At the conclusion of the professional postgraduate programmes at National Institute of Library and Information Sciences (NILIS), all students do not achieve the same level of information skills, especially with regard to ICT. An intervention was proposed to overcome this inadequacy; and a two-fold strategy was implemented to gradually increase the information skills of students following the Masters in Teacher Librarianship (MTL) course. The first part was an orientation, while the second part was integration of ICT into the teaching-learning process. Google Apps for Education was used to improve collaboration between students and teachers. Students were appreciative of the new method of teaching & learning, observation, feedback, and other assessments and showed a rapid improvement in their ICT and information skills.

1. Using Google Drive for
Developing Information Skills
in Students
P.G. Premadasa, P. Ranaweera, U. Alahakoon,
and R. Gamage*
National Institute of Library and Information Sciences
(NILIS), University of Colombo
* ruwan@nilis.cmb.ac.lk

2. Background
• Postgraduate Courses @ NILIS, University of
Colombo
– Teacher Librarianship (PGTL/MTL)
– Library and Information Sciences (PGLIS/MLS)
– Information Management (PGDIM/MIM)

3. Problem
• Information literacy level (specially ICT/digital
literacy) not equal at the end of the course.

4. Literature
• Difference between
– ICT education and
– integrating ICT in context (Eisenberg, 2008, p. 43).
• Google Apps for Education is gaining
popularity
– based on cloud and
– offered free of charge (Sultan, 2010).

5. Methodology
• Qualitative approach, Action research

6. Orientation programme
• Basic knowledge on libraries
– introduction to libraries/library functions
– National Library tour

7. Orientation programme
• Technology and information skills
improvement
– introduction to GAE
– official Email and GAE accounts
[student]@nilis.cmb.ac.lk

8. Integration of GAE

9. The teaching-learning
process
1. Note taking
2. Note making
3. Peer evaluation
4. Formative assessments/reflective log
5. Submission of e-portfolio

10. Data collection
• Student feedback
– Online questionnaire
– Informal discussions
• Observations
• E-Portfolio

11. Working on Google Docs

12. Working on Google Docs

13. Results and analysis
• Initial condition
– Happy to use English as the
medium of study
– English language fluency
low.
– Not fully confident to
participate actively in
discussions.
– Could operate a computer
– Not confident in using the
Web based applications.

14. Results and analysis
• The improvement
– Using Web apps
confidently
– Collaboration
– Reflective learning
– Eager to participate in
discussions

15. Conclusions/Suggestions
• Enthusiasm in using Web based Apps
• A sharp increase of information skills
• Problem is to allocate computer facilities
• Can effectively be used in higher education

16. References
• Eisenberg, M. B. (2008). Information Literacy:
Essential Skills for the Information Age. DESIDOC
Journal of Library & Information Technology,
28(2).
• O’Hanlon, N. (1988). Up the down staircase:
Establishing library instruction programs for
teachers. RQ, 528–534.
• Sultan, N. (2010). Cloud computing for education:
A new dawn? International Journal of Information
Management, 30(2), 109–116.