Abstract:
Information literacy and skills in Internet searching are important for teachers.
There exists a large body of literature on information literacy in schools and
universities and there are many guidelines and standards on information
literacy. Little has, however, been published on information literacy training for
teachers per se. Even less has been written on information literacy training for
townships and rural communities in developing contexts where teachers may
face special challenges. This article will argue that information literacy
training for teachers in such communities can benefit from tailored planning
influenced by Information Communication Technology (ICT) for Development
(ICT4D) literature and taking into account factors such as relationship-building
with a committed community; adaptation of the definition and standards for
information literacy; and selecting appropriate methods and theories to support
ongoing research. These suggestions came out of an United Nations Economic,
Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) funded initiative by the
Departments of Informatics and Information Science (University of Pretoria) to
train teachers in information literacy in a township area close to Pretoria,
South Africa.
