Information literacy (IL) is a critical component of a 21st century education. Education professors are confronted with the responsibility of teaching information literacy on two levels since pre-service teachers need to become proficient in IL skills for their own success and also need to learn how to teach their future students to become information literate (Branch, 2003;Carr, 1998; Hinchcliffe, 2003). In an effort to determine the extent to which teacher education programs incorporate information literacy instruction, researchers at a large midwestern university conducted a survey of teacher education faculty in selected states. The survey sought to gather data related to faculty knowledge, inclusion, and assessment of information literacy in teacher education programs, and the degree to which there was collaboration between librarians and faculty in the teaching of information literacy skills.
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Change in high school student information literacy (IL) knowledge and skills, from freshman year to senior year in high school was the focus of this quasi-experimental research project. Researchers used a free information literacy skills assessment tool entitled TRAILS (Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills) to measure student IL skills. A total of 201 high school students participated in the study. Paired samples t-test results were mixed for specific TRAILS sub-categories, however, the senior mean for the total TRAILS assessment was significantly higher than the mean the participants earned on the total TRAILS assessment when they were freshman. Cohens d effect size was 0.61. The significance of the information literacy curriculum is discussed in light of these findings.
This research project investigated student reaction to playing the DIFFUSION SIMULATION GAME (DSG) and how an instructor, who is a novice in playing online games, implemented the DSG in an online higher education course. The goal of this research project was to determine whether playing the DSG helps students learn and apply course content. In addition, the authors sought to understand how to implement and use the DSG effectively as an integral part of the online Managing Technological Change course. Results indicated that student reaction to playing the game was very positive and students felt the game helped them better understand the change process. For example, students felt the DSG provided insight into school culture, the amount of time needed to implement a change, and the need for a change agent to be flexible. The instructor learned the importance of clearly identifying learning goals when using the DSG in an online course and realized that debriefing is a critical component of using games or simulations for learning.
The adoption of alternative pedagogical philosophies in the classroom has led to an increased use of technology to expand and enhance authentic, contextual learning environments. Correspondingly these new approaches have also led to a growing dissatisfaction with existing evaluation methodologies to evaluate knowledge. In this article the Process/Outcome Evaluation Model (POEM) is proposed to guide in the development of more holistic evaluations of both the learning process and the resultant outcomes of that process. POEM consists of four components that employ multiple evaluation techniques and strategies resulting in a composite assessment of the totality of a learning experience.
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