The integration of information literacy in this project enabled students to recognise
when information is needed and a capacity to locate and use information effectively as
stated in the Intended curriculum (The University of Auckland, 2003) in Table I.In a Year 2 course, information literacy was integrated into the course objectives and class activities. The objectives of the course were to introduce students to land information systems, and modern methods of gathering, processing and presenting information for engineering purposes. The first information literacy lecture was presented by the subject librarian and was designed to help students to find civil resources and land information resources for their assignments, effectively. A hands-on tutorial followed to allow students to do hands-on exercises to reinforce what had learnt during the lecture. After that, students were required to do an online test which focused on how to find civil and environmental engineering resources and databases search skills. The assignment was worth 5 per cent of the course mark. Late in the semester, the subject librarian was invited to the class again to co-teach another information literacy lecture in which to analyze the common mistakes or problems found from the online test and also to introduce students on how to find specific land information such as the population in certain area or zone information in Auckland. A set of land information related questions were provided to students in order for them to explore the answers by using databases and to reinforce skills learnt.
There was another information online test towards the end of the semester; this was
worth 5 per cent of the course mark. The questions were all related to land information,
for example, “Please identify the number of different planning zones between Clifton
Road and Hamilton Road. What are the main features of Residential zone 1?”.
The integration of information literacy in this course reinforce what students have
learned in Year 1 to locate and use information effectively as stated in the intended
curriculum (The University of Auckland, 2003) in Table I.