| A study of the access to and use of information resources by vocational education teachers in three comprehensive high schools in Florida was conducted, using interviews and classroom observation, in this comparative case study. Criteria for selection of the high schools included membership and active participation in the High Schools That Work program (Southern Regional Education Board), membership in SUNLINK (the electronic information resource database for K--12 public schools in the state of Florida), SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) accreditation, and the degree to which they were incorporating technology within the vocational education curriculum in the school. A small (student population of approximately 1,000) rural high school, a suburban school with a student population of approximately 2,000, and a large (student population over 3,000) urban school were selected for the study, and agreed to participate. Interviews or observations were conducted with the building principal or assistant principal for curriculum, the school library media specialist, and six vocational education teachers in each school. Teachers were asked to identify the information resources available to them in their classrooms or in the school, and to specify those resources that they used personally, those that they used in their classrooms or the school library media center, and those to which they referred students. Teachers were also asked about the degree to which they collaborated with the library media specialist to incorporate information resources and information literacy skills into classroom work.;The interviews and observations revealed the wide availability of, and a growing reliance upon computer and telecommunication technology to provide access to current information for vocational education, career, and skills teachers. Vocational education teachers and high school library media specialists in this study plan together for the purchase of new material and resources, but spend little time planning to incorporate information literacy skills or the use of information resources into course content. Most teachers interviewed were not familiar with SUNLINK, with the school's OPAC, or with school purchased electronic periodical databases. Key elements effecting access and use of information appeared, in the schools studied, to be the proximity of the information resource tool to the teacher, teacher comprehension of the applicability and use of the information contained in the resource tool, and the value the teacher placed on the information and the resource tool. |
