EFFECT OF THE SCOPE OF THE INFORMATION LITERACY CURRICULUM ON  ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE NAIROBI  METROPOLITAN AREA

admin admin; Masinza F.L., Juma I.,Lagat G., Malanga K.N.

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Masinza F.L., Juma I.,Lagat G., Malanga K.N. Kirinyaga University, Kenya , Garissa University, Kenya , Karatina University, Kenya

Keywords: academic performance; curriculum scope; information literacy curriculum; information retrieval; university students.

Abstract

A comprehensive information literacy curriculum should enable university students to identify information needs, retrieve relevant resources, evaluate credibility, cite evidence correctly and use information ethically. This study evaluated the effect of the scope of information literacy curriculum on academic performance among university students in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. The study adopted a positivist orientation and a concurrent triangulation mixed-methods design embedded in a descriptive survey. The target population comprised approximately 142,000 undergraduate students, nine university librarians and nine academic registrars from nine public and private universities. A student sample of 399 was obtained by systematic simple random sampling, and a purposive census was used to obtain all 18 key informants. Questionnaires, interview and document reviews were used for data collection. Thirty-five of the 305 usable student responses were obtained, representing 76.4% of the students. Reliability of the curriculum-scope scale was good, with Cronbach's alpha = 0.942; the construct validity was good, with an average loading of 0.860 and a minimum loading of 0.749; the sampling adequacy of the scale was very good, with KMO = 0.889. The range of competency for students' awareness of a formal information literacy curriculum was 8.5% (3.87 to 4.10). There was weak but significant correlation between curriculum scope and academic performance (r = 0.127, p =.026). Regression model was significant, F(1, 303) = 4.990, p = .026, and accounted for only 1.6% of the variance in performance. Academic performance increased by 0.213 units for every one-unit increase in scope of curriculum, with a beta coefficient of 0.127 and a p of .026. Curriculum breadth is necessary but insufficient; thus practical delivery, visibility, disciplinary integration and assessment determine whether information literacy content improves performance.