Abstract:

Information Literacy (IL) competencies facilitate effective undergraduate study and enable engaged citizenship. This study represents the evaluation of a collaborative, problem-based pedagogical intervention to develop the IL skills of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) female sophomores in the context of a Composition course. Discrete-item testing and Perceived Self Efficacy (PSE) surveys are used to gauge both IL proficiency levels and levels of confidence in IL skills among the target group. A quasi-experimental model is then used to evaluate the effectiveness of a problem-based IL development activity with and without the addition of an element of asynchronous collaboration. Findings suggest that the target group exhibit the same mismatch between confidence levels and actual IL competencies evident in other populations. Results further indicate that the addition of collaboration may have reduced the effectiveness of the intervention. Factors which may have contributed to this last outcome are discussed in conclusions.

Keywords:

Information Literacy, asynchronous, collaboration, problem-based.