In late 1994, the School's Education Policy Group approved an information competency requirement for medical students. We work with the instructor or course director to design exercises that meet one or more of the performance targets we have established. We prototype the exercise in the first year, then work to keep it as a continuing requirement. Most importantly, we try to minimize the burden on instructors by providing support for instruction, exercise design, grading, and student assistance. Specific performance measures have been defined in each competency area.
Competency is demonstrated through required exercises, independent assignments and online testing.
The instructor assigns 6 topics. Students choose a topic, then state a question related to it in narrative form. The Library provides a demo search before the assignment, gives out search instructions and tip sheets, collects and grades assignments. The instructor talks about WWW resources during a class, and assigns each CPC leader to turn in the URL of a Web resource appropriate to the case. Instructor reviews the web searches and passes them on to the Library.