Development of competencies in the information society

Abstract

In the information age, digital and information literacies have become essential competencies. The basics of information literacy can be acquired by distance learning or at special courses organised by libraries. During the timeframe of the current research, part-time students of the Szombathely Teachers’ Training College acquired the basics of research methodology via a distance learning course of 12 hours. The knowledge acquired at the course was then transformed into competencies doing practical exercises at the college library. The experiences of this project as well as outcomes of other user education courses at public libraries were examined by tests and questionnaires. The findings showed that the applied method successfully contributed to the development of the information literacy competencies of the participants. However, it was also shown that even when chosing the downloadable electronic format, participants printed it out prior to learning.