The Hindu Business Line : ... And now, ICT tests to qualify for US colleges

Sooner than later, you might have to deal with ICT Literacy Assessment, an online measure of student information and communication technology proficiency.

Educational Testing Service (ETS) has already launched what is known as the ETS ICT (Information and Communication Technology) literacy assessment, a simulation-based testing programme that measures postsecondary students' ability to define, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information in a technological environment, in the US.

ETS, founded in 1947, is the world's largest private educational testing and measurement organisation. A non-profit corporation with the mission of advancing quality and equity in education by providing fair and valid assessments, research, and related services for all people worldwide, its products and services (which include the SAT and GRE) measure knowledge and skills, promote learning and performance, and support education and professional development.

ETS develops, administers or scores nearly 24 million tests annually in more than 180 countries.

The ETS ICT literacy assessment measures multiple aspects of ICT proficiency. Rather than pose multiple-choice questions, it requires test takers to use basic technology as a tool to arrive at solutions. In that way, the test demands that students use technology to perform information management tasks, such as extracting specific information from a database, developing a spreadsheet, or composing an e-mail summarising research findings.

Equipped with a PC in a proctored environment and pencil and paper for notes, students are challenged to respond to 16 tasks over the course of the two-hour online test.

The test is an outgrowth of work done by an international panel of experts. In developing this new test, ETS partnered with seven leading colleges and universities to form the National Higher Education ICT Initiative. Guided by insights and exploration into information and technology literacy, the group identified the testing criteria for ICT literacy assessment.

ICT literacy basically involves using digital technology, communications tools, and/or networks to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information in order to function in a knowledge society. There are five critical components of ICT literacy:

Access: Knowing about and knowing how to collect and/or retrieve information.

Manage: Applying an existing organisational or classification scheme.

Integrate: Interpreting and representing information, which involves summarising, comparing and contrasting.

Evaluate: Making judgments about the quality, relevance, usefulness or efficiency of information; and

Create: Generating information by adapting, applying, designing, inventing or authoring information.

In a paper titled `The Fourth Basic Literacy: Technology', Mr Kurt M. Landgraf, President & CEO of ETS, writes: "Imagine a physician from the early 20th century in a modern, 21st century hospital. That doctor would be totally unfamiliar with the tools, equipment and methods involved in healing today. But, a teacher from that era would likely feel at home in many of today's classrooms. While technology has transformed the way we live and work, unfortunately it remains on the fringe of classroom life."

"It's time to transform the way we use technology in our schools."

"At ETS, we are working to build a `new basic literacy' strategy for the 21st century. We have created a global partnership among leading business, education, and public policy leaders to promote universal Information & Communication Technologies Literacy. The partnership has produced a framework on how to teach and measure technological skills."

"Teaching children today about technology is as fundamental as teaching reading, writing and arithmetic."

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