Information Literacy Interventions Research Articles

Teaching information literacy in online psychology courses: Effects on student performance and self-reported confidence

Using the Framework for Information Literacy published by the Association of College & Research Libraries, we developed an online intervention to increase information literacy. Specifically, we hypothesized that undergraduate students in an information literacy intervention group would increase in information literacy performance and confidence compared to a control group which did not receive asynchronous online information literacy instruction. We used a non-equivalent groups pretest-posttest design and measured students’ ( N = 101) information literacy performance and self-reported confidence before and after asynchronous information literacy instruction. We compared the intervention with a non-intervention control condition using two existing undergraduate psychology courses offered online across two semesters. Partially confirming our hypotheses, we found that providing asynchronous information literacy instruction not only increased students’ information literacy performance but also helped students to evaluate their own information literacy skills more accurately. In contrast, our intervention did not selectively increase confidence in information literacy as both information literacy intervention and control groups similarly increased in information literacy confidence over time. Nevertheless, these findings show that we managed to develop an online, theory-based intervention to increase information literacy. This intervention has the potential to build the foundations for students to engage in scientific conversations by elevating their understanding of how scientific information is produced and how science affects their daily lives.

The advantage of videos over text to boost adolescents' lateral reading in a digital workshop

ABSTRACT Today, fostering media and information literacy (MIL) among citizens is essential for preserving democracy. The effectiveness of scalable interventions, particularly those employing lateral reading, a fact-checking heuristic, is well recognised. Our digital workshop, designed to model lateral reading from a user's perspective, has proven beneficial in educational settings and has garnered expert endorsement. Addressing recent scholarly calls to understand the underlying mechanisms of successful MIL interventions, our study is anchored in Cognitive Load Theory. We examine how different instructional modalities in our workshop influence engagement with lateral reading and how effectively it is executed. The study separates implicit text feedback and hands-on video instructions, previously combined, in a full-factorial design using a parallel-group RCT. We analysed the responses of 178 upper-secondary students in the online workshop and conducted a detailed video analysis of 30 students participating in a controlled environment at their schools. Our findings reveal that hands-on video instructions notably enhance both the engagement and effectiveness of the lateral reading heuristic. This study underscores the significance of a human-computer interaction perspective in designing more impactful media and information literacy interventions.

Investigating curriculum integrated information literacy

Information literacy has become an essential element of the student learning process due to the current information overload that university students face. The world is in the information age where the options for access to information is changing daily. University students need to be information literate to be able to use information responsibly and ethically. This article describes the third cycle of an action research study that sought to investigate the merit of integrating information literacy that is aligned to an acceptable framework into the curriculum of an institution of higher learning by assessing students' perceptions before and after an information literacy intervention. First-year undergraduate students at a [institution name] responded to an online questionnaire and participated in online interviews to share perceptions of their information literacy competencies during the second semester of academic year 2021/2022. SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative data and the qualitative data was coded to identify common themes. The results of the study revealed information literacy courses positively impacted students' perceptions of their information literacy self-efficacy, skills, and attitudes.

Can Fighting Misinformation Have a Negative Spillover Effect? How Warnings for the Threat of Misinformation Can Decrease General News Credibility

ABSTRACT In the battle against misinformation, do negative spillover effects of communicative efforts intended to protect audiences from inaccurate information exist? Given the relatively limited prevalence of misinformation in people’s news diets, this study explores if the heightened salience of misinformation as a persistent societal threat can have an unintended spillover effect by decreasing the credibility of factually accurate news. Using an experimental design (N = 1305), we test whether credibility ratings of factually accurate news are subject to exposure to misinformation, corrective information, misinformation warnings, and news media literacy (NML) interventions relativizing the misinformation threat. Findings suggest that efforts like warning about the threat of misinformation can prime general distrust in authentic news, hinting toward a deception bias in the context of fear of misinformation being salient. Next, the successfulness of NML interventions is not straight forward if it comes to avoiding that the salience of misinformation distorts people’s creditability accuracy. We conclude that the threats of the misinformation order may not just be remedied by fighting false information, but also by reestablishing trust in legitimate news.

