Katy Webb directed Yale University's undergraduate library. When she chose to come to Stetson University in 2024 as dean of the library and learning technologies, the school's emphasis on information literacy was a key reason.
Information literacy — how people process information and separate fact from opinion — may not be at the top of anyone's list of soft skills, but to Webb, Stetson leaders and professors are "visionaries" for choosing to build the skills of discernment in their students.
It only grows in importance in the social media and artificial intelligence age, Webb says. Students might know how to do a Google search or a ChatGPT prompt, but they may never have worked with scholarly research, which commonly is behind a paywall. In a rapidly changing information landscape, it can be difficult at times to know what is real or accurate, what is fact and what is opinion.
Webb works with faculty members "on almost a train-the-trainer situation" to help weave the skill development into regular coursework. Some employ podcast assignments to engage students "because it's difficult to fake them with AI," Webb says. "They have to produce this thing, and they learn other skills with it."
Stetson's writing center reinforces it while helping students develop a communication skill that will help them throughout their careers.
"By focusing on these types of skills, we are creating lifelong learners who can assess information that they get and put it to use quickly," Webb says, "which will make them more hirable, which will put them in a spot that they are great employees, that allows them to keep up with these changes that AI is bringing to our door."