Developing academic information literacy for undergraduates through inquiry based learning

This paper describes the design and implementation of an information literacy module for first semester undergraduate students at Loughborough University. These students were taking Information Management and either Business Studies or Computing, or a degree in Publishing with English or Publishing with Ebusiness or Web Development and Design. The purpose of the module was to enable them to work effectively in the higher education context and be able to research topics, using the resources around them and conform to the norms associated with student work. In addition, the module provided an opportunity for students to become familiar with the discipline of information science. Specifically, they were expected to identify an area where the systematic management of data, information and knowledge enabled people to learn and make better decisions. This provided the inquiry based context within which information literacy was developed in the sense that they chose the area to investigate rather than researching a closely defined question. Students mapped the subject domain, became familiar with learning resources, made use of information and created a poster to communicate their findings. A combination of lectures, practical sessions, pointers to learning resources and assignments, as well as, pre and post diagnostic tests, were used deliver and evaluate information literacy learning. It is argued that a similar approach could be taken to foster information literacy within other disciplines.