Teaching an Online Information Literacy Course: Is It Equivalent to Face-to-Face Instruction?

Abstract

College-level students arrive fairly confident in their research abilities. When the university began a new requirement for information literacy competency in the General Education Requirements, distance library faculty had the opportunity to teach an online section. A technologically savvy health science librarian and technologically challenged distance librarian co-taught the online section while three face-to-face sections were taught at the main campus. The goal was to teach the same competencies, present equivalent material and assess learning with equal rigor in all five sections. The sections agreed to similar final projects and final exam. A non-graded knowledge survey has been given to students in all sections at the beginning and end of the semester as a pre- and post-test to help assess if the online course is equivalent to the face-to-face sections. Other factors in teaching experience and technology also affect student competency levels.