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Picking a Technology Literacy Assessment Tool

3/30/2017

You Are Here

Knowing where you are starting your journey is the first step to take before

choosing and prioritizing destinations on your technology literacy bucket list. It

doesnt help to locate the food court of the MOA map if I dont know where I am in

the mall. Those who consult the Mall Map see a locator indicating YOU ARE HERE.

Then the glossary of locations are scanned to quickly locate the destination you are

seeking. Knowing where you are and where you want to go still doesnt get you to

your location. Now as you view the Mall of America map and see the 4 levels and

the indoor park, you must consider the best path to your distention. So it is with

becoming a Tech-Savvy Guru, you must assess your starting place on the

Technology Literacy map and then choose the most important destination

depending on the context of your skills and immediate needs in your educational

setting. There are frameworks being developed to aid educators in assessing their
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knowledge and skill level. Choose one of the frameworks to start you on your self-

assessment project.

1. Digital Media Literacy

Atomic Learning's Self-Assessment Tool (Hoonut - assess- yourself, 2017) is

useful for reviewing your knowledge and skill level with digital media literacy. The

five media areas include text, numbers, images, sounds and video. The abilities to

work with these range from collecting, to composing and finally to communicating.

The area of composing is broken into three steps: organizing, manipulating and

formatting. If I know nothing about the skill I rate myself with a zero. I get a 1 for

being aware of it but not having tried it out. A 2 is given if I can use it with some

help. 3 is for when I can do it independently. To earn a 4, I must be able to teach it

to others. The tool includes an ability statement and examples plus links to tutorials

on the skill. After you complete the assessment you can email the results to yourself

or others.
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https://www.atomiclearning.com/assess-yourself

2. Growth Mindset

How do you rate on the Growth Mindset scale? Growth Mindset (Potuck, 2017) is

a necessity to becoming proficient in anything. If you want to become a tech-savvy

guru you will need to have a growth mindset. Once you have assessed that you are

operating with a growth mindset, you can proceed to assessing your skill and

knowledge level in the elements that pertain to technology literacy.

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3. ISTE Standards

Laurie Strand gave an overview, to the best practice standards set by the

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in her study entitled

Literacy in the Digital Age (2014). She also provided an evaluative tool for

educators to employ to evaluate their perceived adeptness with the knowledge and

skills needed to teach in the Digital Age. The focus of ISTE standards is to see that

educators are connecting content knowledge to the learners digital knowledge and

capabilities as a new and important goal of teaching in the Digital Age (Sharp,

2014). There are five basic standards for teachers to exhibit as literacy educators of

Digital Age learners. First, teachers need to facilitate and inspire student learning

and creativity. Second, they need to design and develop digital age learning

experiences and assessments. Third, teachers should model digital age work and

learning. Fourth, they need to promote and model digital citizenship and
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responsibility. Fifth, teachers need to engage in professional growth and leadership

(International, 2008). Students enter todays classrooms with off-site or homegrown

technology skills and functions to interact with their peers, connect with the world

and access information (Sharp, 2014, p. 75) and by applying these standards

teacher can facilitate the transfer of these skills into the learning context.

As constructivist educators seek to know their students in order to facilitate and

inspire student learning and creativity, teachers in the Digital Age need to know

what level of digital fluency each of their students possess when they enter the

classroom. Digital fluency assessments should include the students access to

devices and the Internet, their frequency habits, their informal purposes for using

these devices, and their own perception of their digital fluency (Sharp, 2014).

Besides using technology as a means to deliver information, teachers need to plan

projects that will facilitate students using technology to practice making meaning

that transcends language and includes photography, art, music, video, and audio

representations. Online book clubs and Twitter are a few Internet apps for innovative

uses that students and teachers can use with their digital mobile devices.

