Awareness of Information Retrieval in Online Environment: A Study on Newcomers to the Faculty of Engineering of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University

Abstract

Undergraduates, in their first year, usually perform poorly in their studies and it has been attributed to the inability of students to effectively retrieve information for academic work. At present, there are many problems in retrieving information and proper use of information. The prime objective of the study is to give the newcomers of Engineering Faculty at Kotelawala Defence University, an awareness on information retrieval and thereby to propose methods to teach them to retrieve information and the proper use of information for their study. The total study population is all students of intake 34 Engineering students consisting of both cadets and day-scholars. Survey strategy was applied by means of a structured questionnaire circulated among students before and after the Information Literacy Instruction (ILI) program so that it could be collected back at the end of the program. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS version 20. As per the result of post-survey after Information Literacy Instruction Program, the awareness was increased in retrieving information. Hence, it is recommended to conduct more practical oriented lectures on information retrieval in order to uphold their knowledge.