Dialog in the echo chamber: Fake news framing predicts emotion, argumentation and dialogic social knowledge building in subsequent online discussions

Disinformation currently floods the Internet worldwide and likely affects social knowledge building in online communities. Strategic framing in the form of emotional, value, and semantic framing is a common tool fake news producers use to more efficiently disseminate their content, yet these strategies have not been sufficiently examined, even less in relationship with the online dialog initiated by misinformation. In this exploratory study we aim to investigate the most relevant types of strategic framing and their role as predictors of news consumers’ emotions, argumentation, and social knowledge building in the online dialog on a German alternative news site. Employing both manual and automated content analysis, we found significant relationships between framing in posted news articles and the subsequent online dialog. News framing predicted negative emotions in the online discussions and interfered with argumentation and social knowledge building. Conclusions pertain to digital information literacy interventions and further research on news framing.

Child participation in the design of media and information literacy interventions: A scoping review and thematic analysis

The article presents findings from a review of scientific articles about media and information literacy interventions targeted at children and adolescents. More specifically, the review centers on the quantity and quality of child participation in the design of such interventions. The findings indicate that designs with high levels of child participation constitute a minority in the sample. Most of them aim at “behavior-relevant” outcomes, e.g., reduce smoking or obesity. Interventions aimed at “media-relevant” outcomes, e.g., helping children to become competent media users, seem less widespread. Based on these findings, we argue that top-down initiatives to the promotion of media and information literacy among children and adolescents run the risk of becoming irrelevant to the target group, and that child participation in the design of such interventions should be seen as an end in itself, at least if we subscribe to the idea of children’s rights in the digital age.

Deaf Adults' Health Literacy and Access to Health Information: Protocol for a Multicenter Mixed Methods Study.

BackgroundDeaf American Sign Language (ASL) users often struggle with limited health literacy compared with their hearing peers. However, the mechanisms driving limited health literacy and how this may impact access to and understanding of health information for Deaf individuals have not been determined. Deaf individuals are more likely than hearing individuals to use the internet, yet they continue to report significant barriers to health information. This study presents an opportunity to identify key targets that impact information access for a largely marginalized population.ObjectiveThis study aims to elucidate the role of information marginalization on health literacy in Deaf ASL users and to better understand the mechanisms of health literacy in this population for the purpose of identifying viable targets for future health literacy interventions.MethodsThis is an exploratory mixed methods study to identify predictors and moderators of health literacy in the Deaf population. These predictors of health literacy will be used to inform the second step that qualitatively explains the findings, including how Deaf individuals access and understand Web-based health information. Multiple interviewer- and computer-based instruments underwent translation and adaptation, from English to ASL, to make them accessible for the Deaf participants in our study. A planned sample of 450 Deaf ASL users and 450 hearing native English speakers, aged 18 to 70 years, will be recruited from 3 partnering sites: Rochester, NY; Flint, MI; and Chicago, IL. These individuals will participate in a single data collection visit. A subset of participants (approximately 30) with key characteristics of interest will be invited for a second data collection visit to observe and inquire more about their ability to directly access, navigate, and comprehend Web-based health information. The study will help assess how the ways health literacy and information are visualized may differ between Deaf individuals and hearing individuals. The study will also survey participants’ ownership and use of computer and mobile devices and their level of Web-based information use, including health information.ResultsAdaptation and translation of protocols and instruments have been completed and are now in use for the study. Recruitment is underway and will continue until late 2020. Results from this study will be used to provide a guide on how to structure Web-based health information in a way that maximizes accessibility and improves health literacy for Deaf individuals.ConclusionsThe results from this mixed methods proposal will advance what is known about health literacy and health information accessibility for Deaf individuals. This innovative study will generate rich data on how to formulate health information and health literacy interventions more accurately to take advantage of visual learning skills.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)PRR1-10.2196/14889

