Assessing students’ information literacy skills in two secondary schools in Singapore

Appropriately measuring information literacy skills is essential to understand their educational impact as well as exploring pedagogies to improve teaching of these skills. This paper reports findings of a baseline study to understand the information literacy level of secondary school students in Singapore. A comprehensive instrument encompassing a new dimension of ethical usage of information as well as major IL principles and guidelines was developed for data collection. A total of 298 responses were gathered through the online survey. The findings indicate that overall there was a scope to improve students’ IL skills. That stated, higher order IL skills (such as information use, synthesis, and evaluation) demand more attention, as comparatively lower levels of proficiency were observed in this study.

Information literacy education in the context of project work : application of multiple intelligences and mediated learning.

This research explored two information literacy (IL) education approaches that make the teaching and learning of IL competencies more effective. This research suggests that (1) IL competencies have a positive impact on the quality of students’ project work; (2) students grasp IL competencies more effectively when their learning styles are catered to; and (3) students apply learnt IL competencies more effectively when they are closely coached to discover and rectify their learning gaps. There were two parts (A and B) to the research study, and data was collected and compared through a survey-test and a project. For Part A, it was found that students who underwent IL training performed better in both the test and project, compared to students who did not undergo any IL training. It was also found that students who were grouped according to their learning styles performed better in the project. For Part B, it was found that students who were closely coached performed better in both their test and project. Based on the findings of this study, an incremental curriculum for primary and secondary school (Grades 1 to 10) students, as well as a broad-spectrum framework for teaching IL competencies to learners, are proposed.Doctor of Philosophy (SCI

Evaluation of the collaborative relationship between teachers and school librarians in Singapore.

This study investigated the collaborative relationship between teachers and school librarians in Singapore. The use of school libraries and their resources by teachers, the existence and extent of collaboration between teachers and school librarians, the problems that teachers faced in using school libraries, and factors that prevented effective collaboration, were investigated and analysed.Master of Science (Information Studies

Information literacy education in the context of project work: Application of multiple intelligences and mediated learning

Information literacy (IL) has become a vital competency in the current knowledge society. For students, the key to becoming independent learners and future knowledge workers lies in being information literate. However, existing information literacy education approaches have not been very successful in equipping students with these crucial skills to ensure deep erudition and long-lasting retention. Hence, pedagogy becomes critical in information literacy education. This research hypothesises that (i) informa-tion literacy skills have a positive impact on the quality of studentsâ project work; (ii) students grasp in-formation literacy skills more effectively when their innate interests, such as that determined by their re-spective dominant intelligences, are stimulated and applied to their work; and (iii) students internalise what they learn when they are coached over an extended period of time, on how to apply their newly ac-quired information literacy skills, and thus exhibit greater retention of such knowledge and competen-cies. Consequently they would produce work of better quality. To verify these postulations, an informa-tion literacy course was designed for students undertaking project work to equip them with the necessary information literacy skills, by using two established pedagogical approaches â Gardnerâ s Theory of Mul-tiple Intelligences and Feuersteinâ s Mediated Learning Experience. Subsequently the quality of the pro-ject work between the experimental and control groups were compared. This on-going research seeks to identify a utilitarian and viable pedagogical methodology that makes the teaching and learning of infor-mation literacy skills more effective and long-lasting respectively

Guide me, show me : personalised coaching as a means of instilling information literacy competencies in students

Many studies have revealed that appropriate information literacy (IL) skills can improve the learning process, performance, and achievements of students and ultimately guide them in the desired direction of becoming knowledge workers. However, traditional methods of teaching IL have not always been successful due to several limitations, including short-term effectiveness and shallow application of skills and knowledge. Novel ways of teaching IL need to be experimented with and developed so that IL can be taught more effectively with students having enriched lessons and a more holistic learning experience. This paper provides an overview of a quasi-experimental study conducted with two clusters of 13-year-old students who did a project-based assignment. One cluster of students received personalised coaching (experimental) while another cluster did not receive such coaching (control). The findings of the study show that students who received personalised coaching obtained better scores for their project and showed better mastery of the learning and research process through the ability to use various information sources, present more reliable and authoritative information, and include proper citations and a complete bibliography in their project reports.Published versio

Abstract

Many studies have revealed that appropriate information literacy (IL) skills can improve the learning process, performance, and achievements of students and ultimately guide them in the desired direction of becoming knowledge workers. However, traditional methods of teaching IL have not always been successful due to several limitations, including short-term effectiveness and shallow application of skills and knowledge. Novel ways of teaching IL need to be experimented with and developed so that IL can be taught more effectively with students having enriched lessons and a more holistic learning experience. This paper provides an overview of a quasi-experimental study conducted with two clusters of 13-year-old students who did a project-based assignment. One cluster of students received personalised coaching (experimental) while another cluster did not receive such coaching (control). The findings of the study show that students who received personalised coaching obtained better scores for their project and showed better mastery of the learning and research process through the ability to use various information sources, present more reliable and authoritative information, and include proper citations and a complete bibliography in their project reports