The relationships between personality, perceptual, cognitive and technological variables and students’ level of information literacy

Abstract

The Internet is students’ primary source of information, and the question that arises is whether students know how to evaluate the information they find on the Web. The present research aimed to explore whether openness to experience, curiosity, learning strategies, technological skills, and self-efficacy in computer use are associated with undergraduate students’ information literacy level. The research was conducted in Israel during the first semester of the 2014 academic year and included 180 first-year university students. Seven questionnaires were used to gather data on personal details, information literacy, computer mastery, curiosity, and openness to experience, self-efficacy in computer use, and learning strategies. Results confirm that the personality characteristics of openness to experience and curiosity, as well as cognitive variables such as deep learning strategies, the perceptual variable of self-efficacy in computer use, and computer mastery affect students’ level of information literacy.