[Infowarrior] - Students Struggle with Information Literacy

[Richard Forno]

Students Struggle with Information Literacy
>From eSchool News, November 28, 2006
By Justin Appel
http://www.freepress.net/news/print/19369

We often think of today¹s students as technology-savvy‹and while that might
be true, to a certain extent, when it comes to using hardware and software
devices, a recently published report shows how little know-how students
display when it comes to information literacy, or the ability to use
technology to find the information they¹re looking for.

The report, from Princeton, N.J.-based ETS, found that the majority of high
school and college students lack the proper critical thinking skills when it
comes to researching online and using sources.

The report comes from an evaluation of the responses of 6,300 students from
63 institutions around the country to ETS¹s new ICT (Information and
Communications Technology) Literacy Assessment. Students were given
scenario-based items that were presented to them in 75-minute test
environments. These information literacy tests included extracting
information from a database, developing a spreadsheet, or composing eMail
summaries of research findings.

The tests are meant to measure students¹ abilities to overcome three
challenges they typically have:

€The ability to identify trustworthy and useful information;

€The ability to manage overabundant information; and

€The ability to communicate information effectively

The study found that 52 percent of those tested could correctly judge the
objectivity of a web site, and 65 percent could correctly judge that web
site¹s authoritativeness. But only 40 percent of students entered multiple
search terms when researching a topic, and only 44 percent properly
identified a statement that captured the demands of the assignment.

³We have a kind of wake-up call that¹s being presented to all of us at this
time,² said Mary Ann Zaborowski, executive director of product management
with ETS. ³When we think about students today, they¹re the millennium
children. They¹ve grown up around technology. They¹ve been automated with
all kinds of computers, cell phones, digital cameras, music. They¹re more
well-versed than any of us who preceded them in terms of how to use these
devices. But where there¹s a startling gap is in their ability to
cognitively apply this technology in meaningful ways.²

The results might be surprising to those outside the educational world, who
might think that students who grew up with the internet in their homes and
schools are naturally adept at navigating their way around the World Wide
Web; but to those in education, it is something they have either suspected
or known for quite some time.

³I¹m not surprised. I think it¹s not just a problem specific to a region,²
says Della Curtis, coordinator of library information services for Baltimore
County, Md., Public Schools. ³I think it¹s a national issue, for which there
have been many organizations that have prepared reports on 21st-century
literacy, from way back.²

One of the problems, Zaborowski points out, is students¹ over-reliance on
search engines such as Google when it comes to researching topics. The study
found that students typically will type in a search keyword, then simply go
to the first search result and use it as an authoritative source. The
problem with this approach is that a number of top search results on Google
are often slanted or biased. Through a process known as ³Googlebombing,²
people can alter the top results for a search term. For example, when you
type the word ³failure² into Google¹s search engine, the top result that
appears is the White House biographical page for President George Bush.

ETS hopes educators can learn from its report. School leaders ³can use the
results to identify the misconceptions that faculty might have about the
competency of their students,² said Zaborowski. Then, she said, educators
can ³build a consensus on revisions to their curriculum to address those
gaps.²

Many school districts, such as Baltimore County, are already aware of the
information-literacy challenge. To address the problem, Baltimore County has
been producing a web-based curriculum that, according to Curtis, ³raises the
bar on student research and problem solving.²

Through this web-based curriculum, Baltimore County has put together a
number of research models for elementary, middle, and high school levels.
Each research model has a different scenario and task that students must
complete. Students are directed to resources the school system has
evaluated, which will help them answer key questions. These resources point
students in the right direction when it comes to search methods.

³We feel that this is an effective strategy in integrating information
literacy Š within the context of the curriculum,² said Curtis.

Although schools strive to improve their students¹ information literacy
skills, educators must take concrete measures to ensure students have the
critical thinking skills they need to find information online, according to
the report. ³Access to information is becoming a goldmine or landfill,² said
Curtis. ³We need to develop strategies to integrate information and
communications literacy skills within the context of the curriculum.²

Links:

ETS
http://www.ets.org

Findings from ETS¹s report
http://www.ets.org/ictliteracy/prelimfindings.html

ICT Literacy Assessment
http://www.ets.org/ictliteracy

Baltimore County Public Schools
http://www.bcps.org

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