Exploring the information literacy competence standards for elementary and high school teachers

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to establish Information Literacy Competence Standards for Elementary and High School Teachers. To establish these standards a set of two expert round-table discussions and three rounds of Delphi Technique surveys were employed. Ten participants including field scholars, information professionals were invited to the expert round-table for open discussions on definitions, framework, and items of information literacy competence. A questionnaire for the “Delphi Technique Survey” was developed based on the results acquired from the round-table discussions. The resulting questionnaire was distributed to another group of 33 participants which included graduate school deans of Information Education, professors, school principals, department directors and teachers, and information professionals. After three rounds of Delphi Technique Surveys with these participants, the “Information Literacy Competence Standards for Elementary and High School Teachers” was established. Three levels (standards, main indicators, and secondary indicators) and three dimensions (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) were identified. Distinguished from existing research which over-emphasizes the dimensions of knowledge and skills, the present study found that the dimension “attitude” is the most powerful force for promoting teachers’ information literacy competence and their willingness to apply information technology in teaching. It is hoped that the proposed standards could be served as a self-evaluation tool for teachers as well as the basis for staffing and training programs for elementary and high school teachers in Taiwan.

Introduction

The development of information technology has had a great impact on education and has dramatically changed the instructional methods, curricula, scope of learning, and role of the teachers and students in the instructional setting. The biggest challenge for promoting teaching effectiveness in the 21st century, therefore, is the ability of teachers to acquire informational literacy competencies and to apply instructional technology in their teaching.

The Ministry of Education of Taiwan has placed a great deal of importance on promoting teachers’ level of information proficiency which has led to the implementation of several programs such as the “E-mail to Elementary and High Schools Project” in 1994, and the “TANet to Elementary and High Schools Project” in 1997. The government has made a large investment in the improvement of the information environment in elementary and high schools and has administered various training programs and seminars for improving teachers’ information proficiency. In 1998, the Ministry of Education established information literacy competence standards and an evaluation tool for examining the information proficiency of elementary and high school teachers. In 2001, the Ministry of Education added “information proficiency” as one of the required qualifications for elementary and high school teachers (Ministry of Education of Taiwan, 2001). However, due to the ever-changing characteristics of information technology, the standards and qualifications used to assess and select teachers have become outdated, and need to be reevaluated and revised.

Therefore, the major purpose of this study is to establish a new set of information literacy competence standards that are suitable for assessing and increasing the information ability of elementary and high school teachers in today’s educational information technology environment of Taiwan. Taking the standards from ISTE as a reference, the proposed information literacy competence standards in the present study were developed from altering the information literacy standards established by Ministry of Education in 1998 through a thorough consideration of Taiwan’s current information environment. It is hoped that the proposed standards could be served as a self-evaluation tool for teachers as well as the basis for staffing and training programs for elementary and high school teachers in Taiwan.