What's New in the Resource Center

This page describes updates made to the site to help visitors locate new information quickly.

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

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Assessing Information Literacy

Information Literacy Assessment Toolkit from PALNI (The Private Library Network of Indiana) 

Site includes information on framing assessment, program-level assessment, course-level assessment, classroom assessment techniques, assessment tools and a bibliography of resources.  

American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) VALUE Rubric  

AAC&U's information literacy rubric developed to evaluate and discuss student learning, particularly on an institutional level. 

Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Sandbox  

Searchable resource for rubrics, lesson plans, and instructional materials. Librarians use the Framework to guide library instruction sessions and student learning outcomes. 

Rubric Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (RAILS)  

Helps librarians create and use rubrics for information literacy assessment. The organization's site links to several recommended rubrics sorted by institution and/or outcome. 

Information Literacy Rubric from Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles  

Rubric evaluating the ability to demonstrate (1) the skills required to find, retrieve, evaluate, and use information effectively and ethically; and (2) research skills and methods through the ability to gather, document, investigate, analyze, interpret and evaluate information. 

Information Literacy Rubric from University of New Orleans  

Rubric evaluating four information literacy skills on a scale from 0-3. The student learning outcome is to evaluate the extent to which undergraduate students demonstrate the ability to identify, find, evaluate, interpret, manage, and responsibly use information to answer questions as well as develop new ones. 

Information Literacy Rubric from University of Texas  

Rubric addressing the ability to (1) evaluate authority and credibility of a source, (2) evaluate the use of evidence in a source, and (3) cite a source with correct formatting. 

Monday, November 3, 2025

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Critical Thinking Resources:

Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric | The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
Rubric intended for institutional-level use in evaluating and discussing students’ demonstration of critical thinking through the comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion.

Critical Thinking and Clinical Decision Making Among Registered Nurses in Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Article from Frontiers in Nursing Science that synthesizes multiple studies to show how experience, context, and organizational factors affect nurses’ decision-making. Great overview of how thinking translates into practice.

Challenges of Clinical Decision-Making in Emergency Nursing
Article from The Open Nursing Journal that focuses on the chaos of emergency care—where decisions are fast and imperfect. It explores cognitive overload, teamwork, and strategies to preserve sound reasoning under stress.

Influence of Critical Thinking Disposition, Clinical Reasoning Competence, and Nursing Practice Environment on Medication Safety Competence of Hospital Nurses
Open access article that connects critical thinking to real patient outcomes, showing that strong reasoning and supportive environments significantly reduce medication errors. Direct cause-and-effect proof that thinking saves lives.

Information Literacy Resources:

UNESCO’s Information for All Project
Project designed to provide access to information and improvement of information literacy skills in populations worldwide to prepare citizens for work and life in a digital society.

Common Sense Education’s Digital Citizenship project: Information and Media Literacy
Curriculum covering many aspects of information and digital literacy. The curriculum is designed for children through middle school age, but its tips for educators, approaches to information literacy assignments, and other support materials can be scaled up for college-level students.

Why Media and Information Literacy are Essential in the Age of Disinformation
World Economic Forum resource that examines the life cycle of disinformation, and teaching the importance of information literacy skills in discovering and challenging it.

The Role of Media and Information Literacy in a Digital World
Editorial from the non-partisan group Vision of Humanity examining the importance of critical thinking and leveraging information literacy as a means of leveling the socioeconomic playing field across global populations.

Knowledge Application Resources:

Experiential Learning – The Essential Ingredient in the Recipe for Career Readiness | The University of Pittsburgh Career Center
University blog post articulating the value of experiential learning in promoting career readiness and bridging the gap between academia and the professional world. The post ties best practices in teaching and learning to NACE’s Career Readiness Competencies and proposes strategies for overcoming common challenges faculty face in facilitating experiential learning activities.

Authentic Assessment | Indiana University Bloomington Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning
Overview of authentic assessment, including examples of methods for measuring students’ ability to apply the knowledge and skills gained in a course to new situations. Examples are provided across a variety of disciplines.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Content below added 

• URLs to "Pedagogy Resources" for Essential Skills 5, 6, 9, and 10 are active. (The pages were already accessible via "Resources for Faculty and Instructors" but the URL on the Essential Skill-specific page was previously not clickable.)

• New section within pedagogy resources for Essential Skill 2 ("Critical Thinking in Specific Disciplines," "Nursing")

  • Nursing Programs

  • Simulation Debriefing as Part of Simulation for Clinical Teaching and Learning in Nursing
    Article showing how the debriefing portion of simulation (reflecting afterward) is where most of the critical thinking actually happens. Helpful resource for faculty conducting simulation labs.
    
    The Relationship Between Virtual Simulation, Critical Thinking, and Self-Directed Learning Among Nursing Students
    Article finding strong correlations between virtual simulations and both critical thinking and self-directed learning.
    
    

Monday, October 27, 2025

Content below added

• Effective Teaming | Lafayette College
  Guide created for and by students to facilitate group work and collaboration. Includes definitions and examples of what teamwork is and is not and provides guidance for effective team structures in student-friendly terms.
  
  

Wednesday, October 14, 2025

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• Teaching Essential Skills: Collaboration | University of Kentucky
  Resource that includes teaching approaches and assessment strategies for teamwork.

• Teaching Essential Skills: Communication | University of Kentucky
  Resource that includes teaching approaches and assessment strategies for communications skills.

• Teaching Essential Skills: Critical Thinking | University of Kentucky
  Resource that includes teaching approaches and assessment strategies for critical thinking.

• Kentucky Virtual Library Database with Information Literacy Instructional Resources
  Click “Postsecondary” under “Level” to filter for resources specific to postsecondary education.

• Slides and Recording | Angela Christie, National Institute for Student Success
  At the 2025 Kentucky Student Success Summit, Angela Christie explained how Georgia State embedded career readiness into academic programming by aligning curriculum, faculty engagement, and student support with workforce expectations.

• Civic Health Assessment
  A 2023 report from Kentucky Secretary of looking at polarization, social civics, and democratic participation.

• Debates between Federalists and Anti-Federalists | McConnell Center
  A publication of the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center that explores the debates that shaped the U.S. Constitution and continue to influence American political thought.

• Forgotten Founders | McConnell Center
  Spotlight on influential but overlooked figures from the founding era who played critical roles in shaping the American republic, yet remain largely absent from mainstream historical narratives.

• Full-Length Lectures Related Foundations of American Political Thought | McConnell Center
  Lectures and videos related to the Federalist Papers, the electoral college, and other topics.

• URLs to Report a Broken Link, Suggest a Resource, and Contribute an Assignment

Friday, October 3, 2025

Content below added

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Embedding Skills

• Backward Design

• Pedagogy Resources for Essential Skill 6: Professionalism

• Pedagogy Resources for Essential Skill 9: Knowledge Application