Using interactive technology to teach information literacy concepts to undergraduate students

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to measure the effectiveness of a highly interactive animated tutorial that aims to teach basic information literacy concepts to undergraduates and to determine which factors enhance online learning.Design/methodology/approachThe tutorial was evaluated using 30 undergraduate students. Each test consisted of a pre‐tutorial questionnaire and a post‐tutorial questionnaire.FindingsData from the evaluative testing of the tutorial shows that the tutorial is effective in imparting information literacy concepts to undergraduate students. Students responded positively to the interactivity and game‐like nature of the tutorial.Originality/valueThe high degree of interactivity and the game‐like quality of the tutorial are key factors in its success. Thus, developers should aim to incorporate these elements into future online tutorials for undergraduate students.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Online Information Literacy Tutorials for Millennial Undergraduates

“…Although numerous articles detailed the effectiveness of specific tutorials, surprisingly, we were unable to find any articles directly comparing student learning outcomes in an old, static, HTML tutorial with a "Millennial-friendly" tutorial. Rather, the majority of articles focused on student preferences and on how effectively specific tutorials taught students information literacy skills (Armstrong and Georgas 2006;Befus and Byrne 2011;Friehs and Craig 2008;Mestre 2010). Given this gap in the literature, we designed our study to explore possible impacts of updating an information literacy tutorial for Millennials.…”

“…How effective are online tutorials in meeting desired student learning outcomes for Millennials? Armstrong and Georgas (2006) tested the effectiveness of their online tutorial by administering a pre-and posttest to students who viewed the tutorial. Since they found that student performance improved after viewing the tutorial, they concluded that their tutorial was successful.…”

Quantifying the Effectiveness of Interactive Tutorials in Medical Library Instruction

“…Armstrong and Georgas, 9 researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), who participated in the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership grant with other librarians including the principal investigator, Karen Markey, used pre-and post-tutorial questionnaires to evaluate the usefulness of their interactive, Flash-based tutorial "Doing Research." While the researchers did ask participants to subjectively compare the uniqueness, interactivity, and "game-like nature" of their UIC tutorial to other unrelated tutorials completed by the students, they did not directly compare the learning outcomes and subjective experiences offered between passive and interactive tutorials based on the same content.…”

Guide on the Side: Testing the Tool and the Tutorials

“…There are studies that support the idea that students prefer interactive tutorials when given a choice between interactive and static (Anderson and Wilson, 2009;Armstrong and Georgas, 2006;Sachs et al, 2013;Sult et al, 2013). Sult and colleagues drew on Nancy Dewald's research to emphasize that students must "engage in production of new knowledge, self-evaluation, reflection, and application of that knowledge to be successful" (Dewald, 1999).…”

“…Although many tutorials are produced as passive video screencasts (i.e., via Captivate, Camtasia, Jing, or other software) that mirror in-person library lecture sessions-and have met with success in terms of learning (Sachs, Langan, Leatherman, and Walters, 2013)-there is also a growing movement to embed interactive elements into online library tutorials (Armstrong and Georgas, 2006;Dewald, 1999;Farkas, 2012;Sachs et al, 2013). This stems from the knowledge that active learning, in which students interact with materials rather than viewing passively, can increase material retention and understanding (Drueke, 1992).…”