Revealing instruction opportunities: a framework-based rubric for syllabus analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper was to develop a rubric based on the ACRL framework to analyze departmental syllabi for opportunities to scaffold information literacy instruction. The rubric provided a replicable method of gathering and analyzing data using course syllabi to enable instruction librarians to strategically embed information literacy instruction within a disciplinary curriculum.Design/methodology/approachThis study examined 231 syllabi from three departments at a large American university. The authors developed and normed a rubric based on ACRL’s 2015 Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and coded the syllabi for the presence of these six themes using a three-indicator scale: not present, implied or explicitly stated. Cohen’s kappa calculations for interrater reliability was 0.92, which indicates that the raters had a high level of agreement and that the rubric could be a reliable instrument to replicate this sort of study.FindingsThe analysis revealed numerous opportunities for targeted, curriculum-integrated instruction in each department at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It also offered disciplinary insights on the Framework within and across each program. Thesedata can be used to inform conversations with program administrators about scaffolding information literacy interventions across a curriculum.Originality/valueThis study contributes a new instrument with which to analyze syllabi for information literacy outcomes to develop curricular maps and conduct strategic instructional outreach. The data demonstrated that the rubric is reliable and could be used to replicate this study in a variety of programs or institutions. Authors have presented at Library Instruction West, July 2018.

Effective Engineering Information Literacy Instruction: A Systematic Literature Review

The objective of this study was to investigate effective methods of teaching information literacy to engineering undergraduate students. The authors searched several databases (e.g., Compendex, Scopus, ERIC) for English language studies published between January 2000 and January 2016 that contained both an information literacy intervention for engineering undergraduate students and an assessment method for evaluating the intervention's effectiveness. Thirteen studies were included in the final data set, of which eleven studies reported effective results based largely upon descriptive statistical analysis. The strongest indicator of effectiveness that emerged in the data was collaboration with disciplinary faculty. With few articles in the final results set containing inferential statistics, the authors were only able to draw limited conclusions regarding effectiveness. The low use of such statistical methods highlights a need for librarian researchers to develop skills with research design and statistical analysis. This study is one of few systematic reviews on the topic of information literacy and the first systematic review on engineering information literacy effectiveness. It intends to serve as a baseline for future work.

Developing information literacy skills of the 6th grade students using the Big 6 model

The Big6 model is a systematic approach to information problem-solving that relies upon critical thinking skills. It is the most used model for information literacy instruction in schools worldwide. Since there is a lack of information literacy skills instruction in the educational system of Iran, especially in primary schools, this research evaluates an information literacy intervention in the Iranian 6thgrade science classroom. The study employs a mixed-method explanatory design using a true experimental method with pre-test and post-tests. The qualitative phase investigated the experiences and perceptions of the experimental group. Results show that integrating the Big6 model into the primary science curriculum helps the students to improve their information literacy skills as well as gain a deeper understanding of the research process. Overall, the research contributes evidence to show the effectiveness of a collaborative teaching approach in information literacy instruction. This approach promotes positive attitudes among students towards the school library and the school librarian’s role in the educational process.

Librarians in the Lead: A Case for Interdisciplinary Faculty Collaboration on Assignment Design

Assignment design provides a potential niche for librarians to fill in improving research assignments and in providing opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration on teaching, but this can be difficult work to claim as librarians. In the 2016-2017 academic year, a team of three librarians at Utah State University, a mid-size research university, piloted an assignment design workshop for faculty. Based on a model developed by the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), our workshop’s core component was a structured, librarian-facilitated small group discussion among three to four faculty members from a range of academic departments. Interdisciplinary conversation about teaching research skills thrived in these discussions (called “charrettes”), with librarians uniquely positioned to encourage knowledge sharing in service of student learning and success. This article presents three iterations of our workshops as a case study in information literacy intervention outside traditional classroom instruction sessions, extending and redefining the role of the academic librarian as a partner in teaching and learning.

