1. What surprises you about the strategies digital age students use as they conduct research for course assignments?
- The strategy that almost all students turn to first for course-related research is course readings rather than Google or Wikipedia.
2. How accurately do the findings from this study reflect your own research strategies?
- For course-related research assignments, I tend to examine course readings first to complete the necessary requirements. This strategy is less time consuming than sorting through and validating online information. I also prefer Google search and Wikipedia for my every day, personal research.
3. This study provides a detailed description of the parameters of research assignments typically required for academia. How does it differ from the kinds of research people do in the workplace?
- Motivation is a factor that derives the use of information resources. Most people doing work related research have the needed background knowledge to narrow the search topic and understand the language used. This background knowledge also helps to gather and access needed information materials, realizing the need to question resources and get a variety of sources to create their own conclusion.
4. Do you think the recommendations to improve research processes for college students will better prepare students for the world outside of school?
- Yes, I believe that students reluctantly engage in a quick glance of online resources by only doing the needed research for an assignment. This does not fully teach the information literacy skills that is needed in the real world. Students need to expand on their information gathering and be encouraged to collect, analyze, and synthesize multiple viewpoints from a variety of sources to better prepare them for the world outside of school. This research technique actively engages students to build their critical thinking and information literacy skills.
5. Find an image that relates to searching for information. Embed the image in your blog and provide proper attribution.
 |
| Research & Consultancy Cell mnnit.ac.in |
Picture Source. Research and Consultancy Cell. Retrieved from http://mnnit.ac.in/rnc/table2.html
ALISON J. HEAD, PH.D. AND MICHAEL B. EISENBERG, PH.D. (December 1, 2009)
Lessons Learned: How College Students Seek Information in the Digital Age
PROJECT INFORMATION LITERACY PROGRESS REPORT
THE INFORMATION SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
RESEARCH SPONSORED BY A GIFT FROM PROQUEST
Retrieved form http://kennison.name/files/zopestore/uploads/libraries/documents/student-info-seeking-2009.pdf
I like your comment "Most people doing work related research have the needed background knowledge to narrow the search topic and understand the language used. " That is so very true, and something that should be addressed when research papers are assigned. I can't help but wonder if that is why students turn to course readings first - to get an idea of what the topic is about so they can narrow their search engine output.
ReplyDeleteI believe it is a short coming in human nature to presume that we 'already have the background knowledge" on a particular topic. While we once may have known a topic intimately, we sometimes misremember or outright forget information. I think we can often retain the basics, but when it comes to research we need to be willing to review information yet again, because as our knowledge base expands so too does our ability to synthesize information.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Misty pointed out that "Most people doing work related research have the needed background knowledge to narrow the search topic and understand the language used." Educators need to remember this when structure research assignments. One reason I like to muck around with Google and Wikipedia when beginning a research project is it gives me good sense of the issues and what the buzz is about a particular topic. This is how I garner "background" knowledge before systematically setting out gathering information. This is why I think teachers should encourage students to muck around with Google and Wikipedia first.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement: "I believe that students reluctantly engage in a quick glance of online resources by only doing the needed research for an assignment. This does not fully teach the information literacy skills that is needed in the real world." While student teaching, I had students do a career exploration webpage. One student told me that since it was a "computer class", the important part was that they complete the webpage and the actual information wasn't important. It took some convincing that the researching and analyzing the information was important also.
ReplyDelete