Efficiency of Information Iiteracy Workshops for Post-Graduate Students: A Research Based on in-Context Approach

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Mehri Parirokh ¹
• Shole Arastoopoor ²
• Mohammad Ramin Naderi ³

¹ Professor of the library and information department of Ferdowsi University

² Head of the Department of Evaluation and Compilation of the Regional Information Science and Information Technology Center

³ Senior expert in librarianship and information, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

10.22067/riis.v1i2.8663

Abstract

Information literacy (IL) skills are basic skills in knowledge based environment. The main aim of educating IL skills is preparing lifelong learners. According to the idea of IL scientists, successful IL programs must have two characteristics: must be based on standard criteria; and must be closely related to the information needs of students. Such programs are called IL in context programs. While there have been wide variety of such programs and the related research in Western countries, it has not been widely considered in Iran. The main aim of this research is to investigate the impact of IL in context workshops on general understanding of participants towards IL concepts and their skills in searching relevant information sources and using the result in enhancing research process. An experimental and action research with qualitative approach has been conducted. 20 PG students in education and psychology (group one) and Library and Information science (group 2) have been participated in this research. Two open ended questionnaires, observation and the analysis of assignments were used for collecting data. The first questionnaire focused on demographic information of participants and the subject area of their research. The second one was based on ACRL standards and used for pre and post test. The content of the workshops, which were organized for each group separately, and the assignments based on the subjects interests of the participants. They worked on their own research topics during the workshops.
The result reveals that while participants in the first group have not clear understanding of IL concepts, both groups provide suitable responses to the questions in post test. In pre test, both groups pointed to some problems, such as lack of ability to find suitable keywords, to confront with a large number of retrievals, and lack of ability in using them. The result of post test showed that they were satisfied with workshops and they learned how to limit their subject, how to search and to use the result in research process.

Keywords

• : Information literacy
• In-context workshops
• Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

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