I have now completed two rounds of usability testing at Iowa. We are testing a beta site, designed with some of my recommendations from the previous study. Even with improvements students are still having a damn hard time finding things. I am beginning to think that information literacy needs to target instructors more than it needs to target students. I think the best chance for students to succeed is if they are told the same thing from every 'information-authority.' Essentially that they need to hear the same words "databases" "smart search" from both professors and librarians.
The problems that continually present themselves in my usability studies are the participants abilities to understand what a citation is. Participants still experienced considerable trouble finding the article, even after I explained what each section of an MLA citation meant.
So what is going on here? Is it a lack of information literacy of the students (or maybe a general apathy towards research). Or is there a lack of instructors who know how to use the library (or maybe a general apathy towards their students?).
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I was thinking about your comment on how students can't dissect a citation. The students in my class this semester had no problem when I asked them to do an exercise on that very same thing.
More integration with faculty and library instruction would benefit everyone. Good post.
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