Information-based education: An investigation of the nature and role of information attributes in education

Education is fundamentally affected by a series of events generally referred to as "the information explosion." The enormous increase in available information presents major concerns related to educational content, teaching processes, and basic information skills needed by learners. Researchers need to probe into serious questions about the nature, role, and impact of specific attributes of information (e.g., information systems, resources, skills, and processes) in education. Although most educators would agree that all education is information-based to some degree, there is no unifying framework, model, theory, methodology, or even vocabulary for considering the nature and impact of specific information attributes. This paper seeks to describe the concept of information-based education (IBE), provide a theoretical basis for conducting a broad and systematic investigation into the role and use of information in educational situations, and commence the development of a classification scheme for documenting and distinguishing among various information bases. This classification scheme will form the necessary foundation for conducting field studies about information use in education, as well as foster consideration of information attributes when planning and delivering instruction, with implications for the development and implementation of computer-based information systems in educational situations.