Young people’s conceptions of political information

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore young people’s conceptions of political information. The study sought to identify what political information sources young people encounter, how they construe these sources and the messages they communicate, and how the information experiences of young people may be better understood to inform information literacy interventions to support the development of political agency.Design/methodology/approachUsing personal construct theory as a conceptual framework, repertory grid (RG) interviews were used to explore the different ways in which 23 young people aged 14-15 from a town in Northern England conceive of political information and how they evaluate its quality and authority.FindingsThe study identified the sources of information young people engage with for finding and receiving what they understand as political information. The results from the RG interviews indicated that young people use a wide range of sources of political information to become informed about politics and the world around them. These sources of information include family, friends, teachers, television news, newspapers, radio shows, comedy shows, social media and community meetings. Participants were aware that they passively encounter information sources as well as actively engage in debate and discussion with other sources. Some participants had difficulty critically evaluating the political information sources they encounter. The nature of young people’s experiences of political information varied greatly. The degree of complexity in the experiences of political information varied not only between participants but was also dependent on their particular relationship with the information sources under scrutiny.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper has implications for personal construct analysis as a research approach broadly, from the point of view of its use within library and information science research. It is the first study to apply the personal construct approach to the study of young people’s political information use and to consider implications for information literacy support that would have been difficult to access using other approaches.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insight into an understudied area; that of young people’s conceptions of political information. This insight may be used to inform the improvement of political information provision and information literacy support for young people.Social implicationsA deeper understanding of the different ways in which young people identify, engage with and use information for political purposes may contribute to a clearer understanding of young people’s information needs, ideally leading to improved political education and a strengthened democratic process.Originality/valueThe paper explores a relatively under-researched area of library and information science research, and does so using a relatively under-used method in the domain. Insights into the perceived characteristics of different sources of political information are novel and contribute to the development of information behaviour and information literacy fields in terms of information for empowerment and democracy.

Believing the Unbelievable: Understanding Young People's Information Literacy Beliefs and Practices in the United States

Young people are increasingly turning to the Internet more than to traditional media and information sources to find information. Yet, research demonstrates suboptimal online information literacy among youth today, suggesting potential shortcomings in young people's information consumption behaviors. To assess this, this study investigates several predictors of young people's success in online information evaluation, including their awareness of credibility problems associated with digital information, their use of specific information evaluation practices, and their accuracy in credibility assessment. Results from a study of 2,747 11–18-year-old Internet users indicate both expected and surprising influences of young people's cognitive development, decision-making style, demographic background, and digital information literacy training on their information evaluation awareness, skills, and practices. Theoretical implications and those for redesigning online information literacy interventions are discussed.

Information Literacy (IL) Intervention Workshop has Positive, but Limited, Effects on Undergraduate Students’ IL Skills

A Review of:
 Gross, M. & Latham, D. (2013). Addressing below proficient information literacy skills: Evaluating the efficacy of an evidence-based educational intervention. Library & Information Science Research, 35(3), 181-190.
 
 Objective – To evaluate the impact of an educational intervention workshop on students’ information literacy (IL) skills and self-perception of their own IL knowledge.
 
 Design – Quasi-experimental design with control groups and semi-structured interviews. 
 
 Setting – Two community colleges in the United States of America, one in a rural setting and one in an urban setting.
 
 Subjects – Ninety-two students enrolled in an entry-level English course, who scored below proficiency (65%) on the Information Literacy Test (ILT). 
 
