Information literacy of high school students in Kenya : the impact of teacher training

Abstract

This study investigated the Information Literacy levels of High School students in Kenya and has examined the relationship between these and the frequency of access to ICT and the internet. The level of teacher training in ICT and its impact on Information Literacy was also explored.

An Instrumental case study approach was used to assess the Information Literacy levels of students in 4 High schools in the North Rift of Kenya. Teachers from each school outlined their training and the extent of their ICT use with the students.

It was found that the frequency of access that students had to ICT and to the internet had a positive impact on their ability to evaluate information and its sources critically. This correlation was found to be stronger if the access was outside of school. However, students with more frequent access were not better at retrieving information efficiently or at determining the nature and extent of information needed.

The 4 schools involved in the study all had at least one teacher with advanced ICT training such as a computer science degree, however the majority of teachers at these school had only received training in the use of software packages or had not received any formal ICT training. The study found that there was a strong correlation between the level of teacher training and the extent to which they allowed students to use ICT in their lessons.

The need for teacher training in pedagogic techniques for ICT was highlighted, as was the need for Information Literacy to be explicitly taught within the Kenyan High School Curriculum.