Gaps in Personal Information Management Behavior of Higher Education Students: Implications for a Training Program
Abstract: Efficient personal information management (PIM) is a growing need for students who manage their information on multiple digital devices and platforms. Low PIM skills result in stress and low PIM ability. Implementing programs for enhancing PIM literacy improve students’ PIM practices. This study suggests defining students’ PIM needs by examining their actual and ideal PIM behavior, and defining characteristics of gaps between actual and ideal behavior. Participants included 287 higher education Israeli students, responding to a PIM practices questionnaire. Findings indicated that students utilized a variety of PIM practices, and ideally desired to utilize even more practices. Gaps between actual and ideal usage of practices were significant for 90% of the practices. Findings suggest that students were unsatisfied with their PIM behavior. Consequently, we offer a 3-principle PIM literacy program for higher education students to enhance PIM skills.
Presider: Lilach Alon, Tel Aviv University