Several empirical and theoretical studies have been conducted internationally on information literacy and learning experiences in university settings. Maybee (2005:81) studied undergraduate perceptions of IL in the California Polytechnic State University and found students perceived information use as finding information from their sources, initiating a process and building a personal knowledge base for various purposes. Maybee concluded that there was need for more focus on developing a user-centred IL pedagogy and curriculum to facilitate changes in student learning perception, which was found to be complex and multi- tiered. Badke (2009) observed that distinct educational initiatives for IL, media literacy and information and communication technologies should be combined into a single uniliteracy effort, in order to have greater potential to effect curricular change.
Vaiciuniene and Gedviliene (2008), from a constructivist perspective, examined the impact of ICT on students’ IL learning experiences in Lithuania. The study found that a virtual learning environment was integrated with traditional learning. The study further found that the nature of
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a learning environment greatly affected students’ attitudes towards learning and ICTs played a key role in shaping attitudes. Similarly, Edwards (2005) studied information searching experiences concerning how a student may plan, reflect and perform the search. The results showed that students with inadequate IT confidence ranked low in their information searching experiences on the Web. In contrast, social communication and interaction was found by Vaiciuniene and Gedviliene (2008) to enhance learning and critical thinking.
Approaches to curriculum development and construction of learning environments have been used to understand student learning experiences. Ertl et al. (2008), in their review of studies on student experiences of IL in the UK, found that approaches to teaching, curriculum development, and the construction of learning environments, impacted on the attitude of students to information literacy. The study found that social strategies, such as group work, peer learning, problem-based learning and use of ICT, enhanced the students’ learning experience. The study concluded that resources tailored to create flexible and broad-based support to students are needed.
In Australia, Bruce (1997) investigated IL experiences in higher education, using a relational approach and advanced a theory based on four features: first, learning is about changes in conception; second, learning always has content and a process; third, learning is about relations between the learner and subject matter; and, finally, improving learning is about understanding students’ perspectives. A relational approach to student learning recognizes that knowledge acquisition is not always accompanied by changes in understanding of the phenomena studied.
This supports Lupton’s study (2008), which found that course context significantly influenced the experience of learning IL.
Within Africa, the IL scene is marked mostly by studies from Western and Southern Africa, with a few from East Africa. Baro and Zuokemefa (2011) surveyed 36 Nigerian universities and found that they all provided a form of IL training, ranging from library tours to use of the library and information resources such as databases, but lacked a framework as a point of reference. In a study of IL in Ghanaian universities, Dadzie (2009) found IL teaching had three approaches, namely library literacy, computer and media literacy and communication skills literacy. The study observed that IL needs to be firmly institutionalized in the curriculum and
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concerted efforts from various stakeholders were needed to enhance the IL environment.
Dadzie (2009:174) added that an effective IL programme equips students with relevant skills needed for their studies, daily life and for the workplace
Chipetta, Jacobs and Mostert (2008), in a study at the University of Zululand, the Durban University of Technology in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and Mzuzu University in Malawi, found students who attended formal IL training were able to locate and retrieve information sources easily, compared to those who had not. The study outlined challenges in the delivery of IL that included lack of time, computer illiteracy, lack of computers and lack of collaboration between librarians and lecturers. In East Africa, Lwehabura (2007) found IL delivery in Tanzanian universities included lectures, hands-on practice and use of the web. The study revealed that, despite an understanding of the importance of information literacy among the librarians and lecturers, inadequate staffing, lack of IL policy and lack of adequate facilities were the major challenges. Moreover, evaluation and assessment of IL instruction was found weak, thus affecting the students’ IL experience. Lwehabura discovered that IL initiatives in Tanzania, as in other parts of Africa, were unco-ordinated and disorganized. The study concluded that mainstreaming IL in university curriculum enhanced learning.
Kavulya (2003), in a study of the obstacles facing information literacy in Kenyan universities, found lack of finance and human resources, absence of information literacy policy, computer illiteracy among librarians and lack of ICT infrastructure were factors that greatly impeded IL learning. The study further revealed that IL initiatives were limited to library orientation, which did not give students enough time to understand the lectures. King’ori et al. (2012), in their study of IL in Kenyan universities, found lack of a policy framework for IL as the main impediment to IL growth in the country. Their study further revealed that time and interest from users, poor teaching methods, lack of administration support and lack of systematic approach by librarians were among other key impediments to IL learning among freshmen in universities.
A look at the literature reviewed suggests a limited collection of empirical studies on IL in universities in the context of Africa, in general, and Kenya, in particular. Whereas there is a growing advocacy for information literacy in higher education, there seems to be little effort to
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understand students’ experiences. Attention seems focused on instructors, methods of instruction, content, infrastructure and assessment of the programme. The present study endeavoured to understand the experiences of students who go through IL programmes, whether for-credit or not. Finally, the reviewed studies on IL seem to concentrate on students in their first year in universities and there are limited empirical studies on those leaving universities and entering the labour market. The present study makes a contribution towards attempting to bridge these gaps.
This section presented the context of literature (empirical and theoretical) that is more elaborately discussed in Chapter Three