Research Report:

Learning To Become Internet Literate

by Kaylor, G18, Spring 2003

Section 3: The Psychology of Information Literacy

Section 1: Introduction

I am a Japanese speaking student in the 18^th generation of Dr. Leonｪfs online course of Generational Curriculum. This is my second report. The students who have enrolled in Dr. Leonｪfs Psychology 409 are required to participate in the weekly online discussions as well as classroom discussions while conducting self-directed research on various topics. At the same time we compile our own self-observation data on online searching experiences. The first section of this report contains the words from the students from the previous generations and my reactions to them. In the second section, you will find the self-observation data and analysis of comparison to the data of one of the students from the previous generation. The final portion of this report includes the summery of Dr. Leonｪfs theory ｪgOnline Generational Curriculum,ｪh and concludes with the notion of information literacy.

Fortunately, most students in the generation 18 have some experiences in using basic computer including internet searching engines and e-mail devise. However, I believe not too many students in a several generations ago were familiar with the Internet technology. They might have heard of it, but did not have an opportunity to experience with it. It must have been really challenging for those who were not familiar with such technology to figure out Dr. Leonｪfs assignments. When students get into learning something new and complicated such as computer related technology, they often feel overwhelmed. Some may even get depressed or stressed. The others may just give up and withdraw from the course. But once they figure out how it works, they would start to feel confident. They keep up with their assignments by overcoming technophobia that they might once have. Eventually they will come to realized that the capability and possibility of leaning through internet, and want to explore it further.

The students who enroll in this online independent learning course aim to acquire Information literacy , that is ability to find, organize, use, produce and distribute information in a variety of media formats creatively and professionally. Furthermore, our objective of this course is to become a self-directed autonomous learner, acquire critical thinking skills and finally become a leader and inventor through .general loyalty.

The followings are the process which some of the previous students went through in the course of this online independent learning education.

Trials / Anxiety:

There is always the first time in everything we do. When we challenge ourselves in doing something new and difficult, we often become nervous, worried or anxious. As for myself, I had no problem in the basics such as E-mail or internet search engines; however I was very worried about FTP program because I had no idea how the program works. ｪgUploadingｪh files and creating web document were also novel tasks for me. It seems too complicated. Figuring out these tasks was definitely not simple. I became extremely anxious during my first trial because I had no knowledge of some of the required tasks in this course.

Malonzo: ｪgI think that learning the internet at the very beginning was the most difficult thing I ever had to do. I had no idea what I was doing. Neither did most of the class. I guess because most of us were novices and never really had any real formal instruction on how to do the most basic things on the internet.ｪh

Cohta:ｪgI heard about going on the Internet, I started to freak out because I tried to avoid the internet like it was the plague for years.ｪh

Hansjurg: ｪgThis week's task was difficult for me because I had absolutely no knowledge of the Internet, let alone e-mail, when I enrolled in this course. My difficulties came from simply starting. It was overwhelming. I had no idea how to begin.ｪh

Survival / Relief:

Because I had some experiences in using a computer, I assumed that I would be able to figure out everything in no time. But I was wrong. I sat in front of a computer every night feeling anxious about how I am going to survive in this course. It took me a several days to finally figure out how to make ｪgFTP Uploadingｪh work. This was such a big achievement. I felt a sense of relief...maybe I will be able to survive in this course.

Cohta: ｪgI'm starting to feel good about the Internet and the computer world because I've learned how to look up information and create my files. I'm even helping my friends who want to know how to e-mail and create files on the Internet. Reminds me of myself when I first started out on the Internet.ｪh

Gandrews: ｪgI must admit, I learned so incredibly much within these last couple of months, it is absolutely astounding. And I'm so glad that I stuck to it because now I have something to really be proud of.ｪh

Aiming for the Future / Hope:

It has been two months since the beginning of this semester, and I have already learned many things about web making techniques as well as various topics through searching the internet. Figuring out how to create web documents and various links in them was such a big achievement for me, and I felt good about it. This experience is surely utilized in various aspects of our lives and hopefully to help others as well. Moreover it will be inevitable to obtain the knowledge of computer technology in the near future.

