

Assignment #1 - Locate a Current Event

Please locate/find a current event (no older than 12 months) from a newspaper or magazine that covers an issue relating to Women in the Native American Community.  You will need to include a copy of the article with your paper.

In the paper that you will submit in class, you will summarize your article in the first paragraph. In the second and third paragraph, you need to connect your article to issues and/or themes that we have discussed in class.  Specifically, how does your article relate to the reading?  For optimal points, use quotes from the readings to support your argument/thoughts/ideas.

Assignment #2 - Locate a Primary Source

For this Primary Source assignment, I want you to locate a primary source for the Asian American Female Community.  In the paper that you will submit in class, you will explain what your primary source is in the first paragraph. In the second and third paragraph, you need to convey how your primary source is related to issues and/or themes that we have discussed in class.  What meaning does your source carry?  How does it relate to the reading?  What other issues and/or themes does your source communicate?  For optimal points, use quotes from the reading to support your argument/ideas/opinion.

Assignment #3 - Locate a Journal Article

Using your Campus Guides website through the GCC Library, please locate a scholarly article (peer-reviewed) written about African American Women and/or their communities.

Once you locate the article, please cite it correctly and on the paper that you will submit to me, please summarize your article in the first paragraph (with citation).  Your second, third and fourth paragraph should reveal your own thoughts and opinions about the journal article.  Did it address issues and/or themes discussed in class?  Did it make you think about the subject matter more deeply?  Did the article leave anything out?  What aspects of the article were tied to themes discussed in our reading.  Should this be a permanently assigned reading for this course?  For optimal points, please use quotes from our class reading to prove your argument/ideas/opinions.

Assignment #4 - Oral History Project

For the final assignment, students are required to create an oral history based on their understanding of the prior source types used and by interviewing an “ethnic woman.” In addition, they must incorporate their understanding of the themes/issues from each of the four assigned books read as a class into their oral history. Students are provided guidance on conducting an interview, open web resources, and models of oral histories that they may review for inspiration.

Photography (PHOTO 130) - Digital Photography (Oliver):

In one photography course students create a research journal during the course of the semester.  For every photo shoot students are required to read a related book and write a journal entry about it.  Each journal entry must include:

• The identification of the book and its historical and photographic context as well as a description of the narrative text by the author/photographer

• The student’s response to the book

• A selected image from the book and the student’s explanation of her/his selection