A Collaborative Approach to Integrating Information and Academic Literacy into the Curricula of Research Methods Courses

Abstract

The University of Auckland, like many tertiary educational institutions, expects undergraduates and postgraduates to leave the institution equipped not only with specialist knowledge, but with a set of intellectual skills, capacities and personal attributes. Included in this suite of transferable skills is academic and information literacy (AIL).This case study reports on the collaborative process, content development and outcomes of integrating AIL into the curricula of two Population Health research methods courses, one at postgraduate level and another at undergraduate level.The study shows how experiences gained from designing an online assessment for the postgraduate course, provided evidence to develop scaffolded activities and online summative and formative assessment design for the undergraduate course. The analysis of the quality of completed student coursework showed that interventions assisted students to think more critically and develop understanding of the key elements of the research process and methodology.