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Abstract
Motivated by the need to facilitate Net Generation students' information literacy (IL), or more specifically, to promote student understanding of legitimate, effective use of Web-based resources, this exploratory study investigated how analyzing, writing, posting, and monitoring Wikipedia entries might help students develop critical perspectives related to the legitimacy of Wikipedia and other publicly accessible Web-based resources for academic tasks. Results of survey and interview data analyses from two undergraduate courses indicated that undergraduate students typically prefer using publicly accessible Web-based resources to traditional academic resources, such as scholarly journal articles and books both in print and digital form; furthermore, they view the former as helpful academic tools with various utilities. Results also suggest that the Wikipedia activity, integrated into regular course curriculum, led students to gain knowledge about processes of Web-based information creation, become more critical of information on the Web, and evaluate the use of publicly accessible Web-based resources for academic purposes. Such changes appear more conspicuous with first year than with upper division students. The findings suggest that experiential opportunities to grapple with the validity of publicly accessible Web-based resources may prepare students better for their college and professional careers. The study results also indicate the need for integrating multiple existing frameworks for IL into one comprehensive framework to better understand various aspects of students' knowledge, use, and production of information from cognitive and technical perspectives and for a variety of purposes.
Notes on contributors
Tomoko Traphagan, PhD., is a psychometrician at the Texas Education Agency and works with student assessment for the state. She has been involved in research and evaluation of various instructional technology programs, including webcasting, virtual worlds, course management systems, and Web-based inquiry-based learning. Her research interests concern the impact of technology on student learning behaviors and performance as well as psychometrics.
John W. Traphagan, PhD., is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written numerous articles and chapters in anthropology, medical, and religious studies journals and books and is the author of Taming Oblivion: Aging Bodies and the Fear of Senility in Japan (SUNY Press, 2000) and The Practice of Concern: Ritual, Well-Being, and Aging in Rural Japan (Carolina Academic Press, 2004). He also has co-edited several books, the most recent being Imagined Families, Lived Families: Culture and Kinship in Modern Japan (SUNY Press, 2008).
Dr. Linda Neavel Dickens is the director of the Office of Institutional Accreditation and Program Assessment at The University of Texas at Austin. She works with faculty, staff, and administrators to assess learning outcomes, facilitate strategic planning, and guide other institutional effectiveness efforts. She has also worked with educational and non-profit organizations for over 25 years, including creating and implementing large-scale organizational assessments and evaluations; planning and conducting comprehensive professional development programs; and facilitating systems-oriented change efforts. For 10 years, she taught research methodologies, critical thinking, and organizational change. With a degree in Adult and Organizational Learning from The University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Dickens has published on using action research and action science to create learning and change.
Dr. Paul E. Resta holds the Ruth Knight Milliken Centennial Professorship in Instructional Technology and serves as Director of the Learning Technology Center at The University of Texas at Austin. His current work focuses on the research and development of web-based learning environments, computer-supported collaborative learning strategies and tools, and online teacher professional development. He has produced numerous articles, book chapters, and books on educational technology. Recent books include: Toward Digital Equity: Bridging the Divide in Education, Allyn and Bacon; Information and Communication Technology in Teacher Education: A Planning Guide, UNESCO (book translated into seven languages); Teacher Development in an E-Learning Age, UNESCO, in press.