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Editorial

ICT literacyIlene F. RockmanThe California State University, Office of the Chancellor, Hayward,

California, USA

Abstract

Purpose To inform readers about the new information and communication technology assessmenttool developed by the Education Testing Service and a consortium of two and four-year academic

institutions in the USA.

Design/methodology/approach A concise assessment of the tool.

Findings The tool is scenario, performance, and problem-based so that students must demonstrate

their knowledge. It is also interactive and recognises that students should be able to integrate variousskills to solve real-life problems.

Originality/value Will assist higher education institutions and workforce/career centers about theunique scenario-based, web-based assessment tool which integrates the proficiencies of information

literacy with the use of digital and computer technologies, along with the principles of the ethical and

legal use of information.

KeywordsAcademic libraries, Higher education, Assessment, Students, Literacy

Paper typeViewpoint

Over the years, many voices have called for librarians to collaborate with others ontheir campuses (e.g. faculty, administrators) to integrate information literacy skills andabilities into the curriculum as part of the first year experience, general education, ordiscipline-specific programs.

In addition to the integration of these important skills and abilities, it is important toassess them in an appropriate way. Various campuses have developed an assortmentof home-grown paper-and-pencil assessment tools usually multiple choice pre andpost tests which have been less than satisfactory, not transferable to other campuses,and not psychometrically sound. At last, there is another option.

The Educational Testing Service (ETS) has been working with several colleges anduniversities in the United States for two years to develop a new Information andCommunication Technology (ICT) literacy assessment tool as part of the NationalHigher Education ICT Initiative. Informed by such standards as those published by theAssociation of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) and the International Society for

Technology in Education (ISTE), the tool is ground-breaking and cutting-edgefor several reasons. First, it is scenario, performance, and problem based not multiplechoice students must demonstrate their knowledge. Second, it is interactive anddelivered over the World Wide Web students must engage in the content to solvereal-life academic or workplace problems. Third, it recognizes that workers andstudents need to integrate cognitive skills, technology skills, and the ethical use ofinformation to effectively solve problems and make decisions in todaysinformation-rich, globally-connected, multicultural society.

The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/0090-7324.htm

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Reference Services Review

Vol. 33 No. 2, 2005

pp. 141-143

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0090-7324

DOI 10.1108/00907320510597345

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As noted by ETS President Karl Landgraf, ETS is collaborating with theseforward-looking universities to offer the promise of a suite of assessments thatmeasure not just knowledge of technology, but the ability to applytechnology to solveproblems while in college and to help all students learn the ICT literacy skills that they

will need to compete for jobs and thrive in the workforce. (ETS, ETS Collaborates,2003, p. 1).

Test takers need to be able to take data, evaluate information, and communicatethat information using digital tools. The National Higher Education ICT Initiative hasdefined ICT literacy as follows:

ICT literacy proficiency is the ability to use digital technology, communication tools, and/ornetworks appropriately to solve information problems in order to function in an informationsociety. This includes the ability to use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate,and communicate information and the possession of a fundamental understanding of theethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information. (Educational TestingService, Succeeding, 2003a, p. 11).

The definition is an outgrowth of the 2002 ETS document, Digital Transformation: AFramework for ICT Literacy, written by an international panel of educators,government, and business leaders which recommended the development of anassessment tool.

Since the first meeting in 2003, librarians, faculty, administrators, assessmentdirectors, and workforce specialists have worked with ETS test developers,cognitive scientists, and research statisticians in the design, critique, andtesting of questions. Field trials and large scale assessment have taken place in2004-2005. General release of the two-hour, 16-problem test instrument is scheduledfor 2006.

We know that ICT literacy impacts the way that students live, learn, and work.It is important that they be able to distinguish between various types ofinformation, evaluate their information choices wisely, and use the informationethically. The ICT assessment test asks students to demonstrate this knowledge(their cognitive skills) using technological tools. The demonstration ofknowledge is key. As noted by Maki (2002, p. 10), tests may measure howwell students have learned information, but they do not demonstrate howwell students can solve problems using that information. The ETS test does justthat.

The new ICT literacy assessment tool is literally a bridge between informationliteracy and technological literacy. It not only asks students to be able to define, access,manage, integrate, evaluate, create, and communicate information, but it does so withthe underpinnings of cognitive, technical, and ethical components. It is unique, flexible

for use in two and four year institutions, useful for student placement or as a workforcecertification test. It is unique and fills an important assessment gap. It is the right testat the right time for higher education.

References

Educational Testing Service (2003), ETS Collaborates with CSU to Assess 21st Century Skills,available at: www.calstate.edu/pa/news/2003/ETS.shtml

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Educational Testing Service (2003a), Succeeding in the 21st Century: What Higher Educationmust do to address the Gap in Information and Communication Technology Proficiencies,available at: www.calstate.edu/LS/ICTwhitepaperfinal.pdf

Maki, P.L. (2002), Developing an assessment plan to learn about student learning,The Journal

of Academic Librarianship, Vol. 28 Nos 1/2, pp. 8-13.

Further reading

Association of College and Research Libraries (2000), Information Literacy CompetencyStandards for Higher Education, available at: www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/standards.pdf

Educational Testing Service (2002), Digital Transformation: A Framework for ICT Literacy,available at: www.ets.org/research/ictliteracy/ictreport.pdf

International Society For Technology in Education (1998), National educational technologystandards, available at: www.iste.org/Template.cfm?SectionNETS&Template /TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID 17&ContentID 824

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