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 6.36) only 10.3% of P3 students and 27.2% of P6 had more than 80%

of their answers correct, with 73% of P3 students and 58.5% of P6 students falling into the 50%-80%

category. 16.7% of P3 and 14.3% of P6 students scored lower than 50%. The high percentages scoring 50% correct or more, coupled with the findings reported earlier (Section 6.5.4) 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 6.36: Distribution of students’ ITLA Section 1 scores

P3 (N = 608)

P6 (N = 623)

% of correct

% %

< 50% 16.7 14.3

50 – 80% 73.0 58.5

> 80% 10.3 27.2

Total 100 100

ITLA Section 2 (Self-perceived ability in generic IT skills)

The distribution of students’ ratings on their self-perceived ability in generic IT skills is shown in Table 6.37. At P3 level of Section 2 of the ITLA, the majority of students indicated they were basically proficient or highly proficient at tasks such as switching the computer on and shutting down correctly (91.7%), editing an image (70.5%), inputting Chinese texts (63.8%), using software for self learning (61.5%). More than half said they could use computers to do homework/write reports (51.9%), search for information from the Internet (54.2%) and use the Internet securely (53.4%). These activities probably correspond to what is required of students at this stage. The items on which they performed the lowest were web page design and multimedia use, which is consistent with earlier findings that they have not made very much use of this type of application.

47.9% of the P3 students rated themselves as basically or highly proficient at using IT to solve problems related to learning and 36.3% thought they were not proficient or knew nothing at all about this. 32.9% said they were basically or highly proficient at using IT to solve problems related to daily life, and 51.7% admitted they were not proficient at this or knew nothing about it. However, it must be noted that some of the skills included in this item might not have been expected of these students at this stage.

Most of the P6 students perceived themselves to be basically or highly proficient at most of the tasks, particularly in switching the computer on and shutting down correctly (97.6%), searching information from the Internet (84.3%), delivering documents/information to others electronically (79.7%), inputting Chinese texts (79.6%), using software for self learning (77.5%) and using Internet securely (81%). The P6 students rated themselves more highly than the P3 students did on using IT to solve problems related to learning and to daily living. 66.5% rated themselves as basically or highly proficient and only 12.6% as not proficient or knowing nothing about using IT to solve problems related to learning. 49.1% rated themselves as basically or highly proficient at using IT to solve problems related to daily life, but only 26.2% claimed themselves to be not proficient at or knowing nothing about this.

Chapter 6: General Findings from Primary School Sector

Table 6.37: Distribution of students’ scores in ITLA Section 2 (ITLA, Section 2, Q. 1 – 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

3.7 0.05 606 81.6 10.1 4.8 0.5 3.0

Use computer software for self learning

2.6 0.07 604 33.7 27.8 19.8 5.4 13.2

Use an electronic/Internet dictionary/

encyclopedia

2.2 0.06 596 26.9 22.2 19.7 8.1 23.1

Input Chinese texts 2.7 0.06 598 39.4 24.4 17.7 8.0 10.5

Do homework/write reports 2.3 0.07 604 31.2 20.7 16.5 9.3 22.2

Create statistical diagrams 2.0 0.07 597 23.1 20.7 17.3 11.1 27.8

Create presentation materials 1.9 0.07 600 21.9 19.6 14.5 12.4 31.5

Search for information from the Internet

2.4 0.07 598 34.1 20.1 16.9 9.0 19.9

Create a webpage/set up a website 1.7 0.07 601 19.1 18.2 15.2 10.8 36.7 Produce a multimedia clip/animation 1.8 0.07 598 21.5 15.3 16.4 11.6 35.2

Edit an image or typeset 2.9 0.05 593 48.6 21.9 13.7 7.3 8.5

Create/use a database 1.7 0.07 605 18.1 18.2 16.3 11.7 35.6

Share/discuss in a news group/discussion forum

1.7 0.07 602 17.6 17.6 16.1 10.9 37.8

Download information/software from the Internet

2.0 0.07 603 24.5 17.4 16.3 12.5 29.2

Distinguish the credibility of Internet information/news

1.8 0.07 597 22.8 15.3 17.1 12.7 32.1

Use Internet securely 2.3 0.08 600 32.4 21.0 14.1 12.2 20.4

Protect the computer from a virus/hacker attack

1.9 0.07 597 24.3 17.5 15.9 9.9 32.5

Deliver documents/information to others

1.9 0.08 603 24.1 17.1 13.8 10.9 34.1

Solve problems related to learning 2.2 0.07 606 27.7 20.2 15.8 13.6 22.7 P3

Solve problems related to daily life 1.6 0.08 605 19.5 13.4 15.4 13.2 38.5 Switch the computer on and

shutdown correctly

3.9 0.02 623 91.4 6.2 2.2 0.1 0.1

Use computer software for self learning

3.1 0.04 619 39.7 37.8 17.8 2.8 1.9

Use an electronic/Internet dictionary/

encyclopedia

3.0 0.04 616 37.7 30.9 23.5 4.8 3.1

Input Chinese texts 3.2 0.04 615 52.7 26.9 15.0 3.5 2.0

Do homework/write reports 3.0 0.04 621 39.8 33.1 20.0 4.6 2.6

Create statistical diagrams 2.8 0.05 617 30.2 36.6 22.9 8.3 2.1

Create presentation materials 3.0 0.05 617 42.1 29.9 19.2 5.2 3.6

Search for information from the Internet

3.4 0.05 613 65.3 19.0 10.1 3.2 2.4

Create a webpage/set up a website 2.1 0.06 621 18.0 25.6 24.6 14.8 17.0 Produce a multimedia clip/animation 2.1 0.05 620 15.1 27.6 25.3 16.9 15.1

Edit an image or typeset 3.1 0.05 615 47.6 26.9 15.9 6.5 3.1

Create/use a database 2.0 0.05 622 14.1 25.1 27.3 17.2 16.3

Share/discuss in a news group/discussion forum

2.2 0.06 616 19.8 25.4 20.3 20.0 14.5

Download information/software from the Internet

3.0 0.05 618 43.4 27.4 17.2 7.5 4.6

Distinguish the credibility of Internet information/news

2.7 0.05 615 27.1 32.8 25.6 7.8 6.8

Use Internet securely 3.2 0.04 619 52.4 28.6 12.0 4.7 2.4

Protect the computer from a virus/hacker attack

2.7 0.05 615 33.3 26.7 21.4 11.0 7.6

Deliver documents/information to others

3.2 0.05 623 57.2 22.5 9.1 5.5 5.7

Solve problems related to learning 2.8 0.05 621 33.8 32.7 21.0 8.8 3.8 P6

Solve problems related to daily life 2.3 0.06 623 22.8 26.3 24.7 12.3 13.9

In relation to students’ skills, it is clear from the qualitative analyses described elsewhere in this chapter that primary schools are not actively teaching information literacy as opposed to IT skills and knowledge.