Relationship of Internet Self-efficacy and Online Search Performance of Secondary School Teachers

Abstract

This exploratory mixed-method study aims to examine relationships between secondary school teachers’ perceived Internet self-efficacy and a vital aspect of e-skills for the knowledge society, namely, information search performance online. Sixteen teachers of humanities, science and mathematics) were interviewed about their Internet self-efficacy, and then ten of them completed eleven predefined online search tasks. The results indicate that teachers’ perceived Internet self-efficacy neither correlated with their actual search performance nor was it related to the search strategies that teachers applied. Teachers over-estimated difficulty of search tasks before starting a search. Based on the study results, implications for in-service teacher training are discussed.