THE IMPACT OF ICT ON THE SPEED OF INFORMATION HANDLING – SIMILARITIES IN PUPILS’ AND TEACHERS' OPINIONS (RESEARCH REPORT)

Abstract

The article presents a fragment of diagnostic-correlative research of a mixed character, identifying pupils’ information literacy in the use of ICT methods and tools. The author aim to answer the question defining the effects of using ICT by children and teenagers (the level of significance of the impact of new media) in the area of information handling. The method of diagnostic survey (questionnaire and interview) and statistical methods (chi-square test of independence and Pearson's correlation coefficient) were used. Together, 2510 pupils and 1110 teachers were involved. It was established that: 1) according to the aggregate hierarchy of importance of ICT interactions, both students and teachers gave the greatest importance (first place) to information handling; 2) there is a clear relationship (correlation: very high, positive, – r = 0.89) between the students' opinions and teachers' perceptions regarding the effects of using ICT by children and teenagers, which are manifested by the development of information handling skills; 3) calculations of differentiating factors showed significant statistical differences between the effects of ICT impact on children and teenagers in terms of the speed of searching, selecting and evaluating information and: gender, stage of education and students’ place of learning; 4) there is a significant similarity between the opinions of students and teachers – slight “separation” of the world of children and youth (“Us”) from the world of teachers (“Them”).