Digital information evaluation skills among students in higher education

Abstract

Despite the advancement of technology in the internet age, many college students lack the information and communication technology (ICT) literacy skills like evaluating which is necessary to navigate and using information available at present. Evaluating the quality of information sources encompasses students’ ability to determine relevance, accuracy, and overall credibility of sources and information. The quality of information found online is extremely variable because anyone can post data on the internet, and not all online sources are equally reliable, valuable, or accurate. From a study conducted on diploma students’ assignments using rubric at an international university in Kuala Lumpur, a problem in digital information evaluation skills and lack of ability in using evaluation criteria, including authority, accuracy, currency, objectivity, and coverage on digital information and sources among diploma students had been discovered. The future work of this study will be the use of mobile devices in collaborative and interactive learning to improve digital information evaluation skills among diploma students. This approach does not only improve the students’ learning attitude, but also enhances the effectiveness of learning.