Instruction and assessment of information literacy among STEM majors

The ability to find, use, and communicate information effectively is a critical competency for 21st century engineers. Thus it is an important element in retention, graduation, and placement of professional engineers. This study found scaffolded, engaging instruction resulted in impressive gains in higher-order skills associated with writing and information literacy among upper division engineering undergraduates. Students were evaluated using a brief diagnostic essay as an assignment and as a pre- and posttest to measure these skills in engineering majors taking a required technical writing course. The instruction included using Wikipedia as both a teaching tool and a writing assignment. The instrument was scored by multiple readers using a rubric. Interrater reliability was high and validation showed that the instrument could reliably measure and discriminate among five unique information literacy variables. Use of this constructed-response diagnostic enables the evaluation of higher order research and writing skills that have been difficult to assess using limited-response tests, so that learning experiences may be better designed to reach students at the appropriate skill level.