 Methods – One hundred students from each college took the pre-session ILT and an IL self-assessment survey at the beginning of the Spring 2011 semester. The ILT used was developed and validated by James Madison University (Wise, Cameron, Yang, & Davis, n.d.) and measures understanding of all the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Competency Standards (ACRL, 2000, pp. 2-3) except Standard 4. For motivation, students each received $20 for their efforts and were told those who scored in the top 15% would enter a draw to win one of two additional prizes of $50. Those who scored below the ILT proficiency level of 65% were invited to participate in the quasi-experiment.
 
 Forty-nine participants were assigned to the workshop group and 43 to the control group. The two groups were comparable in demographic characteristics, prior IL learning, and ILT scores. Those in the workshop group were ask to attend one of five workshops designed around the Analyze, Search, Evaluate (ASE) process model for IL interventions (Gross, Armstrong, & Latham, 2012). The workshops were offered on both campuses and taught by the same instruction librarian.
 
 The workshop participants completed questionnaires, which included a second ILT, self-assessment, and ASE-based questions, before and after the IL workshops. Each workshop participant received $30. The control group participants took the same post-session questionnaire after the workshops were completed and received $20. The same $50 incentive was offered to both groups. Two weeks after the workshops, semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 30 participants to analyze their learning experiences.
 
 Results – Participants’ self-assessment of IL skills showed significant downgrading after they took the ILT for the first time. This downward calibration held true for both the control (t (41) = 4.077, p < 0.004) and the workshop (t (45) = 4.149, p < 0.000) groups. Subsequent self-ratings from the control group showed this downward recalibration of self-assessment was sustained over time. 
 
 For participants in the workshop group, their average self-rating of IL ability rose from a pre-ASE workshop rating of 2.79 out of a maximum score of 5, to a post-workshop rating of 3.83. However, the same participants’ post-workshop ILT scores did not show any significant improvement. Attending the ASE workshop did not help participants to achieve the “proficient” IL skill level (an ILT score of 65% or higher).
 
 Nonetheless, the workshop group’s performance on the ASE focused questions, also administered pre- and post-session, indicated that participants did gain some IL skills during the workshop. On the ASE questions, which had a maximum score of 25 points, the workshop group’s average score increased from 10.62, pre-session to 13.40, post-session, while the control group had an average score of 10.91 pre-session and 10.77 post-session.
 
 In the follow-up interviews, most participants reviewed the workshop positively and felt that their peers would benefit from attending. However, the skills participants reported learning primarily focused on the Search stage of the ASE model, such as exact phrase, truncation, and the advanced search options in Google. 
 
 Conclusion – This quasi-experiment examined the impact of a one-hour ASE model-based workshop on first-year English students with below-proficiency IL skill levels. Self-assessment ratings indicated that workshop attendance increased students’ confidence in their skill level, although this upward recalibration of self-view significantly overestimated participants’ actual skill gain. Pre- and post-test questionnaires indicated that, while students did gain some new IL knowledge, attending the workshop was insufficient to improve their IL skill to the proficient level.

The Analyze, Search, Evaluate (ASE) Process Model: Three Steps Toward Information Literacy

The Analyze, Search, Evaluate (ASE) process model is one result of the three-year IMLS study, Attaining Information Literacy (AIL), which focused on developing interventions for students who test as below-proficient on an objective information literacy skills test. The ASE process model provides a three-step process that is easy to understand and remember and that can be used as the basis for a variety of information literacy (IL) interventions. It was developed in response to data provided by below proficient students in surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Both the ASE process model and the related AIL educational intervention were developed using iterative formative evaluation and underwent extensive summative evaluation. This article introduces the ASE process model and explains how it can be used in community and Junior colleges to prepare students for college-level work, entrance into the workforce, and self-directed learning.

