Business school techspectations Technology in the daily lives and educational experiences of business students

Business School Techspectations is the second in a series of reports based on research by the DCU Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge Research Centre (LInK) at DCU Business School. With its roots in an Irish business school, it is no surprise that LInK’s mission is to strengthen the competitiveness, productivity, innovation and entrepreneurial capacity of the Irish economy. Ireland’s next generation transformation will be enabled by information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital participation by members of Irish society. As a university research centre we have an important role to play in supporting education, industry and government to accelerate this transformation

Information Specialist and ICT Lecturer Co-Teach an Online Course: A New Way and What Students Think About It

The purpose of this paper is to share a multidisciplinary approach to teaching information literacy (IL) in Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The paper describes a practical case about the execution of a course ‘Information management and communication’. It focuses on how the information specialist and ICT lecturer collaborate from the planning stage of the course to the evaluation phase, and how the implementation is evaluated. The course combines asynchronous learning in an online learning environment and synchronous online real time co-teaching in a virtual classroom. The described course is the first one the distance learning students attend as they complete their Bachelor’s degree online. The overall objective of the implementation of the presented course was to ensure that students achieve basic computer and IL skills for further studies. Other important objectives were enhancing online socialization, creating a sense of belonging together as a group, building confidence in studying online and using the library’s web services. The objectives were reached with co-teaching and interactive tools during online lessons. Laurea Library has experience from co-teaching with lecturers, and this practical case shows how multidisciplinary collaboration, which benefits all involved, can also be carried out in online learning environments

Assessment of Information Literacy and Fake News Identification of Benguet State University Freshmen: Implications for Library Literacy Program

The world is experiencing a rapid and massive spread of misinformation referred to as “infodemic” (WHO, 2020, cited by Salvi, et al., 2021). Despite information literacy had been a long-offered solution to information problems (Horton, 2007) and studies discovered that accurate identification of fake news was significantly associated with information literacy (Jones-Jang, et al., 2021), approaches to IL instruction must be updated and must adapt to the changing information society and environment (SCONUL, 2018; Rutledge and LeMire, 2017). It aimed to determine the level of information literacy and fake news identification of the students. It also determined if there is a significant difference in the students’ competence when grouped according to their gender and academic performance. It also determined the correlation between information literacy and fake news identification. The study employed a descriptive correlation approach and used an online questionnaire tool adapted from the TRAILS assessment tool. The questionnaire also included examples of news materials that students determined if fake or not. The respondents consist of 331 freshmen students of Benguet State University enrolled during the school year 2020-2021. The findings revealed that students are fairly competent in information literacy and fake news identification. It was also found that, when compared according to gender, there is no significant difference in the information literacy of the students but there is a significant difference in the fake news identification. It was concluded that female students are more capable of identifying fake news. When compared according to academic performance, there is a significant difference in students’ information literacy and fake news identification. It was concluded that students with higher academic performance tend to have higher competence in information literacy and fake news identification. It was concluded that there is a significant moderate correlation between information literacy and fake news identification. The results of the study guided the information literacy program launched by the library, #BUILDS, or the BSU ULIS Information Literacy Development Solutions. One of the activities under the program is the release of the information literacy video series intended to develop students’ information competencies

Why would they try? Motivation and motivating in low-stakes information skills testing

In 2008 the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) University Libraries piloted the Educational Testing Service’s standardised test of information, communication, and technology (ICT) skills (iSkills) in spring and autumn 2008. In the course of administering the test we explored motivational strategies, a critical component in low-stakes, low-personal-consequences testing. Motivational strategies included providing feedback on test performance, highlighting the value of the test for the individual student, and appealing to the student’s willingness to improve the overall performance of the institution. We addressed ways to motivate students in order to enhance their level of participation in and performance on the test. As the use of standardised testing to benchmark student information skills is increasing within the information literacy community, it is vital to address these motivational aspects to ensure the generation of reliable data. This article describes the strategies and language the University Libraries used to convey value and stimulate interest; it also provides feedback from test-takers on why they tried to do their best on the test

Digital exclusion in higher education contexts:A systematic literature review

AbstractThe integration and adoption of digital technologies have enabled improvements in the quality of and inclusion in higher education. However, a significant proportion of the population has either remained or become digitally excluded. This systematic literature review elucidates the factors underlying the concepts of “digital exclusion” and the “digital divide” in higher education. The identified factors are grouped into three categories: social exclusion (i.e., low income, ICT-avoidance as the norm, lack of motivation and commitment, and physical or mental disability), digital exclusion (i.e., lack of hardware devices and Internet services) and accessibility (which include the division between rural and urban areas, as well as disparities in ICT literacy and information literacy). These factors are multi-tiered and overlapping. Studies on the digital divide, digital exclusion, and barriers to ICT adoption in higher education deal with similar factors, but these are experienced differently in different contexts. While generalizing these factors into categories enables a better understanding of the nature of digital exclusion, solving and circumventing them remains complex due their dependency on the particular context of a higher education institution

