Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Internet has definitely marked a revolution in the way human knowledge is being generated, shared, communicated, and stored. The answer to almost any question is available within seconds, courtesy of the invention that has altered how we discover knowledge – the search engine. With this abundance of online information comes the question of credibility.

Traditionally, educators have assessed their students’ information literacy skills through reading their papers and grading their research projects. But as more educators are seeing the benefits of formative assessmentand there is less time to assign research projects, many educators are turning to other means of evaluating the research skills students need to succeed.

Many educators have found that TRAILS is a great way to assess student understanding of important research skills. TRAILS is a freely available assessment platform created by Kent State University Libraries. These assessments are aligned with both Common Core State Standards and American Association of School Librarians’ Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. The assessment content covers research skills for students in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12.