Report: Students struggle with information literacy

REPORT: STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH INFORMATION LITERACY
[SOURCE: eSchool News, AUTHOR: Justin Appel]
Despite the assumption that today's students are tech-savvy, many fall short in demonstrating the information literacy skills necessary for success in college and the workforce, a new report says. The report comes from an evaluation of responses from students nationwide to an information-literacy assessment tool developed by the nonprofit ETS. The report comes from an evaluation of the responses of 6,300 students from 63 institutions around the country to ETS's 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 students' abilities to overcome three challenges they typically have: 1) The ability to identify trustworthy and useful information; 2) The ability to manage overabundant information; and 3) 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 site's 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.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6725