Malonzo: ｪgOnce you see your potential, you feel like you want to do more and even try new things on the internet. Once you surf around and feel more confident, you can learn more about the internet and learn newer and better techniques.ｪh

Cohta: ｪgI learned that the Internet has a capability of bring people from all over the world together. Meaning that the Internet provides everyone a chance to read and view each others sites. Communications are now becoming a telecommunication port through the Internet or online. It has grown so rapid that I realize that we are growing into a world of computerized knowledge. If you have a child, you better start introducing them to the computer technology if they aren't already.ｪh

Section 2: Self-observation Data

The instructions for how to fill out the Form is at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy18/g18forms.html

Every week students in the class of Dr. Leon James are required to participate in the online forum discussions. In addition we must fill the questionnaire form before, during and after each session. The form contains various questions in relation to experiences through searching topics. There are 15 questions to be answered before each session, 1 question during the session, and 13 more questions to be completed after the session. Click here to find my forms.

Filling out the forms consumed much more time than I originally expected. The process was very frustrating because of it. Furthermore, I thought some of the questions; [e.g. (10):How likely is it that you will become good at this type of task?, (25) Which factor was most important in getting the search results you got?], are ambiguous and I often didnｪft know how to answer them. On the other hand, a question such as (4) [Describe the task for this session—what youｪfre planning to do and why] was helpful and gave me an opportunity to determine a concrete objective of a search session. The results of questionnaire seem to give me an objective view of how I did and in each session.

I tended to start filling the form when I felt like I was ready to do right before the due date to post the discussions on Web CT, which is usually on Thursday night. My feeling was neutral (range between 3 and 5) most of the time because of this. If I was in a negative mood, I would probably postpone my homework. I usually planned to take about half an hour to one hour for each session, but ended up taking twice much longer than I expected because the form required so much time to complete. This fact made me nervous about completing this project.

Although I tried to reply to the questions on the forms as sincere as possible, I feel that the data on my Research Report Forms was not the most useful for system designers or search engine administrators. As a user, I often feel like I have been controlled by system designers or search engine administrators, though most of my search sessions ended successfully. I repeatedly commented in the forms that searching is much faster and easier with specific topics and appropriated searching terms. [e.g. ｪgConflicts of Adolescent girl,ｪh ｪgCoca-Cola with aspirinｪh and ｪgTalents of Successful Peopleｪh] When I did not have an exact objective at the time of searching, the search session ended unsuccessfully and I felt like I was more or less overwhelmed by the amount of information that I had to search through.

Summery of Data

		S- 1	S- 2	S- 3	S- 4	S-5	S-6	S-7	S-8	S-9	S-10
3	What kind of a mood are you in?	4	3	4	4	4	4	5	5	3	5
5	How long do you think this task will actually take today?	1hr	30mins	30mins	30mins	30mins	30mins	30mins	30mins	40mins	40mins
6	If you compare this task to other search tasks youｪfve done, how long should it take in your opinion?	5	5	3	5	5	6	7	5	5	6
7	How important to you is this task today?	10	6	5	5	5	5	6	6	5	5
8	How upset would you be if you found nothing today?	8	1	3	3	5	5	5	3	3	3
9	How sure are you that you will succeed in this task?	8	7	8	4	7	4	4	6	6	6
10	How likely is it that you will become good at this type of task?	5	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	5
11	How much luck do you have in searching in comparison to other types of tasks?	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	6
12	How motivated are you to keep on trying today until you succeed?	6	5	3	3	5	5	3	5	5	5
13	Computers and search engines make it easy for people to find what theyｪfre looking for.	10	7	10	10	7	7	7	7	9	6
14	How likely is it that there will be something specific on what youｪfre looking for?	10	9	8	5	5	5	3	5	6	5
15	How much effort do you expect this task to take today?	5	1	2	3	4	6	6	6	5	3
16	How irritated did you feel in todayｪfs search task?	1	1	1	1	4	7	1	8	1	9
17	How anxious did you feel in todayｪfs search task?	3	1	3	3	4	5	3	6	3	5
18	How frustrated did you feel in todayｪfs search session?	1	1	1	1	4	5	1	9	1	9
19	How much rage did you feel in todayｪfs search task?	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	4	1	5
20	How much effort did this task require of you today compared to other search tasks in your experience?	3	1	1	1	1	7	3	3	1	8
21	How would you evaluate the relevance of what you found today?	10	7	8	7	7	7	6	1	7	1
22	How supportive are you of the search engine or computer facility you used today?	1	10	9	10	10	7	10	1	10	1
23	How easy was it to use the search engine or computer facility today?	2	3	1	1	3	7	2	8	1	8
24	If you compare this task to other search tasks youｪfve done, how long did it take in your opinion?	3	1	3	4	6	7	3	8	1	10
27	Overall how would you rate the success of todayｪfs search session?	9	10	9	9	9	9	10	1	10	1

The average time of my expected searching session was 35 minutes, but that of my actual searching session took 1 hour and 25 minutes. I placed medium to high value on the importance of finding something most of the times. Similarly, the ranges of my motivation are also in the middle to high range throughout the sessions. I placed the most diverse score on my frustration level, evaluation on the relevance of the findings, how supportive I think that the search engine or computer facility was, and the rate of over all success.

