Information Literacy and Adult Learners: Using Authentic Assessment to Determine Skill Gaps

Information literacy (IL) skills are essential for adult learners in higher education, especially those unfamiliar with information systems. Citing a lack of literature assessing such skills in adult learners, this article examines the IL abilities of adult learners in an IL course. Using a rubric and annotated bibliographies from study participants, the authors rank the IL abilities of adult students. Similar to studies assessing IL skills in traditional undergraduates, the authors found that adult students struggled to articulate their evaluations of sources. The authors make recommendations for improving IL instruction for adults and suggest future research.