The Effects of Web-based Inquiry Learning Mode with the Support of Collaborative Digital Reading Annotation System on Information Literacy Learning Effectiveness and Technology Acceptance

Past research has suggested that elementary students encounter challenges in discerning inaccurate or untrustworthy information on the Internet when confronted with an abundance of information, primarily due to insufficient foundational digital competencies and acuity. Consequently, the development of a framework for appraising and assessing information, to advance digital reading proficiencies and information literacy among elementary school students, has gained increasing prominence as a research topic in recent years. In response, the present study develops a web-based inquiry learning mode with collaborative digital reading annotation system support (WILM-CDRASS) with the intention to provide an innovative instructional mode of effectively enhancing elementary school students’ information evaluation abilities. A quasi-experimental design was employed in this study to examine the learning effectiveness and technology acceptance of utilizing the WILM-CDRASS for improving information evaluation abilities of elementary school students, as compared to a web-based inquiry learning mode with general discussion board support (WILM-GDBS). A total of 50 Grade 5 students from two classes of an elementary school in Northern Taiwan participated in a collaborative inquiry-based learning course, “Internet information judgment and evaluation,” in this study. Twenty-five students from one class were assigned as the experimental group utilizing WILM-CDRASS, while the remaining 25 students from the other class were assigned as the control group using WILM-GDBS. The findings show that the learning effectiveness and technology acceptance of learners in the experimental group using WILM-CDRASS for an information literacy course were significantly superior to those of learners in the control group utilizing WILM-GDBS.