Information Literacy for Future Teachers

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to evaluate primary teacher education programs in Croatia. Prior to evaluation of the primary teacher education programs, expected primary teacher education competencies were defined. The expected teacher competencies were determined according to the goals stated in the Croatian national curriculum. In addition, international guidelines for information literacy development among primary education teachers were used. An extensive literature review on information literacy curriculum in teacher education higher education was conducted as a part of this study. The evaluation of primary teacher education programs is conducted according to the content analysis methodology. Since current primary teacher education programs do not state learning outcomes, future teacher competences are evaluated according to the state course goals. The content analysis indicates that the majority of the current primary teacher education programs include goals that could be linked to information literacy standards. Future teachers are most frequently taught how to evaluate information, but lack instruction on fair use of information. The discussion includes recommendations to raise information literacy among teacher educators and to align course syllabi with the common theoretical frameworks.

La competencia informacional como requisito para la formación de docentes del siglo XXI: Análisis de estrategias didácticas para su adquisición

“…Uno de los desafíos para los docentes es evitar plagios que se materializan de forma constante en los trabajos de los estudiantes debido a la facilidad e impunidad con la que copian y pegan información de la web a sus trabajos y proyectos. Como indican Monereo y Badia (2012) el desconocimiento del procedimiento para localizar, seleccionar y usar la información explica la facilidad con que los estudiantes recortan y pegan información y la impotencia que genera no saberla gestionar de forma adecuada, y deriva en un uso ilegítimo de la información existente (Baratelo, 2012). El problema es que esta incapacidad se traslada a los profesionales en su ejercicio laboral.…”

Required Skills for Teachers: Information Literacy at the Top

“…It reports several implementation phases of the teacher training programme on information literacy, highlighting the close collaboration between librarians and teachers and the success achieved, though there is no standard manner of incorporating information literacy in terms of curricula. In Croatia, a study by Kokic [18] shows how difficult it is to evaluate learning in information literacy in this context. Although there are learning objectives connected to the expected results of information literacy (based on international standards), these are limited.…”

Objectives and Content of the School Environmental Projects in Terms of Teachers’ Training

“…The analysis of course descriptions revealed that least focus was given to fair use of the collected information. Knowing the high importance and actuality of the fair use of issue in educational environments, this finding should be also reviewed from the wider sociological scope, as also Kokić (2012) notes.…”

“…Towards the same direction, the goal of lifelong Environmental Education (EE) is environmental literacy for all citizens, as a continuum of competencies, understanding, skills, and actions, rather than a discrete attribute that one either does or does not possess (Roth, 1992). For example, the majority of the goals of primary teachers' training in Croatia, that were recognized as related to information literacy, are linked to the development of critical thinking skills, problem solving and decision making, which are popular terms in professional literature (Kokić, 2012). The question remains, how do teacher educators teach these skills in their courses, in the frame of ESD.…”