The Journal of Medical Education and Development

  Introduction: American library association (ALA) defined information literacy as a set of skills, which require an individual to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use it effectively. Information literacy affects research and educational activities. This study aims to evaluate the effect of weblog in increasing the information literacy of students. .

  Methods: This experimental study was carried out on 60 students enrolled in schools of Allied Health, Nursing & Midwifery and Public Health. They were randomly assigned into two arms of experiments and control. J the subjects in the experimental group received the educational program over two months via weblog. The level of information literacy in the two groups was assessed before and after training by questionnaire. Three steps were taken for examining validity and reliability of questionnaire including: translation to Farsi, reviewing by a specialist and estimation of the Cronbach's alpha (Cronbach's alpha=.0.88) .Finally data were analyzed using SPSS16.

  Results: Out of total 60, %36.7of participants were men. There was not any significant difference in mean score of information literacy before training in the two groups (P>0.05) , but after education the same test indicated a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.001) . In addition it was showed a significant difference between the mean score of information literacy in experimental group before and after training (P<0.001) .

  Conclusion: Using weblog for education, is a successful model for instruction of information literacy for students of medical sciences.