Abstract:

Introduction:
The impact of technology on Gen Z is tremendous. The high-tech generation Z lives in an overwhelmingly digital environment which frequently emphasizes technological over critical thinking skills. Oftentimes these youngsters are challenged by doing tasks that are manual and do not include much creativity or textual analysis. Most of them tend to use only basic searching techniques, underestimate the source evaluation process, and thus fail to present their ideas adequately with supported examples. According to recent research (Payscale, 2016), a significant number of college students lack the ability to identify other people’s statements, evaluate evidence, assess opposing arguments, identify false or unfair arguments, recognize techniques for false logic and persuasive devices, draw conclusions, synthesize information, and present a thesis. Consequently, this leads to a negative impact on students’ research and writing skills. This is what encouraged me to look for new and fresh ideas on how to overcome the gap between students’ basic knowledge and students’ academic success. In order to help students overcome these challenges, I have redesigned the current Information Literacy program at the American University in Bulgaria into an Information-Digital Literacy program to keep abreast of the current trends and respond adequately to students’ needs.

Presentation:
The aim of this presentation is to share the experience of changing a university Information Literacy program in alignment with the needs of the tech-savvy students. The revamping of the Information Literacy program includes both more digital content and more various tasks so that students’ can expand their digital literacy skills as well. Thus, the syllabus is enriched with activities that provide a hands-on and interactive learning environment for mastering information and digital literacy skills outside the traditional classroom experience. The main research perspective will be focused on the interrelation between the variables of the digital literacy paradigms and the application of the different skills and techniques to advance students’ knowledge. This can help improve the concerned methodologies and the successful inclusion of digital literacy in the overall University curriculum.

Conclusion:
The main research line is related to extracting good methodology practices for digital literacy in a more enhanced critical-analytical context. After presenting the issues of this study, the study recommends the new topics as future oriented and closely connected with the latest digital challenges, and finally confirms them as essential for update of the overall university curriculum. Consequently, the paper will contribute to professionals of all educational spheres – from faculty to librarians.

Keywords:

Digital literacy, critical thinking, information literacy, college students, curriculum update.