Dataset Information

A case study for teaching information literacy skills.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Internet has changed contemporary workplace skills, resulting in a need for proficiency with specific digital, online and web-based technologies within the fields of medicine, dentistry and public health. Although younger students, generally under 30 years of age, may appear inherently comfortable with the use of technology-intensive environments and digital or online search methods, competence in information literacy among these students may be lacking.

Methods

This project involved the design and assessment of a research-based assignment to help first-year, graduate-level health science students to develop and integrate information literacy skills with clinical relevance.

Results

One cohort of dental students (n = 78) was evaluated for this project and the results demonstrate that although all students were able to provide the correct response from the content-specific, or technology-independent, portion of the assignment, more than half (54%) were unable to demonstrate competence with a web-based, technology-dependent section of this assignment. No correlation was found between any demographic variable measured (gender, age, or race).

Conclusion

More evidence is emerging that demonstrates the need for developing curricula that integrates new knowledge and current evidence-based practices and technologies, traditionally isolated from graduate and health-care curricula, that can enhance biomedical and clinical training for students. This study provides evidence, critical for the evaluation of new practices, which can promote and facilitate the integration of information literacy into the curriculum.

SUBMITTER: Kingsley KV

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2640392 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A case study for teaching information literacy skills.

Kingsley Karla V KV Kingsley Karl K

BMC medical education 20090129

<h4>Background</h4>The Internet has changed contemporary workplace skills, resulting in a need for proficiency with specific digital, online and web-based technologies within the fields of medicine, dentistry and public health. Although younger students, generally under 30 years of age, may appear inherently comfortable with the use of technology-intensive environments and digital or online search methods, competence in information literacy among these students may be lacking.<h4>Methods</h4>Thi ...[more]

PMID: 19178715

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Project description:ObjectiveThe study evaluated whether a modified version of the information literacy Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) rubric would be useful for assessing the information literacy skills of graduate health sciences students.MethodsThrough facilitated calibration workshops, an interdepartmental six-person team of librarians and faculty engaged in guided discussion about the meaning of the rubric criteria. They applied the rubric to score student work for a peer-review essay assignment in the "Information Literacy for Evidence-Based Practice" course. To determine inter-rater reliability, the raters participated in a follow-up exercise in which they independently applied the rubric to ten samples of work from a research project in the doctor of physical therapy program: the patient case report assignment.ResultsFor the peer-review essay, a high level of consistency in scoring was achieved for the second workshop, with statistically significant intra-class correlation coefficients above 0.8 for 3 criteria: "Determine the extent of evidence needed," "Use evidence effectively to accomplish a specific purpose," and "Access the needed evidence." Participants concurred that the essay prompt and rubric criteria adequately discriminated the quality of student work for the peer-review essay assignment. When raters independently scored the patient case report assignment, inter-rater agreement was low and statistically insignificant for all rubric criteria (kappa=-0.16, p>0.05-kappa=0.12, p>0.05).ConclusionsWhile the peer-review essay assignment lent itself well to rubric calibration, scorers had a difficult time with the patient case report. Lack of familiarity among some raters with the specifics of the patient case report assignment and subject matter might have accounted for low inter-rater reliability. When norming, it is important to hold conversations about search strategies and expectations of performance. Overall, the authors found the rubric to be appropriate for assessing information literacy skills of graduate health sciences students.

Project description:BackgroundHealth literacy among Japanese is often low, making it difficult for them to evaluate health information and make informed decisions. However, the health literacy scales applied measure the perceived difficulty of health-related tasks; they do not directly assess the specific skills needed to perform the tasks: the skills to judge the reliability of diverse information using evaluation criteria and implement rational decision-making. Therefore, the study objectives were to investigate the following issues using a nationwide survey in Japan. (1) When obtaining information, to what extent do people apply criteria for evaluating information to confirm its reliability; when making decisions, to what extent do they seek out available options and compare pros and cons based on their own values? (2) How strongly are such skills associated with health literacy and demographic characteristics? (3) What opportunities are available to learn these skills?MethodsWe conducted an online questionnaire survey using a Japanese Internet research company; 3,914 valid responses were received. The measures comprised health literacy (European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire), five items on information evaluation, four items on decision-making, and items on the availability and location of learning opportunities. We calculated Pearson correlations to explore the association of health literacy with information-evaluation and decision-making skills. Multivariate analyses were also conducted using these factors as dependent variables.ResultsFewer than half (30%-50%) of respondents reported always or often evaluating information and engaging in decision-making. Health literacy was significantly and positively correlated with the specific skills of information evaluation and decision-making (r = .26 and .30, respectively) as were multivariate analyses (beta = .15 and .22, respectively). Over 40% of respondents had never learned those skills. The most common resources for learning the skills were the Internet and television; less-used resources were schools and workplaces.ConclusionsBoth information-evaluation and decision-making skills were associated with health literacy. However, these skills are not sufficiently widespread in Japan because there are few opportunities to acquire them. More research is needed to raise awareness of the importance of such skills for improving health literacy and providing learning opportunities.

Project description:Learning to read is very challenging for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), but also very important, as it can give them access to new knowledge. This is even more challenging in minimally verbal children, who do not have the verbal abilities to learn through usual methods. To address the learning of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD, we designed the serious game SEMA-TIC, which relies on non-verbal cognitive skills and uses specific learning strategies adapted to the features of autistic individuals. This study investigated the usability of SEMA-TIC (in terms of adaptability, efficiency, and effectiveness) for the acquisition of literacy skills in French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD. Twenty-five children with ASD and no functional language participated in the study. Children in the training group received the SEMA-TIC training over 23 weeks (on average), while no intervention was provided to children in the non-training group. Results indicated that SEMA-TIC presents a suitable usability, as all participants were able to play (adaptability), to complete the training (efficiency) and to acquire significant literacy skills (effectiveness). Indeed, the literacy skills in the training group significantly improved after the training, as measured by specific experimental tasks (alphabet knowledge, word reading, word-non-word discrimination, sentence reading and word segmentation; all p ? 0.001) compared to the non-training group. More importantly, 3 out of 12 children of the training group could be considered as word decoders at the end of the intervention, whereas no children of the non-training group became able to decode words efficiently. The present study thus brings preliminary evidence that French minimally verbal school-aged children with ASD are able to learn literacy skills through SEMA-TIC, a specific computerized intervention consisting in a serious game based on non-verbal cognitive skills.

Dataset Information

A case study for teaching information literacy skills.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

A case study for teaching information literacy skills.

Similar Datasets

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