As Part of an Information Competency Program, Can We Teach Real Estate Students About International Real Estate?

Information competence has become a core component of the education requirements for student. Specifically, this is the ability of students to identified issues and problems, and conduct research to help resolve them. While the focus has been on domestic issues, there is a need to broaden it for real estate students by including international questions. Consistent with the current narrow focus, most of the learning activities have been on local or regional issues. Yet there are opportunities in international real estate ventures, of which students may not be aware. In order to make students understand and appreciate the international aspects of real estate, they must be able to use research mythologies to identify and utilize appropriate information and data. First, the process of international real estate research must be clearly articulated. This formalization of the process needs to use established procedures developed for information competence. The most difficult step in these procedures is finding the resources from which to gather relevant information and data. In addition to libraries there is the World Wide Web. The Internet is fast becoming a useful tool in assisting the collection of information and data. As a resource there are the legitimate sites and the not so legitimate sites. This paper also discussions the attributes of legitimacy. Still there is a question about the integration of these international research activities into the curriculum. How do we ensure that the program learning objectives are achieved through student assignments? The key is to provide students with assignments, activities, and learning processes, which take information competence into account by using international real estate paradigms. With careful planning and construction of curriculum activities, it is possible to incorporate international components that lead to improving information literacy. Experience also tells us that research is not a stand alone endeavor, but part of the broader learning efforts of the real estate student. The paper draws conclusions about the integration of information competency into the real estate curriculum as an attempt to conduct international investigations. The conclusions also relate the use of technology into the paradigm.