The information professionals from Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies will present how libraries can enhance information literacy in online engineering master’s programs. Key aspects are comparison of the perceived importance of information sources for online courses and workplace, and the information needs and self-efficacy of practicing engineers.
The number of post-secondary students in the United States taking at least one online course has been increasing by 25% from 2012 to 2016. According to Distance Education Enrollment Report 2017, graduate students are twice as likely to take all courses at a distance. The overall strategic direction of Purdue Online, across the entire Purdue system of multiple campuses, has many pieces, one of which is the focus on post-graduate learning and credentials in STEM. The College of Engineering at Purdue University has been providing distance-learning solutions for 60 years now, with outstanding quality programs (ranked No. 5 in US News and World Report 2018 in Online Master’s Engineering program). The information professionals from Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies have been working with Purdue Online Learning, College of Engineering, to explore how libraries can enhance information literacy in online engineering master’s programs. This presentation will discuss findings regarding: 1) the information needs and self-efficacy of practicing engineers using information for a research/design assignment in online courses; 2) comparison of the perceived importance of information sources for online courses and workplace; and 3) Implications of information literacy integration.