USAGE OF ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES BY TEACHERS AT SMART SCHOOLS IN SELANGOR: TOWARDS DEVELOPING DIGITAL SCHOOL RESOURCE CENTERS.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the level of usage of electronic information sources and services by Malaysian Smart Schools teachers in the teaching and learning process. The study examined the level of the teachers’ ICT skills and types of electronic information sources being used. This study also ascertained the need for developing a digital school resource center, as well as highlighted the barriers in using electronic information sources in teaching and learning. The participants who are teachers of secondary Smart Schools in Selangor completed a questionnaire, with a 94.2% response rate. The study revealed that 55.5% of the respondents were not competent, 28.5% were moderately competent while only 16% were competent in ICT skills. A majority of them had a middle level of competency in operating software application and programming languages. The study also found that most of the respondents (54.1%) had never used electronic information sources in the teaching and learning processes due to constraints such as heavy teaching workload and lack of computer knowledge. These were also two major reasons considered as barriers that inhibit respondents’ usage of electronic information sources in the Smart Schools. 34% of them used the electronic information sources once a month while 11.9% used them once a week in teaching and learning process. Although the integration of ICT in education is relatively low, this study found that there was a need for developing a Digital School Resource Center in the future. A majority of the respondents (93.9%) agreed that the current School Resource Center be digitized in this new millineum. This study provides potential useful information on the impact of the ICT integration in the Smart Schools Project towards setting up of a Digital School Resource Center.