Assessment of a Web-based Information Literacy Program for Industrial Engineers

Beth A. Smith, Asst. Prof., Engineering Librarian & Larry Whitman, Asst. Prof., Industrial

EngineeringWichita State University

ASEE, Nashville, TNJune 22, 2003

Three “Types” of Information

Subject Knowledge—lecture & text

Use of software tools— MS Excel, Cortona, etc.

Locate & analyze engineering literature: Library instruction

ACRL Information Literacy for Higher Education Competencies

Determine the extent of information neededAccess the needed information effectively & efficientlyEvaluate information & its sources criticallyIncorporate selected information into one’s knowledge baseUse information effectively to accomplish a specific purposeUnderstand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information, & access and use information ethically & legally[1]

MS Excel: Objectives

Enter dataUse multiple worksheetsCreate graphsCompare project alternatives

Virtual instruction via Tegrity?

Library Component: Engineering Research Writing Class

1. Getting Started2. Keyword searching3. Database searching—Compendex4. Evaluating sources: periodicals5. Evaluating sources: Web6. Assignment

MS Excel: Engineering Economy

Basic data entry & absolute/relative cell referencesBasic chartingSpecific economic functions native to MS ExcelLinear programming: part 1 (optional)Linear programming: part 2 (optional)

Assessment Tools: Engineering

Research Writing Class—Library

Pre-test for basic library and information literacy concepts Post-testLibrary AssignmentSurvey

Assessment: Engineering Economy--Excel

Pre-test:Asked students to self-rate their Excel knowledgePost-testHomework

Results: Library

Comparison of Live vs. Web lecture

GROUP

2.001.00Missing

Me

an

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

PRETEST

POSTTEST

ASSIGN

Student feedback: Library

Student Preferences

31%

24%

33%

12%

No response

Tegrity

Live

Handouts/Web

Results: Excel

Conclusions

Tegrity lectures are an effective mode of instruction.Web learning takes more timeWeb instruction takes more time

Future of Tegrity Instruction…

Faculty increasingly using Tegrity for supplementary instruction

Library instruction modules to be offered Fall 2003

Assess retention of skills learned

Continued assessment of instruction

Notes

1 Association of College and Research Libraries. “Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.” 18 January 2000. http://www.ala.org/acrl/ilcomstan.html

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the Engineering Information Foundation who partially funded this project. We also wish to thank Hem Patil for all of his work on the many phases of this project, Elizabeth Alexander, instructor of CESP750d, and Mehmet Bayram Yildirim, Ph.D., Assistant Professor.