“Students' information needs are not satisfied”

The main reason why students are not satisfied with their learning information is that they do not actively seek information. That is the opinion of a group of students Nguyen Thi Van Anh and Nguyen Minh Nguyet (K51 Information - Library) - authors of the topic "Information needs of students trained under the credit method at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU".

- Reporter (PV):Can you briefly introduce your topic?

- Student Group (NSV): This is a new and practical topic, directly related to the learning process of our students. The topic takes students of K51 and K52 - two courses currently implementing credit training - as a survey sample.

Information is very important for students, especially information about studying, especially when you start studying under the credit training method. We conducted this topic to understand the information needs of students, from which we made recommendations to help students satisfy their document needs to achieve high efficiency in studying and improve life skills.

- PV:Can you specify the information content serving the learning of students today?

- NSV: In this topic, we summarize the information content of students in two areas: information serving learning in class and entertainment information. In which, information serving learning is especially important and very rich, specifically: textbooks, lecture outlines, reference books, other learning materials, information about classes, about exam schedules... Information serving students' learning comes from many different sources, from official documents that students receive from teachers and schools, information on the internet and other sources that students search for themselves...

- PV:In your opinion, what is the current need of students for information to serve their studies? To what extent is it met?

- NSV: According to our assessment, the information needs of students today are very large, diverse, multifaceted but not yet satisfied.

Our survey shows that 34% of students get their materials mainly from the library, 26% from lecturers, 20% from the Internet, 11% from self-purchase, 7% from friends and the rest from other sources. Regarding the type of materials students need, 41% are books, 41% are information from the Internet, 9% are from magazines, 7% are from newspapers, 2% are from tapes and discs. Thus, it can be seen that students are still looking for learning information in the traditional way, that is, mainly from official sources from teachers, schools, through published books and textbooks. In addition, the Internet is also becoming a very valuable source of information and many people are interested in researching and serving their studies.

In fact, students have a lot of difficulty finding materials. Of those who said that materials are mainly obtained through the library, 37% of respondents found only 10-20% of the materials they needed in the library; 24% of respondents found only 21-40% of the materials they needed; 11% of respondents found only 61-80% of the materials they needed; only 5% of respondents found 81-100% of the materials they needed in the library. This shows that the library has not met the needs of most students for materials. Up to 60% of students surveyed said that the materials in the library are outdated. Thus, high demand and low supply lead to some students not having enough materials, even in compulsory learning materials, not to mention reference learning materials.

Most students only read the required materials. Reference materials are either lacking or, even if they are available, few students pay attention. The reasons why students do not read materials are: lack of materials; inability to read materials (for materials written in foreign languages); not properly recognizing the importance of studying reference materials, so they only read the required materials.

- PV:What do you think about the number of 31% of students surveyed who did not have all the course syllabuses given in their research? What is the main reason for this phenomenon?

- NSV: This is a surprisingly large number even for us when we counted it. Because if it were so, you would encounter many difficulties in the learning process. Without an outline, you would not know what documents you need to read, you would not be able to prepare lessons for each period, leading to low teaching efficiency.

The reasons we have calculated are: 45% because the teacher did not provide it; 19% because the class did not provide it, 16% because the individual lost it and did not look for it, 3% because the student did not realize the importance of the outline so did not take it.

- PV:In your opinion, what is the main reason why students are not satisfied with their learning information?

- NSV: The reasons come from many sides.

One is because the library materials are not updated and there are not enough books to meet the needs of students.

Second, students are not aware of finding documents, have limited foreign language skills or financial reasons...

Third, on the part of the faculty and teachers, the provision of course outline information is sometimes not updated, and students are not provided with addresses to find documents.

However, in our opinion, the main and most blameworthy cause is from students' awareness of not proactively seeking information.

- PV:What recommendations do you have for students to be proactive and have more access to information related to their studies?

- NSV: For students, you need to clearly understand the importance of information for learning, you should not only depend on official sources, but also increase your search for many different sources. You need to equip yourself with information searching skills, information assessment skills, and foreign language skills to access foreign documents.

For teachers, it is necessary to provide students with a complete course outline, documents and addresses for finding additional reading materials. Rare and long-published learning materials should be photocopied and provided to students. Learning materials that are magazine articles or parts of published books should be introduced to students with both the cover and table of contents. Foreign language learning materials, if not intended to require students to use them within the framework of teaching in a foreign language or requiring students to translate them for learning, must have both the original and the translation. Otherwise, they can be translated or summarized to suggest students to learn.

For schools and faculties, it is necessary to increase courses on network exploitation, library use, open online learning materials, computer skills, and foreign language proficiency. Faculty resource rooms should be opened more often so that students can access books and specialized knowledge.

For the library, it is necessary to have a team of highly specialized service staff. The library needs to continuously supplement and exchange to create a rich and updated source of documents to serve students; invest in equipment to serve information quickly and accurately. In particular, with the current service time, many students suggest that the service time should be extended and the number of reference books borrowed at one time should be increased.

•Thanh Ha (perform)