Intelligence style and digital literacy

Abstract

The last decade has been the theater of the rapidly growing introduction of information technology (IT) into the classroom, prompting teachers to embrace this change in their routine. Unfortunately, university training and school administrations are slow adherents. Although all teachers use a mobile phone for their personal needs, some may still be reluctant to use IT at large in the classroom. The digital literacy (DL) has been reported to be related to five capacities: Information processing, communication, content creation, safety, and problem solving. It is thus important to have a better understanding of the extent of DL of the teachers, among these dimensions. Among the potential explanation for differences observed in the degree of mastering of IT, some research points on the possible impact of dominant style of intelligence. This paper reports on an exploratory survey to determine the actual level of DL of teachers, measured with different approaches, and to verify whether there is a relationship between DL and intelligence style. It also studies the relationship between the different components of literacy, digital skills and whether there is an important link between different types of intelligence. Findings show that respondents are moderately digital literate/competent, strong in Existential and Intrapersonal Intelligences. In addition, results show the correlations between Intrapersonal Intelligence and Safety, Content Creation, and Communication, while Musical Intelligence is significantly correlated with Problem Solving.