ERIC Number: EJ828272
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Jun
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0304-3797
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Innovative Approaches to Information Literacy Instruction for Engineering Undergraduates at Drexel University
Roberts, Joshua C.; Bhatt, Jay
European Journal of Engineering Education, v32 n3 p243-251 Jun 2007
As information professionals, engineering librarians have the primary responsibilities of providing access to engineering information resources and giving instruction in how to use these resources. In the case of undergraduate engineering students, this extends to building their information literacy skills, an important component in helping them become lifelong learners; to be curious and independent, and to take greater responsibility for their own learning. The challenge in building information literacy in engineering students is to acquaint the students with the array of library resources available to them and to help them intelligently navigate the systems that contain the information. Too often, information literacy instruction is presented as a set of procedures for locating a hypothetical resource in the library. However, students are not interested in finding some resource randomly chosen as an example; they want to find resources that they perceive as being important and useful. During the 2005-2006 academic year, the engineering librarians at Drexel University took this into consideration and employed a new methodology for information literacy instruction: combining an online tutorial covering basic library skills with face-to-face consultations between student design teams and the engineering librarians. By utilizing varied instruction techniques aimed at different learning styles, with a strong active learning component delivered at the student's point of need--when they have a concrete, perceived information need--information literacy instruction can be improved so that engineering students retain more and develop lifelong learning skills.
Descriptors: Information Needs, Computer Assisted Instruction, Lifelong Learning, Active Learning, Engineering Education, Information Literacy, Library Skills, Librarians, Library Instruction, Undergraduate Students
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
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Language: English
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