Improving Below-Proficient Information Literacy Skills: Designing an Evidence-Based Educational Intervention

This article describes the design and development of an educational intervention intended to improve information literacy skills based on research with first-year college students. The intervention was developed over the course of a three-year period, during which time grant funding was received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), supporting the collection of research data on the learning needs of first-year college students who scored below proficient on a standardized information literacy test. A variety of empirical methods including tests, surveys, interviews, and focus groups were used to collect data. The resulting intervention is a modular session that can be used as a stand-alone presentation or incorporated into other information literacy interventions. The design of the intervention stresses three main research goals: orientation to information literacy as a skill set, improved ability to self assess skills, and the acquisition of at least one skill that demonstrates the utility of instruction. At the heart of the intervention is the three-step Analyze, Search, Evaluate (ASE) process model of information literacy, which is easy to remember, easy to adapt to multiple instructional situations, and can provide a foundation for building additional information literacy skills.

Using assignment data to analyse a blended information literacy intervention: A quantitative approach

This research sought to determine whether a blended information literacy learning and teaching intervention could statistically significantly enhance undergraduates’ information discernment compared to standard face-to-face delivery. A mixture of face-to-face and online activities, including online social media learning, was used. Three interventions were designed to develop the information literacies of first-year undergraduates studying Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University and focused on one aspect of information literacy: the ability to evaluate source material effectively. An analysis was devised where written evaluations of found information for an assessment were converted into numerical scores and then measured statistically. This helped to evaluate the efficacy of the interventions and provided data for further analysis. An insight into how the information literacy pedagogical intervention and the cognitive processes involved in enabling participants to interact critically with information is provided. The intervention which incorporated social media learning proved to be the most successful learning and teaching approach. The data indicated that undergraduate students’ information literacy can be developed. However, additional long-term data is required to establish whether this intervention would have a lasting impact.

Challenges for information literacy education at a university of technology

The article reports on an action research project to investigate the effectiveness of an information literacy intervention for first-year engineering students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). The intervention consisted of two workshops which aimed at teaching the students to find information relevant to their essays via the university’s online public access catalogue (OPAC) and engineering databases and to reference and cite their sources. The project assessed students’ information skills before and after the two workshops with the use of a questionnaire consisting of a set of questions based on some of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) standards. The research provides insight into how information literacy education at CPUT library can be improved. Its major recommendations are that more periods in the timetable must be allocated to information literacy education and that lecturers should recognise the educational role of librarians.

Mapping Staff Competencies for Information Literacy Interventions

Information literacy (IL) is a key strategic objective for academic libraries. Many academic librarians are involved in designing, developing and delivering IL programmes, using both classroom teaching and e-learning methods. IL has also become a priority at institutional level and some universities and colleges have formal policies and strategies to integrate and embed IL in the curriculum. IL interventions also happen informally at enquiry points and reference desks, when queries offer ‘teachable moments’ for library staff to help students develop information skills and understanding while solving their information problems. Research shows that such instruction features strongly in both face-to-face and virtual reference transactions, but few IL policies and strategies cover this frontline personalised IL support. Similarly, most discussion of staff training and development for IL education has centred on the teaching roles and pedagogical knowledge of professional librarians, with limited discussion of the competencies needed for frontline interventions by paraprofessionals or assistants. This workshop promotes an inclusive holistic model of IL education and library workforce development. It will investigate the skills and knowledge needed by frontline staff to contribute effectively to the IL mission of academic libraries. It will focus on the learning support needed by students from different educational, social, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, with particular reference to postgraduate students, as a group typifying this diversity. The facilitator will review IL interventions and library staff competencies discussed in the literature. Participants will discuss typical queries or problems presented by different categories of postgraduate students and then identify the skills, knowledge and understanding required by frontline staff to provide an appropriate service response. The skillsets identified will be compared with those of teaching librarians to determine similarities and differences in the types and levels of abilities needed. Participants will gain insights to inform IL strategies, service planning and workforce development.

Information Illiteracy: Examining our Assumptions

This paper explores the notion of information illiteracy in relation to doctoral students' information literacy activities. Findings from a qualitative study of the doctoral literature review process portray learners as competent, rather than information illiterate, even though they may not have received information literacy interventions.