Information problem solving skills are vital for academic success, yet many higher education students struggle with effective information processing. While previous research broadly addresses information literacy, little is known about the specific factors that influence students’ processing abilities. This study explores these factors by examining student performance during a complex academic task. Using a grounded theory approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine undergraduate students and analyzed via constant comparative analysis. Four key factors emerged: (1) prior domain knowledge enhances evaluation efficiency, (2) affective factors such as motivation strongly impact performance, (3) task complexity and cognitive load management strategies interact, and (4) external support structures matter—though librarians were notably absent as a perceived resource. These findings highlight the need for academic libraries to better align their services with students’ actual information processing challenges. Practical implications include promoting whole-task iterative practice, embedding just-in-time support in domain-specific contexts, and addressing affective as well as technical skill development. By focusing on these four factors, academic libraries can more effectively support students. This study contributes to both the theoretical understanding of information processing in higher education and the development of evidence-based strategies to enhance library support.
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Facebook has become one of the most prominent tools for social networking over the last few years. Since its establishing in 2004, more and more players have made use of it: not just ordinary users willing to find their old friends and to get back into contact with them, but also, for example, more and more players from the cultural scene. These latter ones include cultural institutions willing to experiment with new ways of getting in touch with their traditional audiences but also willing to attract new audiences (like a younger audience, who is supposed to be more present on such social media); artists, who use it to create a community to share information, to promote their own creations but, more recently, also to collaborate on common project; and finally also libraries. This paper intends to explore the use of Facebook in university libraries by making an empirical analysis of current practices. In doing so, the paper builds on the knowledge gained in a previous study on the way in which Flemish cultural institutions make use of the possibilities offered by social media to communicate with their audiences and to promote themselves [2]. The analysis on current uses we performed will help us sample existing practices and help us derive some general ideas for future best practices. And this will help libraries to better profile themselves and communicate better with their old and new audiences.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to emphasise the importance for libraries to address the issue of media literacy in the internet age. The library must claim its key expert role in the field of literacy. The library can function as a platform and playground for consuming and producing media content.Design/methodology/approachResearch has been carried out on theory, policy and practice in the field of media literacy. The paper provides an overview of ideas on new skills and competences that should be taught to make people media‐literate.FindingsThe paper shows that attention on the issue of media literacy is increasing. Academics and political institutions alike stress the importance of media literacy for participation in society and full citizenship. Libraries must claim their expert position in this field as various organisations outside the library have initiated projects and products on media literacy in recent years.Practical implicationsLibrary management should develop policies on media literacy and personnel should be trained in essential media literacy skills. Collaboration and knowledge sharing in media literacy between libraries and other organisations are essential.Originality/valueThe paper provides a brief overview of theory and policy on media literacy.
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Information problem solving skills are vital for academic success, yet many higher education students struggle with effective information processing. While previous research broadly addresses information literacy, little is known about the specific factors that influence students' processing abilities. This study explores these factors by examining student performance during a complex academic task. Using a grounded theory approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with nine undergraduate students and analyzed via constant comparative analysis. Four key factors emerged: (1) prior domain knowledge enhances evaluation efficiency, (2) affective factors such as motivation strongly impact performance, (3) task complexity and cognitive load management strategies interact, and (4) external support structures matter—though librarians were notably absent as a perceived resource. These findings highlight the need for academic libraries to better align their services with students' actual information processing challenges. Practical implications include promoting whole-task iterative practice, embedding just-in-time support in domain-specific contexts, and addressing affective as well as technical skill development. By focusing on these four factors, academic libraries can more effectively support students. This study contributes to both the theoretical understanding of information processing in higher education and the development of evidence-based strategies to enhance library support.
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The transition from secondary education to the first year of higher education is a phase in which students are faced with many challenges. First-year students may lack the academic capital that is needed to understand explicit and implicit rules of higher education. We investigated students’ participation in a preacademic program and the development of their academic capital. In a mixed method study, we showed that first-year students who participated in a preacademic program perceived peer mentors and teachers to be relevant sources of information, learned how to overcome educational barriers, and became more acquainted with explicit and implicit college requirements.
