Factors Influencing Information Literacy of University Students

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, effective use of information and communication technology (ICT), access to data sources, and critical evaluation of new information were essential for successful distance learning. University students need both information literacy (IL) and scientific literacy (SL) to learn and conduct research. This study examined the level of IL of 561 undergraduate and graduate students. We investigated the impact of scientific literacy (SL), ICT use, psychological/learning characteristics, and demographic parameters on student IL. The effects of a credit-bearing IL course were studied on 151 students, comparing three teaching methods. The average IL test performance of 67.6% did not differ significantly by student gender or natural/social science orientation. Of the IL topics, students were least proficient in legal/ethical issues, followed by information searching. Students’ knowledge of IL and SL was comparable and decreased with cognitive level. While ownership of ICT devices and ICT-rich courses had no effect on the level of IL, confidence in using the Internet correlated significantly with IL. Also, IL correlated positively with students’ self-concepts about learning and problem-solving, as well as their self-efficacy, but motivation played a smaller role. The credit-bearing IL study course was most effective when active learning methods were used.