The purpose of this article is to expand on a previous study on the development of a scoring rubric for information literacy1. The present paper examines how students at the Department of Information Services and Information Management, The Hague University, use the scoring rubric for their school work and/or in their regular jobs and social life. The research presented here focuses on a group of adult students who follow a part time evening variant of the Bachelor curriculum. The methods employed in this study consisted of an online survey to select students who had used the scoring rubric at least once after the workshop in which it was introduced. Following on from this, a focus group with respondents who had answered positively to the invitation at the end of the survey was organised and chaired by a neutral moderator. Samples that could be used in this research were very small. The findings may therefore not be generalized to all other groups of students. However, the results appear to be of relevance to the IL community. The students who participated in the focus group reported that they used it for self-assessment throughout the course, in subsequent courses, and to become more critical of their own writings and those of other people. The research also makes clear that adult students appreciate the feedback generated by completing the scoring rubric form but that this is not a substitute for the face-to-face feedback they receive from their teachers. [Dit is de auteursversie waarvoor Elsevier toestemming heeft gegeven.]
The presentation of management information on screens and paper is aimed at the initiation of control actions in order to bring about predefinied goals. The terms and concepts used in this control information can be interptreted in different ways. It is of vital importance that adequate definitions for these terms and concepts are provided, because of the area of tension betrween those that control and those being controlled. The creation of a common conceptual framework and the maintenance of concepts and definitions can be supported by the construction of an organization-specific lexicon and the use of modern IT tools.
The essence of a democratic process is the guarantee that citizens have free and easy access to public information. How can that be made possible and how can people learn to use that information critically? In earlier papers (Boef, et.al. 2008 and 2009), we discussed the relationship between public library, press and the free access to relevant information. In this paper, we concentrate on the role of journalistic media in making public information accessible for the citizen. Our starting point is the fact that the citizen, in shaping her or his position in relation to political and other societal issues needs fewer opinions of others, but more reliable information; verified and certified by professionals. That way, the citizen will become enabled to create and to ground his or her opinion. Based on that solid foundation, opinions and comments of others can be appreciated and rated. Finally, we will discuss the ongoing process of the disappearing of independent media and the negative effect on the democratic process, and hence the need for a new generation of Internet savvy civil journalists.
