Ann de Meulemeester from Ghent University presented some of the research about information literacy for self efficacy, which highlighted the role that IL has in the academic curriculum and for lifelong learning. Their research has shown that new students' confidence level of their searching abilities is much higher than the reality. Self efficacy is developed gradually through experience, it involves participation, and affects how persistent a person will be. Students with lower self efficacy avoid active learning and are less inclined to develop IL. Doctors must contiually engage in evidence based practice, and so need skills for lifelong learning, including IL. They identified a need for a longitudinal large scale, domain specific study. This study took place in the faculty of medecine and health sciences which has a 6 year medical curriculum. This was a mixed methods study using a 28 item ILSE questionnaire and pre-and post- testing, the study has been runnng since 2011. Data is collected in the first 2 weeks of the academic year. The qualitative data is collected through focus groups with students from all levels of study. Data analysis is still ongoing, however some initial quantitative results were presented, showing the gap in IL abilities between new and experienced students.
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