Study On Information Literacy Education For Medical Undergraduates In Medical Institutions Of Higher Learning In China

With the rapid development of science and technology, the human society is marching at an unprecedented speed. An information and learning society is being formulated, characterized with intellectual economy as its basis and with computer network as its carrier. As an important part of the comprehensive quality of a human being, information literacy is a basic condition for the survival and development of human beings who are situated in this information and learning society. Information literacy education is a quality education activity that cultivates people's information literacy in a conscious, purposeful and well-planned way. This education activity plays an extremely important role in helping people become adapted to the living, learning, and working, thus strengthening their capacity for survival and development in the information and learning society.Information literacy is a stratified concept. There is no fixed rule and prescription for different people about the requirement of their information literacy. People in various majors and with various education backgrounds have their own features, connotations, and evaluation standards. This thesis starts with the information literacy of the medical undergraduates of medical institutions of higher learning, and makes an investigation of the information literacy education of this specified group. This thesis is composed of four chapters, or six parts. The introduction elaborates the reasons of the research proposal, the significances of the research, the purposes of the research, the methods of the research, and the definitions of relevant notions. The first chapter starts with the historical development of the meaning of information literacy. It gives a penetrating analysis of the theory research and practice of the information literacy education both at home and abroad. The second chapter discusses the significances of information literacy education in medical institutions of higher learning. It analyzes the connotations of the medical undergraduates, arguing that their information literacy includes the following three aspects: information consciousness, information competence, and information moral. The third chapter describes a survey via questionnaires and network investigation. It shows the present situation of the information literacy of the medical undergraduates and the situation of the information literacy education of the medical colleges. This paper indicates thatthe general quality of the information literacy of medical undergraduates still needs to be improved. The inadequacies include the following aspects: (1) the weak information consciousness, (2) relatively lower information competence, and (3) imbalanced development of information moral, the low level of information moral in a general way. This thesis interprets the main problems and their corresponding reasons that exist in the information literacy education practice in medical institutions of higher learning. The fourth chapter, centralizing the curriculum and instruction of the medical institutions of higher learning, puts forward the valid channels through which to cultivate and promote the information literacy of the medical undergraduates in a comprehensive way. It argues that, in order to propel the wide-spread and penetrating development of the information literacy education in the medical institutions of higher learning, and to elevate the quality of the medical undergraduates, the following six points should be observed: (1) the establishment of the curriculum system of the information literacy education,(2) the curriculum integration of information literacy education and the medial science courses,(3) the establishment of the evaluation standard system of the information literacy, (4) the necessity to promote the information literacy of the instructors, (5) the necessity to bring into full play the role of the libraries of medical institutions of higher learning, and to contribute to the collaboration between the librarians and the medical science courses instructors, and (6) the establishment of the campus information environment. The conclusion summarizes the whole research of this thesis. It points out the weak points existing in the research process, and suggests the ways to improve them.