Some US high schools are beginning Technology Literacy testing to measure student communication skills using computers and digital devices. The American Library Association has defined the process:
“To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the needed information…”
Testing is to be conducted by the nonprofit Educational Testing Service which designs and implements the SAT. A short demonstration of the test (Flash required) is available. Core components measure the following student abilities: Define, Access, Manage, Integrate, Evaluate, Create and Communicate.
This will prove difficult because we are already living in a world of information overload. As the internet provides resources (webpages, wikis and blogs) accurate and accessible communication has placed our wired society in a unique learning environment. Its changing faster than any testing service can study and implement. Two such examples:
Wikipedia vs. Britannica
This debate began when the journal Nature tested the accuracy of articles posted to both online sites. The results: both had accurate and misleading information. Credibility for Wikipedia, the new grassroots “everybody” contributes for free solution and some embarrassment for Britannica. Nature’s results had two additional outcomes. Global citizens seem to accept data that contributed by anyone around the world for free. And Britannica has damaged its ability to transfer their reputation from analog books to digital pages. Although Wikipedia proved you can literally write your own encyclopedia articles, they are not without controversial topics – edited daily by the expression of political opinion rather than fact.
Slashdot and Digg
Both sites are examples of how speed impacts not only popularity but also the process of rapid updating. Digg’s immense popularity has frustrated contributors and readers alike. When your page is listed at Digg (known as the “Digg effect”) monthly bandwidth quotas are quickly overrun, temporality shutting down access to the data. Most sites caught in this overrun are not back online until the “Digg effect” trails off. In tech circles the Digg effect is a point of pride but ultimately access data is denied.
Issues also impacting testing: an unequal playing field. High schools cannot provided every student access to equal technology and literacy instruction. My classroom experiences (as a professional) in Toledo, Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee may not only prove unfair tests, but funding to pay for administering tests in large metropolitan school districts is not easily available. An important non-issue: student expectations to score well when their own teachers are not technology literate.
The Torino Winter Olympics open this week. Today competition for jobs is just as fierce (and global) as your favorite Olympic event. Not only is it uneasy to see no American students on the medal platform, its alarming they don’t even qualify for the finals in math and science.
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On a personal note: Since the beginning of Internet2 my experiences at the University of Chicago and Marquette all projects focused on pure scientific research. Today Internet2 has grown to embrace the Arts. I believe these developments from the conference will benefit MIAD as we continue to embrace a faster, more robust internet for Art education.