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Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum

BACKGROUND: Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipit...

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Autores principales: Kingsley, Karl, Galbraith, Gillian M, Herring, Matthew, Stowers, Eva, Stewart, Tanis, Kingsley, Karla V
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3097006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21518448
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-11-17
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author Kingsley, Karl
Galbraith, Gillian M
Herring, Matthew
Stowers, Eva
Stewart, Tanis
Kingsley, Karla V
author_facet Kingsley, Karl
Galbraith, Gillian M
Herring, Matthew
Stowers, Eva
Stewart, Tanis
Kingsley, Karla V
author_sort Kingsley, Karl
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education. METHODS: The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy. RESULTS: Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities.
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spelling pubmed-30970062011-05-19 Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum Kingsley, Karl Galbraith, Gillian M Herring, Matthew Stowers, Eva Stewart, Tanis Kingsley, Karla V BMC Med Educ Research Article BACKGROUND: Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education. METHODS: The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy. RESULTS: Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities. BioMed Central 2011-04-25 /pmc/articles/PMC3097006/ /pubmed/21518448 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-11-17 Text en Copyright ©2011 Kingsley et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Kingsley, Karl
Galbraith, Gillian M
Herring, Matthew
Stowers, Eva
Stewart, Tanis
Kingsley, Karla V
Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
title Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
title_full Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
title_fullStr Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
title_full_unstemmed Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
title_short Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
title_sort why not just google it? an assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3097006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21518448
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-11-17
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