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Abstract: PANEL: “The college is just so big”: Supporting Students by Reframing the Higher Education Experience
“For me the college is just so big. Sometimes you get bounced back and forth from departments to departments… you get lost in bureaucracy.” For prospective and current students, the culture, nomenclature, and organization of higher education systems is often confusing, creating barriers to accessing needed services and information for enrollment and persistence. This panel will discuss the library’s role in supporting student navigation of services and resources, reframing the higher education experience through the concepts of college literacy and college fluency.
College literacy, focused on the pre-college information experience, is the knowledge base needed to make informed decisions about one’s entry into higher education. College fluency refers to the knowledge and set of abilities that enable students and staff to effectively locate and utilize relevant college services, programs, and resources, ensuring that students can successfully engage with and self-advocate within the culture and bureaucracy of higher education in order to achieve their goals. The focus of two ongoing IMLS-funded research projects, these complementary concepts provide an opportunity to rewrite the perception of prospective and current college students and their experiences within higher education through services provided by both public and community college libraries.
Panelists will highlight insights gained from their complementary research initiatives and provide polling opportunities for attendees to gauge their own college literacy and fluency needs, as well as that of their institutions. Panelists will facilitate a hands-on exercise guiding participants in applying findings to their own institutions and leading to concrete action steps.
College literacy, focused on the pre-college information experience, is the knowledge base needed to make informed decisions about one’s entry into higher education. College fluency refers to the knowledge and set of abilities that enable students and staff to effectively locate and utilize relevant college services, programs, and resources, ensuring that students can successfully engage with and self-advocate within the culture and bureaucracy of higher education in order to achieve their goals. The focus of two ongoing IMLS-funded research projects, these complementary concepts provide an opportunity to rewrite the perception of prospective and current college students and their experiences within higher education through services provided by both public and community college libraries.
Panelists will highlight insights gained from their complementary research initiatives and provide polling opportunities for attendees to gauge their own college literacy and fluency needs, as well as that of their institutions. Panelists will facilitate a hands-on exercise guiding participants in applying findings to their own institutions and leading to concrete action steps.