AN E-COLLABORATIVE SELECTION AND USE OF E-RESOURCES TOOL FOR INFORMATION LITERACY IN A SAUDI ARABIAN SECONDARY SCHOOL FOR FEMALES

Abstract

Today, a knowledge society is characterized by information literacy, and the introduction of new business models in many domains, including education. However, in developing countries, information literacy is very limited. This can be attributed to many reasons such as less accessing and availability of e-resources, technical problems, cultural aspects, and the lack of qualified librarians. Earlier studies have indicated that students need exposure to e-resources to overcome the information literacy among students. The purpose of this study was to help to overcome the limitation of e-resources exposure by learners in Saudi Arabia or in other words how to let school students in developing countries get exposed to e-resources .To attain this objective, the researcher developed an E-Collaborative Selection and Use of E-resources Tool (ECSUET) for coursework development. The study methodology was descriptive methods; it used interview and questionnaire for data collection. This study was carried out at Al-Bayan Model Girls’ Secondary School, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study examined the learners’ satisfaction with the availability, variety, accessibility of e-resources using ECSUET for science subject. The study covered all 116 students enrolled in Semester 1 and 2 of the school’s 2007/2008 academic year. The study findings showed that the overall mean of the questionnaire was 3.91 which means that the students are receptive of using ECSUET. A total of 88.8% students gave ECSUET evaluation mark of 8-10 (out of 10 marks), which indicates that students’ satisfaction level of using the tool is high. In addition 97.4% of students stated that ECSUET should be used for all subjects. These findings would be useful for other developing nations which would like to apply using similar tool in different languages in order to inculcate information literacy among their students.