Establishing An Institutional Commitment to the Digital and Information Literacy of Under-Served College Students (original) (raw)

2017, Best Papers from the 2017 Drexel Assessment Conference

Successful assessment is an ongoing cycle predicated on the identification of objectives, the gathering and analyzing of data, discussions, recommendations, implementing changes, and reflection, with the goal of improving student outcomes (Buzzetto-More, 2006). Among the crucial learning goals that are frequently the subject of institutional assessment, but which commonly include only a cursory examination is digital and information literacy. The research shows that despite the ubiquitous prevalence of technology in their lives, most students entering higher education today have an overestimated sense of their computer skills (Hanson, Kilcoyne, Perez-Mira, Hanson, and Champion, 2011; Marakas, Johnson, and Clay, 2007; Mishra, Cellante, and Kavanaugh, 2015; Nataraj, 2014). Compounding this problem, is the misbelief held by many educators that students come to college with the competencies necessary for success, therefore making computer literacy and applications courses unnecessary. This fallacy has consistently been disproven in studies which have shown major skill deficiencies among students (Mishra, Cellante, and Kavanaugh, 2015; Hanson, Kilcoyne, Perez-Mira, Hanson, and Champion, 2011). Finally, the digital divide remains a significant concern in the United States, with race/ ethnicity, income level, and education contributing to inequalities with the use of digital technologies. This chapter discuses an assessment and assurance of learning initiative focused on the digital and information literacy skills of primarily first-generation students attending a mid-Atlantic historically Black university. The assessment initiative under discussion began with a campus-wide survey and resulted in the adoption of the IC3 Fast Track assessment to evaluate students’ digital literacy skills, combined with course redesign, and use of a remediation system. Five years’ worth of student performance data as well as the results of pre and post testing will be explored and discussed accordingly. The meaningfulness of these findings as well as the relevance of assessing and addressing the digital and information literacy skills of students will be articulated. This topic is relevant as institutions struggle to meet the needs of incoming students with varying levels of technological readiness so as to insure that all students have the digital literacy skills necessary for higher education success.