Users' trust in information resources in the Web environment: a status report

This study has three aims; to provide an overview of the ways in which trust is either assessed or asserted in relation to the use and provision of resources in the Web environment for research and learning; to assess what solutions might be worth further investigation and whether establishing ways to assert trust in academic information resources could assist the development of information literacy; to help increase understanding of how perceptions of trust influence the behaviour of information users

A Comparison of the Aptitude and Attitude of College Students Toward Social and Technical Computer Technology

The purpose of this study was to investigate college students\u27 technical and social technology competencies based upon their attitudes toward computers and their perception of technical computer knowledge. The participants for this investigation were college undergraduates majoring in apparel merchandising and design and other related and non-related majors at the University of Arkansas. The research model selected for use in this study was the survey design method. There were a total of 1270 students responding to the survey with 1052 usable surveys remaining after cleaning the data for missing entries. This constituted an 83% response rate. The findings included significant effects of social aptitude by age and major, and technical aptitude by major. Males had significantly higher perceptions of technical aptitude, and both social and technical attitude toward computer technology than females. Whites had significantly higher perceptions of social aptitude toward computer technology than Nonwhites. Class standing had no significant effect on college student\u27s perceptions of either aptitude or attitude in social or technical computer technology. There were strong correlations between social aptitude and technical aptitude and social attitude and technical attitude. Colleges and universities as well as industry are taking advantage of social technology not only for recruitment but in the classroom and on the job as well. A strong relationship between social and technical aptitude and social and technical attitude would tend to indicate that students are ready for this type of interaction

The Effect of Learning Experience on the Information Literacy of Students in the Ri-Png Border During Covid-19 Period

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges for higher education institutions, especially in Indonesia's border areas. The transformation of face-to-face learning models to distance learning models impacts the learning experience of students, especially those who are completing writing research proposals and theses that require adequate information literacy skills. This study aims to explore the effect of student learning experiences on information literacy skills. The research data were obtained from respondents from four universities in Merauke. Purposive sampling technique is used with the criteria of students who have taken research methodology courses and are taking or have taken proposal seminar courses. One hundred respondents have filled out a questionnaire distributed online. Based on the data analysis, learning experiences contributed 17.60% to students' information literacy skills. Furthermore, each increase in student learning experiences will contribute to 0.40% of information literacy skills. These research findings can be valuable information to be developed to the next stage in making modules and learning media that can provide a good quality learning experience to improve student literacy skills, especially in writing research proposals/theses. With this module or learning media, it is hoped that it can prepare students to write research proposals and theses

Information and communication technology (ICT) literacy: Refining a construct for assessment

This research effort conceptualized, developed, implemented, and examined the psychometric properties of an Information & Communication Technology (ICT) literacy assessment instrument designed for students entering college. This process began with the development of a working definition of the ICT literacy based on the literature and the input of a panel of experts regarding the proposed literacy sub-constructs and the individual test items. A pilot test was conducted to identify areas for improvement. Once these improvements were incorporated, the final assessment instrument was administered to the freshmen class at a private Midwestern comprehensive university with religious affiliation. The psychometric aspects of the assessment instrument were analyzed based in the field test results. Four hypotheses were used to further examine the field test data. The first hypothesis tested the ICT literacy dimensions or sub-constructs that were derived from the literature and refined with assistance of the panel of experts. Three additional hypotheses examined assessment results through selected demographic aspects of the participants including gender, a socioeconomic indicator, and their self-reported high-school GPA. The results of the field test indicated that ICT literacy may be complex, but it can be measured. The developed items that formed the assessment instrument fell within good psychometric bounds. This was not the case with the dimensions or sub-constructs, since they were not supported by the results of a confirmatory factor analysis or materialize through an exploratory factor analysis. This analysis did suggest different factors that have been included in the resulting proposed Digital Communication and Information Scale (DCITS). The ICT Literacy assessment instrument field test scores were analyzed through the demographic information provided by the participants. The assessment results revealed that female participants performed better than male participants. The participants from lower socioeconomic levels, as indicated by eligibility for subsidized lunches, received lower assessment scores. And finally, the participants with higher GPAs received higher scores on the ICT literacy assessment. This research effort has shown that ICT literacy assessment is possible and can provide insight for educators and guide future research. Suggested alternative dimensions were proposed (DCITS) that differed from those proposed in the related literature. Future iterations of this ICT literacy assessment instrument or development of similar instruments is warranted to continue to explore this important topic