Despite the expressed urgency to catch up to and serve the learning needs of digital natives and the children of the ubiquitously connected, pervasively proximal generation, we still find that much of our student population lacks the technology savvy to navigate and succeed in an on-line education. When talking about on-line education, I occasionally hear the desire to "keep it simple" so our students can get through on-line learning. This is by no means dumbing down content, but it often means moving in the digital slow lane. This is an important consideration given the diversity of our constituents, whose age range and social background are wide. Despite all the energy and excitement about the read/write web, using tools of this new information and communications technology (ICT) environment are not as easy as typing a Word document.
What I do not hear often enough,however, in conversations about where our courses fall on the technology learning curve, is any discussion of purposefully establishing a level of technology literacy. Should we not ensure that our students obtain ICT competency by at least the midpoint of their experience at the College. After all, if we believe that ICT will be central to students' lifelong learning, professional development and citizenship, we have an obligation as educators to see that they obtain these skills. After all, imagine if a professor in any academic or pre-professional discipline said that students can be excused from knowing the most current skills or trends in that discipline? What kind of college would we be?
I would like to hear more conversation about ICT literacy requirements. If we require a level literacy and math competency and send students to DevEd courses to obtain them could we do the same ICT literacy? Setting aside all the curriculum implications for now, there are a few existing tools that could be employed to teach and assess these skills.
One is IC3 -- Internet and Computing Core Certification. IC3 was developed by Certiport in collaboration with 270 subject matter experts from 19 countries. It is, according to Certiport, "a globally recognized standard and certification for digital literacy that validates basic computer skills and Internet knowledge required to be successful in school, work, and life." IC3 grew out of a need to establish a standard for computer training. Many entities offer training but the quality and content varies. IC3 provides a trusted "brand."
I have seen demonstration IC3 tests and they cover the most basic skills. But as I have seen both students, faculty and staff struggle with such tasks as saving a file to a new location on a hard drive, it is clear that this basic training is needed. We would serve ourselves well to integrate IC3 certification into the educational and work experience of the college.
Another assessment is the ICT Literacy Assessment created by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) for the State of California. It is, according to the late Dr. Ilene F. Rockman, "a new performance-based, web-based, interactive tool designed to measure students' cognitive skills within a digital environment. Tasks reflect real-world scenarios, which engage students in demonstrating their knowledge, skills and abilities to define, access, manage, integrate, evaluate, create and communicate information." ICT Literacy Assessment is a step above IC3 that asks students to solve real world problems -- such as conduct and refine information searches and categorize knowledge -- using digital tools. Colleges can generate a profile of campus digital literacy like the sample profile below:
These may not be the right tools for Columbus State. And whether or not to require technology assessments is complex issue. Clearly, however, digital literacy is now a requirement for full participation in society. Wouldn't it be great if Columbus State, as the state's largest distance learning provider, could confidently say we also have the state's most digitally literate campus? Now that would be 21st century education.
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