Information literacy for first-year students: an embedded curriculum approach

Abstract

The ability to access, evaluate and synthesise high-quality research material is the backbone of critical thinking in academic and professional contexts for Engineers and Industrial Designers. This is the premise upon which teaching and library staff developed Information Literacy (IL) components in Engineering & Industrial Design Practice-a first-year unit of study in the School of Engineering at the University of Western Sydney. This paper documents the IL teaching and learning experience and evaluates and reflects upon how effective it was at helping students navigate their first tertiary level research tasks. It concludes that library sessions and assessment tasks were effective in introducing IL skills in concurrent development of critical thinking, based on feedback from library sessions, an online IL test, and assessment results.

Pedagogical Tools to Enhance the Cognitive Skills of (Humanitarian) Design Engineers: The Rationale

“…96,97,98 Ultimately, the engineering curriculum may require changes to engage and challenge students to inquire and solve problems rather than to simply inform students what and how to think. 101,102 Of course the use of active learning techniques fosters these skills, but implementation is often conducted without explicit attention to the specific cognitive skills. 103 These cognitive skills are most certainly all qualities an engineer should embody, but integrating them into the curriculum instill those skills more effectively.…”

Understanding Undergraduate Engineering Student Information Access and Needs: Results from a Scoping Review

“…( Figure 1, Table 1). Of the 44 papers included quantitative [12], [20], [25], [30], [40]- [42], [46], [49], [50], [52], [54], [56]- [58], [63]; 14 qualitative [27]- [29], [33], [36], [37], [44], [45], [51], [53], [59], [61], [62], [65]; 11 mixed methods studies [18], [26], [31], [32], [38], [39], [43], [47], [48], [60], [66]; two literature reviews [34], [35]; and one instrument development paper [55]. The included studies were published between 1991 and 2018, having a median age of 5.5 years, and with five of the studies [28], [31], [36], [41],…”

“…Papers were primarily published in the United States (n=26) [12], [20], [27]- [30], [33]- [36], [38]- [43], [45], [47], [53]- [55], [58], [59], [61]- [63], the remaining papers were published in Canada (n=7) [12,[25][26][27][28][29][30], Australia (n=4) [20][21][22][23], Botswana (n=1) [51], United Kingdom (n=1) [37], Kuwait (n=1) [25], Ireland (n=1) [44], India (n=1) [56] and Singapore (n=1) [50]. As indicated in Table 2, the majority of studies use a survey as a part of their methodology (n=24) [12], [18], [20], [25], [26], [30], [31], [38]- [43], [46]- [50], [52], [54]…”

“…The median sample size was 64 students. Several studies included students across different engineering disciplines, with breakdowns as follows: mechanical engineering undergraduates were the most frequently studied group (n=13) [12], [18], [30], [38], [41], [44], [45], [51], [53], [54], [57], [63], [66]; followed by first-year undergraduate engineers (n=10) [26]- [29], [32], [33], [36], [42], [47], [52], [59]- [62], [65]; civil (n=9) [12], [18], [37], [41], [49], [51], [57], [66]; electrical (n=6) [18], [41], [44], [51], [57], [66], computer (n=5) [20], [41], [50], [51], [66]. Limited demographic information was reported on the subjects; 12 studies reported the gender of participants [27], [28],…”

“…Capstone design projects are turning points for information literacy in the engineering curriculum as they incorporate information seeking at multiple points in the process and integrate a broad assortment of information resources used for a variety of purposes throughout the projects [26], [34], [35], [53], [61]. These design projects are a fundamental part of engineering education, a primary catalyst for increased information seeking for engineering students, and have been identified as turning points towards information literacy for students in their later years of engineering programs [63].…”