I used the Google at first, and if I could not find anything, I moved on to the Yahoo, though I found that these two searching engines actually hold the similar information. Google or Yahoo searching engines are definitely fast and simple to use for searching topics. I constantly put the highest average score on the idea that computers and search engines make it easy for people to find what theyｪfre looking for. All I had to do is to type the appropriate searching terms, and click SEARCH. I tended to score high on the feeling of frustration in the later session. I suppose this is due to the fact that I felt my limitation on searching with Google and Yahoo searching engines on particular topics. I have a difficult time in coming up with creative searching terms. Once I could not find anything with those engines, I tried to use UH library database. That was when I got the most frustrated, because many documents were restricted or otherwise cost the fee to be looked at. It was difficult for me to find what I was looking for there. The session with UH database ended unsuccessfully.

In comparison to one of the G17 students: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/409bf2002/robinson/research.htm

The point of similarity: Both Robinson and I scored motivation level high. We used Google the most, and reported the session using the UH database to be the most difficult.

The point of difference: Robinson was unsure about committing to the idea that search engines make it easier for people to find what they are looking for, but I scored highly on this subject. Robinson had a higher level of irritation during the first two sessions than the last two, whereas I tended to be more irritated in the later session.

My information behavior: According to the three phases of Internalizing Learned Online Skill documented by Dr. Leon James, the first phase of affective information behavior is ｪgImproving Self-efficacy Expectation and Overcoming Technophobia.ｪh Throughout my sessions, I tended to have higher motivation to succeed in finding something useful without the feelings of anxiety, irritation and rage. I also determine to complete my necessary tasks at all time. As cognitive skill, I searched the sites of earlier generations. I have no problem in logging on to the forum discussion every week as ｪgacting out membership status.ｪh Thus I can say that my overall information behavior is in the first phase. I feel, however, I am still at a passive stage and have no self-belief in becoming an autonomous learner. This is primarily due to the fact that English is not my first language.

Section 3: The Psychology of Information Literacy

This paper written by Dr. James describes the different aspects of an online generational community of students who enroll in the college course based on the autonomous learning strategy through the Internet. The students in this course take part in the telecommunication as well as classroom activities discussing various aspects of the topics. The students are required to write self-reports of their experiences in searching the topic through the Internet. They are also able to access to the reports of all the prior generations. Dr. James analyses these reports and explains that the students go through three stages in developing their learning skill: 1) Becoming Information Literate 2) Becoming Self-Directed Leaders 3) Exercising Leadership and creativity. According to Dr. James, each of these three levels contains the three behavioral phases: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.

This research report fits into this approach to the certain point. Before started my projects, I felt apprehensive about the unfamiliar program and the assignment instruction seemed too complicated for me. But, I tried to maintain my confidence, and not giving up no matter how tough the assignments may become. Quitting is the last thing in my list. In section 1, I reviewed the studentsｪf site from previous generations and reacted to their statements. In section 2, I put together and analyzed the self-observation data from the forms that I have been compiled, and compared the data with the data of other student from a previous generation. In section 3 I included the summary of Dr, Leonｪfs article on Generational Curriculum and conclude with the explanation of information literacy. Even though I have not achieved to be a self-directed learners or effective leaders at this moment due to the language barrier and other obstacles that I may have, my ultimate goal in this course is to learn as much as possible from other student in the class as well as previous generations and become a better example for students in the future generations.

Information literacy is an ability to find, organize, use, produce and distribute information in a variety of media formats, including traditional print as well as computer databases. Those who are information literate are able to evaluate the quality of information, to work professionally, and to adjust to rapidly changing technology tools express personal ideas, develop arguments, and learn new things. http://stauffer.queensu.ca/inforef/tutorials/rbl/infolit.htm

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