<Research Reports> Optimizing Information Literacy Education for the First Year Course of the Faculty of Education (IV) : Evaluation of Acquired Skills by a Test of Practical Computer Skills

Abstract

This article is the fourth report in a series of studies that investigae how to optimize information literacy education for the first year course of the Faculty of Education, Kyoto University. Fifty-eight undergraduate students participated in an introductory course in Information Science in the fiscal year 2002. They were asked to answer nearly the same questionnaire two times to assess changes in their basic knowledge of and skills in computer use, at the beginning of the course and again at the end (nine months later). We also assessed their acquired skills by using a test of practical computer skills that was administered at the end of the course. The results of these questionnaires showed a kind of "fixed point observation." The attitudes toward and knowledge of computers are not different from those of students in the precedent years. However, it is noteworthy that the number of students has been grown year by year from 2000 to 2002, who answered that they learned how to use a computer by attending the Information Science course. The results of the test of practical computer skills showed that a great discrepancy exists between students' consciousness of their skills and their measured skills. We need to minimize this discrepancy