Teaching Information Literacy in Secondary Education: How to Design Professional Development for Teachers?

The networked information and media society provides us increasingly
with digital information and knowledge. However, the effective and efficient use of information also requires a high level of information literacy (IL), the competent handling of information and the ability to do that from an early age. Despite this early beginning, the development of IL is considered an important goal of schoolteachers who are required to integrate IL into their daily
teaching practice. One reason that IL has only been considered sporadically in education is the lack of a scientifically proven model to operationalize and measure IL. Furthermore, teachers are often uncertain when dealing with digital media pedagogically and need support and clarity in terms of how to evaluate IL
in their specific subjects. In the implementation of formal educational efforts, the low practical feasibility in specific working contexts, time and financial aspects are criticized. The current contribution presents a 7i model for the conceptualization
and measurement of IL. Furthermore, it provides alternatives to the
dominant “training model” to develop the competence of teachers by combining formal and informal learning.