Material Detail

CSU Information Competence Project

CSU Information Competence Project

The Project encompases nine tutorials on Defining the Research Topic, Evaluate Information, Organize and Synthesize Information and others. Also includes discipline-specific lists of information competencies, e.g. Census and Climatic data for Agriculture.

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Bill Drew
Bill Drew (Librarian)
21 years ago
Over all, I like this set of tutorial modules. They are well designed but have
what I consider some major flaws. The biggest problem is that some require the
user to scroll up and down on a webpage while others do not. I believe the best
design of such a tutorial should not require the user to scroll around when the
browser displays full screen, roughly 400 by 800 pixels on most computers.

Specifics:

a. I spent two hours on this site going through all 9 modules. I spent
additional time looking at the background material on the website.

b. The content is high quality and presents commonly accepted concepts and
models for doing information research. However, they do go into excruciating
details in some of them. Such detail can lead to boredom very quickly.

c. Appropriate use of this set of tutorials would enhance a classroom session on
the same topics. They are not however sufficient to stand as an online course
in their own right.
Each module could be used as an additonal activity in an online or classroom
based course.

d. The tutorial modules are easy to use once you figure out the navigation
buttons. It is obvious to me that detailed instructions would be needed to do
this set. The instructions are not included on the site nor are they part of any
of the modules. If I were allowed to change things here, I would:
-- increase the size of the naviation icons.
-- add instructions built into each module.
-- decrease the level of detail.
-- add more interactivity in the modules.
-- do away with any scrolling up and down and left to right.

There are better sites out there that accomplish the same task.