Information and Communication Technology Skills Ranking in Secondary School Curriculum

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to prioritize the required ICT skills from the view point of secondary school teachers and experts. Among 11010 secondary school teachers and 130 ICT educational experts in Tehran, 280 teachers and 37 experts were selected using cluster random sampling method. A researcher-made Likert-type questionnaire developed using the modules of the ICDL Foundation. Forty-three ICT skills in the compass of seven main ICT modules have been studied. U Mann-Whitney test was used for comparison of the teachers and experts view. For comparison and ranking of ICT skills, the one-way analysis of variance, following with Tukey and LSD were used. There was no significant difference between the teachers and experts viewpoints about the required ICT skills for students. Fourteen ICT skills with educational priority were have take priority over the other skill: Familiarity with data security, Entering text, Basic concepts of internet and browser, File management, Using the word processor, File management basic concepts, Working With icons, Formatting a text, Navigation of web pages, Familiarity with copy right &data protection, Searching the Web, Text editing with software, Basic concepts of electronic communication and Bookmark a webpage. The findings of current research on prioritization and ranking ICT skills could help authorities in Iran and possibly other developing countries to lay practically the ground for including these skills in secondary school curriculum.