Chapter 7 General Findings from Secondary School Sector
7.5 Student learning
7.5.5 IT literacy assessment outcomes ITLA Section 1 (Computer knowledge and skills)
As explained in Chapter 4, in order to examine the extent to which the students had met the criterion-based expectations of IT targets on the ITLA Section 1, three categories of indicator were used: those who were able to answer less than 50% of the items correctly, those who were able to answer from 50% to 80% of the items correctly and those who were able to answer more than 80%
correctly. Students who scored above 80% were considered to have complete mastery of the stage-specific knowledge and skills, since a 20% tolerance level was set up to allow for random variation which may affect the test score from a variety of sources, such as distractions in the assessment environment, the occasion of testing, the rater, the examinee’s state of mind at the time of testing, etc. It is not intended to be a cut-off point implying pass/fail or competence/incompetence since students’ competence should be conceived of as a continuum of skills rather than a dichotomy, and any chosen tolerance level is arbitrary. Those who scored from 50% to 80% were considered to have at least a reasonable grasp.
In Section 1 of the ITLA (Table 7.36) only 20.2% of S2 students, 25.2% of S4 students and 23.5% of S6 students had more than 80% of their answers correct, with 68.4%, 62.9% and 70.4% for S2, S4 and
Chapter 7: General Findings from Secondary School Sector
S6 students respectively falling into the 50%-80% category. Only a small proportion of students (11.4% for S2, 11.9% for S4 and 6.1% for S6) scored lower than 50%. The high percentages scoring 50% correct or more, coupled with the findings reported earlier (Section 7.5.4) concerning students’
self-rated proficiency in hardware and software skills, suggest that the majority of students have at least a reasonable grasp of stage-specific technological knowledge and skills.
Table 7.36: Distribution of students’ ITLA Section 1 scores
% of correct S2 (N = 512)
S4 (N = 517)
S6 (N = 474)
% % %
< 50% 11.4 11.9 6.1
50 – 80% 68.4 62.9 70.4
> 80% 20.2 25.2 23.5
Total 100 100 100
ITLA Section 2 (Self-perceived ability in generic IT skills)
Table 7.37: Distribution of students’ scores in ITLA Section 2 (ITLA Section 2, Q1-20)
% of students choosing the option
Self-perceived proficiency Mean
(0-4)
SE N
Highly proficient
Basically proficient
Know some
Not proficient
Know nothing
at all Switch the computer on and shutdown
correctly
3.9 0.02 509 89.8 7.3 2.8 0.0 0.0
Use computer software for self learning 3.1 0.04 510 33.1 44.0 21.0 1.3 0.7 Use an electronic/Internet dictionary/
encyclopedia
3.1 0.04 510 42.7 34.0 19.6 2.5 1.3
Input Chinese texts 3.4 0.03 507 54.0 33.5 11.0 1.2 0.2
Do homework/write reports 3.2 0.04 507 42.3 42.3 13.6 1.6 0.2
Create statistical diagrams 3.0 0.04 509 29.8 42.9 21.6 5.0 0.7
Create presentation materials 3.1 0.04 506 36.1 41.3 16.4 4.8 1.5
Search for information from the Internet 3.5 0.04 504 64.7 25.9 7.2 1.8 0.5 Create a webpage/set up a website 2.3 0.05 509 13.9 30.4 32.5 15.1 8.2
Produce a multimedia clip/animation 1.9 0.05 508 6.7 27.4 30.4 22.1 13.3
Edit an image or typeset 2.9 0.04 509 30.6 38.8 21.7 6.2 2.8
Create/use a database 2.1 0.05 509 10.0 27.9 32.7 19.6 9.8
Share/discuss in a news group/discussion forum
2.5 0.05 509 23.5 27.0 30.8 12.1 6.6
Download information/software from the Internet
3.3 0.04 507 49.7 33.8 11.3 3.3 1.9
Distinguish the credibility of Internet information/news
2.8 0.05 508 26.4 36.2 26.9 7.2 3.3
Use Internet securely 3.2 0.04 507 41.5 37.8 16.7 3.2 0.8
Protect the computer from a virus/hacker attack
2.8 0.05 506 34.2 30.5 24.2 8.4 2.8
Deliver documents/information to others 3.5 0.04 508 64.0 22.7 9.9 1.6 1.8
Solve problems related to learning 2.9 0.04 510 27.1 43.3 23.2 4.9 1.6
S2
Solve problems related to daily life 2.7 0.05 510 24.7 34.8 26.5 11.4 2.6
% of students choosing the option
Self-perceived proficiency Mean
(0-4)
SE N
Highly proficient
Basically proficient
Know some
Not proficient
Know nothing
at all Switch the computer on and shutdown
correctly
3.8 0.02 509 85.2 11.8 2.3 0.0 0.7
Use computer software for self learning 2.8 0.04 508 22.4 46.0 25.0 5.1 1.6 Use an electronic/Internet dictionary/
encyclopedia
3.0 0.04 509 33.5 38.7 21.3 4.8 1.7
Input Chinese texts 3.3 0.04 508 49.6 34.3 11.7 2.8 1.7
