The main goal of this course is helping students to develop key competences on the management of information, which will be extremely useful not only for the good course of their studies but also for their future professional activity. After completing this course, students will have the resources and skills needed to develop their learning in an autonomous and lifelong manner, which is one of the main ideas underneath the European Space for Higher Education.
To achieve this goal, the student must acquire the following program outcomes, related to the following competences.
1. General competences
- Recognize information needs in any established context.
- Be familiar with the main sources of information, both general and specialized in their discipline.
- Learn and manage the most accurate seeking information strategies and tools for each particular information need.
- Be aware of the appropriate uses of information, both their own and retrieved from others.
- Have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) to produce informed judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical issues.
- Have learning skills needed to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.
2. Specific competences
2.1. Cognitive
- Determine which is the information really needed to execute a task.
- Locate the available information sources (search engines, databases, other information resources) and evaluate the most appropriate sources for any specific information need.
2.2 Instrumental
- Identify and optimize the main information seeking and gather strategies using some selected sources.
- Access the sources, and obtain the necessary information provided in these sources.
- Understand the whole information obtained, for selecting only the most adequate for each context and situation.
- Synthetize, organize and present the information in a clear and accurate form.
- Regularly use citations and software for creating bibliographies, and understand the importance of this activity for themselves and their colleagues.
- Use of efficient ICT media to write technical and project reports on their subject area of knowledge and activity, and prepare quality presentations.
2.3. Attitudinal
- Critically evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of the search process performance and the obtained content, in order to get feedback that could allow the search refinement, if needed.
- Optimize the information searches: reduce the invest on time, and make better presentation of results.
- Work well in a team: share tasks, trust on the peers work, and accomplish the responsibilities undertaken.
- Ethical use of information: make an appropriate, responsible and legal use of the information that we use and produce.
- Maintain an appropriate level of quality in the delivery of their work assignments: acquire some basic guidelines for submission, and respect the deadlines.
