A study of online hospitality management students’ information literacy

ABSTRACT This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) study focuses on understanding more about how hospitality management students enrolled in online courses define and use information literacy, and what they think is meaningful with regard to information literacy skills connected to their major field of study, before and after completing an online module about information literacy. Students enrolled in an online introductory hospitality course at a public university in the southeastern United States (U.S.) during six different semesters (in 2020 and 2021) participated in the study. The study included having the students complete a survey, read and take a quiz over a module about information literacy, and reflect over information literacy after they completed those steps. Results indicated that students, instructors, and librarians could potentially do more to enhance information literacy in the hospitality discipline. Suggestions for teaching, recommendations for further research, and limitations are presented.