Do homework/write reports 3.1 0.04 507 32.5 46.4 17.2 2.0 1.8
Create statistical diagrams 2.4 0.04 509 12.8 35.7 37.2 10.4 3.8
Create presentation materials 2.8 0.04 509 22.5 46.3 20.6 7.5 3.1
Search for information from the Internet 3.5 0.04 505 61.9 26.8 8.2 1.4 1.7
Create a webpage/set up a website 2.0 0.05 508 8.7 22.7 36.7 19.0 12.9
Produce a multimedia clip/animation 1.6 0.05 506 4.9 16.4 32.0 29.0 17.8
Edit an image or typeset 2.4 0.05 507 18.7 32.6 29.8 12.4 6.6
Create/use a database 1.8 0.05 509 5.4 21.2 36.7 23.9 12.8
Share/discuss in a news group/discussion forum
2.3 0.06 507 17.4 29.5 28.5 16.9 7.8
Download information/software from the Internet
3.2 0.04 509 45.4 38.5 11.8 2.5 1.9
Distinguish the credibility of Internet information/news
2.7 0.04 509 21.6 40.5 27.6 6.5 3.8
Use Internet securely 3.0 0.04 509 34.4 41.6 18.2 4.0 1.9
Protect the computer from a virus/hacker attack
2.7 0.04 507 26.7 36.3 24.6 10.1 2.4
Deliver documents/information to others 3.4 0.04 509 61.3 26.1 9.8 1.4 1.5
Solve problems related to learning 2.7 0.04 509 19.5 42.0 30.7 5.2 2.7
S4
Solve problems related to daily life 2.7 0.04 509 21.6 39.5 27.3 7.8 3.8 Switch the computer on and shutdown
correctly
3.8 0.02 463 86.7 11.6 1.6 0.1 0.0
Use computer software for self learning 2.8 0.04 463 19.6 49.1 25.3 5.3 0.7 Use an electronic/Internet dictionary/
encyclopedia
3.1 0.04 463 35.9 41.3 16.8 6.0 0.0
Input Chinese texts 3.2 0.04 463 43.4 35.2 15.5 5.1 0.8
Do homework/write reports 3.1 0.04 463 36.9 46.1 11.9 5.2 0.0
Create statistical diagrams 2.3 0.07 463 11.6 36.8 30.0 17.1 4.6
Create presentation materials 2.6 0.05 462 18.4 46.4 22.1 9.3 3.7
Search for information from the Internet 3.6 0.02 463 60.7 35.7 3.3 0.3 0.0
Create a webpage/set up a website 1.6 0.07 463 6.8 21.5 23.7 23.9 24.1
Produce a multimedia clip/animation 1.1 0.06 463 2.1 10.8 19.5 32.0 35.6
Edit an image or typeset 2.2 0.05 462 9.8 30.4 34.6 17.2 8.0
Create/use a database 1.4 0.05 462 2.4 11.5 28.9 33.4 23.9
Share/discuss in a news group/discussion forum
2.5 0.05 462 17.2 37.5 25.9 13.3 6.1
Download information/software from the Internet
3.2 0.03 463 41.9 41.0 14.5 2.4 0.2
Distinguish the credibility of Internet information/news
2.6 0.04 461 16.8 40.8 32.9 7.4 2.1
Use Internet securely 2.9 0.04 462 24.7 44.5 24.7 5.4 0.7
Protect the computer from a virus/hacker attack
2.6 0.04 463 21.8 33.3 26.8 14.5 3.6
Deliver documents/information to others 3.5 0.03 462 57.5 36.2 5.4 0.9 0.0
Solve problems related to learning 2.8 0.03 463 21.0 47.5 25.9 4.8 0.8
S6
Solve problems related to daily life 2.8 0.04 463 22.4 47.8 22.1 7.3 0.5
Table 7.37 shows the students’ responses to the second part of the ITLA. The highest proportions rated themselves as basically or highly proficient on searching for information on the Internet (S2: 90.6%, S4: 88.7%, S6: 96.4%), delivering documents and information to others via the web (S2: 86.7%, S4:
87.4%, S6: 93.7%), inputting Chinese texts (S2: 87.5%, S4: 83%, S6: 78.6%), doing homework using, for example, Word (S2: 84.6%, S4: 78.9%, S6: 83%) and downloading information from the Internet (S2: 83.5%, S4:83.9%, S6:82.9%). On most of the others 70% or less of the S2 students, 75% or less of the S4 students and 60% or less of the S6 students reported themselves to be basically or highly
Chapter 7: General Findings from Secondary School Sector
proficient.
The three applications that had the lowest proportions of students reporting themselves to know the basics or be proficient were the same across all grade levels: newsgroups (50.5% for S2, 46.9% for S4 and 54.7% for S6), databases (37.9% for S2, 26.6% for S4 and 13.9% for S6) and producing a multimedia clip (34.1% for S2, 21.3% for S4 and 12.9% for S6). It is interesting to note that there is a decrease from S2 to S6 in their perceptions of proficiency at producing multimedia clips and using databases, but more S6 students perceive themselves to be proficient at using newsgroups than S2 and S4 students. Two particularly marked trends are the steady decline from S2 to S6 in their reported proficiency to create statistical diagrams using, for example, Excel and edit images, for example with Paint.
Overall there is a reasonably high proportion of students who said that they were basically or highly proficient at using IT to solve real problems (59.5% of S2, 61.1% of S4 and 70.2% of S6 students) and to solve problems related to learning (70.4% of S2, 61.5% of S4 and 68.5% of S6 students).