Information literacy at the crossroads: Fake news influence and student behavior

Determining the effect of fake news on college students and how to best overcome its influence on them rests squarely upon the success of how effective information literacy instruction has been for students. A review of literature revealed the great extent to which fake news has penetrated and influenced digital media in general and social media in particular. That review also suggests that existing information literacy instruction is not effective in overcoming fake news influence. To determine the significance of fake news and the effectiveness of information literacy to combat it, a selected group of college students at two institutions were studied using quantitative and qualitative research methods by way of a structured questionnaire. Higher education librarians were also studied using qualitative research methods by way of an open-ended questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The results found that students’ perceptions of their information literacy skills were overstated and that they were generally overconfident about their information literacy abilities, based on librarian 1-on-1 interviews. The results also found that librarians understand the need for better information literacy instruction, but those efforts were often rebuffed by institution leadership. Recommendations were made for better institutional support for information literacy instruction and areas for future study include testing the effect of an information literacy instruction program on college students.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Dunagan, James Alan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cope, William
• Kalantzis, Mary
• Pak, Yoon
• Dhillon, Pradeep

• Information Literacy
• Fake News
• Libraries

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 James Alan Dunagan

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/121983

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F121983