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Between 1 March 2021 and 30 April 2023, a consortium (consisting of in the Netherlands: the National Library of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek -KB), The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision in Hilversum; in Belgium: Media & Learning Association in Leuven and Public Libraries 2030 in Brussels; and in Spain: Fundación Platoniq in Barcelona) carried out an Erasmus+-funded research project on news media literacy among young people. It involved Dutch, Belgian and Spanish young people aged 12-15. The acronym SMILES, which stands for 'innovative methodS for Media & Information Literacy Education involving schools and librarieS', was chosen for the project title. The main goals of the SMILES project are: • Forming pairs between librarians and secondary school teachers in the three European countries, who were empowered through train-the-trainer workshops to teach secondary school students about news media literacy in relation to disinformation; • Helping students use digital technologies more safely and responsibly with a focus on recognising reliable and authentic information versus becoming more resilient to disinformation; • Developing five building blocks serving as teaching materials for Dutch, Belgian and Spanish pupils aged 12-15 with the aim of making them recognise disinformation and making them more resilient against it; • A scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of the implemented lessons through impact measurement using 'pre-knowledge tests' and 'post-knowledge tests'; • A strengthening of existing collaborations and creation of new collaborations between schools and libraries in the three partner countries. The SMILES project was implemented through three work packages. In the first work package, five so-called 'Baseline studies', or literature reviews, were conducted. The focus was on what the different educational approaches in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands are with regard to disinformation and how these approaches can be linked. Based on these studies, the five building blocks were developed in the second work package. In addition, the teaching pairs were offered the training programme developed by SMILES through a 'train-the-trainer methodology' to safely and responsibly deploy the use of digital media tools during lessons with students. Also, based on the disinformation literature, the knowledge tests were designed to conduct an impact measurement of the train-the-trainer workshops and lessons among the trainers (teaching pairs) and students, respectively. These knowledge tests contained statements on disinformation that were answered correctly or incorrectly by respondents. The number of correctly answered statements prior to the lessons was compared with the number of correctly answered statements after the lessons. In this way, an attempt was made to prove a positive learning effect of the deployed lessons. In the third work package, the results from the pre-knowledge tests and the post-knowledge tests were analysed. In addition to these quantitative analyses, qualitative results were also used to analyse and look at the extent to which the training provided to trainers (teaching pairs) and the lessons with the five building blocks for students proved effective in teaching, recognising and becoming more resilient to disinformation, respectively. In doing so, we also reflect on whether the methodology tested has been effective in the three countries: what are the best practices and where do we see areas for improvement?
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The corona pandemic has forced higher education (HE) institutes to transition to online learning, with subsequent implications for student wellbeing. Aims: This study explored influences on student wellbeing throughout the first wave of the corona crisis in the Netherlands by testing serial mediation models of the relationships between perceived academic stress, depression, resilience, and HE support.
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Increasingly, internationalisation at home and internationalisation of the curriculum are adopted by universities across the globe but their systemic implementation is a complex process. For instance, academics and academic disciplines understand and approach internationalisation differently, as previous studies have shown. However, there is little research on the role of such disciplinary perspectives in relation to different internationalisation practices and interventions. Using the Becher-Biglan framework of academic tribes, this exploratory study compares 12 undergraduate programmes at a Dutch university of applied sciences and addresses the question if the different disciplinary approaches to internationalisation as identified in previous studies are also reflected in the choices of internationalisation at home activities. The findings show there is more variation in the range of activities rather than in the types of activities and that it is within the rationales underlying those choices where the influence of disciplinary perspectives is more visible.
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The purpose of this research is to find evidence for the assumption that allowing children to create their own news messages is an effective approach to teach them how to distinguish between reliable news and fake news. Three students of the primary teacher training programme of The Hague University of Applied Sciences developed five lessons concerning fake news and five Kahoot! quizzes for each of those lessons. They taught the lessons they developed under the supervision of a primary school teacher and one of their lecturers from the university. A Friedman test on the scores of the Kahoot! quizzes indicate that the children made progress over the course of the study. In addition, it appears that the children appreciated the lessons and that they have learned how news is created and how fake news can be recognised. The outcomes of this study have prompted a larger, international Erasmus+ project. Schools and libraries in three countries will investigate similar innovative blended-learning approaches for pupils between ages 12 to 15.
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