A Faceted Taxonomy for Rating Student Bibliographies in an Online Information Literacy Game

Abstract

This study measured the quality of student bibliographies through creation of a faceted taxonomy flexible and fine-grained enough to encompass the variety of online sources cited by today's students. The taxonomy was developed via interviews with faculty, iterative refinement of categories and scoring, and testing on example student bibliographies. It was then applied to evaluate the final bibliographies created in BiblioBouts, an online social game created to teach undergraduates information literacy skills. The scores of players and nonplayers were compared and showed a positive impact from the game. Findings of the evaluations of these student bibliographies are discussed.s online searching of digital libraries becomes the primary avenue for student research and digital information sources proliferate, Information Literacy (IL) competence has become fundamentally important for incoming college students. Important IL skills include: mastering the ability to effectively search for information, critically evaluating how evidence is presented in information sources and properly integrating them into research assignments. However, many undergraduate students do not receive this crucial education when they enter college; the majority of institutions that provide firstyear experience programs do not require any information literacy content.1 Academic librarians attempt to reach as many students as they can through a wide range of venues, such as for-credit courses, inclass (often "one shot") training sessions, walk-up assistance at reference desks, and online chat. Yet these outreach methods still reach only a fraction of the student population. The BiblioBouts project uses social gaming to teach information literacy skills to undergraduates alongside their regular coursework. The game is an online accompaniment to the traditional in-class research paper assignment and engages students in each stage of the research process through competitive gameplay. BiblioBouts introduces students to a step-by-step research process in which crl-223

Citation Analysis as a Tool for Collection Development and Instruction

“…As a result, much of the interpretation of the data depended on whether the students were doing what their professors wanted them to do. Several studies (Beile et al 2004;Leeder, Markey, and Yakel 2012) observe that faculty do not always grade the citations section of student papers, so whatever instructions they give about citing scholarly sources do not get enforced. If this is the case, faculty may not be closely evaluating student citation behavior.…”

Measuring the Effect of Virtual Librarian Intervention on Student Online Search

“…nonscholarly." Multiple other criteria must also be considered (Leeder, Markey, & Yakel, 2012). A limitation of both of these techniques is that no direct cause-and-effect relationship can be demonstrated between library instruction and the measured outcomes, as many intervening variables may also influence the results.…”

A preliminary study on developing computer games for information literacy education

“…The Storygame Project which carried out by the School of Information in University of Michigan has explored computer games for IL education thoroughly. The project was to design, develop, and evaluate the potential of computer-based gaming for teaching undergraduate students IL skills and concepts [17][18][19]. A webbased board game the Defense of Hidgeon was designed in which students used library resources to answer substantive questions on a scholarly topic.…”