One way teachers design and develop Digital Age learning experiences and

assessments, Sharp (2014) pointed out, is to use mobile devices to collect and

analyze data as a way to monitor student literacy skills such as reading fluency and

mastery. Teachers, demonstrate digital fluency through the ability to apply current

digital knowledge to new situations and new technology tools. Teachers, using

security and safety techniques with their digital devices and practicing legal and

ethical values in their technology practices, are modeling and promoting digital

citizenship and responsibility. It is important for teachers to address the concerns of

the Digital Health Initiative that among other things, covers the areas of cyber
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bullying and sexting. Modeling and training students with a Digital Code of Conduct

is part of guiding them to discern appropriate and inappropriate uses of technology.

Privacy protection includes how to exercise freedom of speech responsibility in a

virtual environment and responsibility includes the respect for intellectual property

of others and protected copy righted digital ware such as music, videos and games.

Responsible digital behavior needs to begin at kindergarten (Sharp, 2014) or from

the beginning uses of any digital technology for pre-K children.

The third standard addressed in Sharps overview of the ISTE is the importance

of educators to stay current through engaging in professional growth and learning

effective uses of technology. Teachers can begin by establishing a certain mindset

to foster learners understandings of content using Web 2.0 interactive tools, to

read and write in electronic environments (Sharp, 2014). Second, educators need to

frame the World Wide Web as a literary issue not as a technology issue. Through

this approach, all areas of content will be given technology support, which would

lead to the World Wide Web being integrated with content knowledge (Sharp, 2014).

Finally, educators need to pursue continual professional growth to learn technology

pedagogical content knowledge.

In the final standard recommended by the ISTE, Sharp elaborated on the Digital

Learning Collaborative, which encompasses teachers considering use of technology

in the classroom, learning how to master the use of a technology tool and working

in collaborative teams consisting of three to five members for support (Sharp,

2014). Learning requires time and is optimal in a social context; therefore, teachers

will experience more success through a collaborative environment.

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Sharp used her overview of the ISTE to construct an evaluative tool for literacy

educators. The survey tool can be adapted to use with any content educator.

Educators can use the tool to establish their personal perception of their application

of best practices for teaching digital native students. With the data they create,

they can measure their perceived level of proficiency with each knowledge and skill

area for digital age teaching according to the ISTE standard for teachers. The tool

will provide data for individual and collective uses. Teachers and leaders can learn

strengths and weaknesses in themselves or in their staff and devise a plan for the

areas that need improvement. Teachers and administrators can use the results to

guide literacy educators plans for professional development. A literacy educator or

coach might use the tool to conduct a campus wide survey to analyze the staffs

digital fluency and use the data to create a campus plan for overall improvement of

digital literacy for the staff (Sharp, 2014).

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Sharp, L. A. (2014). Literacy in the digital age. Language and Literacy Spectrum, 24, 74-85.

Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1034912.pdf

4. Technology Literacy Framework

Randall Davies (2011) framework for measuring technology literacy was the one

I found to be a good fit for understanding how to evaluate varying levels of

technology literacy and its vital connection to effective technology integration.

Technology literate people know what the technology is capable of; they are

able to use the technology proficiently; and they make intelligent decisions about

which technology to use and when to use it (Davies, 2011). In his article on

understanding technology literacy, Davies used a straight forward definition for

technology literacy in educational situations. He defined it as the ability to

effectively use technology (i.e., any tool, piece of equipment or device, electronic or

mechanical) to accomplish required learning tasks (p. 47). Davies developed a

framework for understanding and assessing technology literacy through two

different studies he conducted. The first part of the framework addresses levels of

technology literacy ranging from awareness, to praxis, and finally to phronesis

(Davies, 2011). Those within the awareness level are those who are functionally

illiterate to those who express limited literacy. They are either non users or potential

users of technology whose usage level ranges from none/resistant to limited. The

praxis level of literacy includes those who are the developing and experienced
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learners. This group includes both tentative users whose usage level requires

guidance and direction and capable users who are at the bring it on(p. 48) usage

level. The phronesis literacy level ranges from practical competence to the highest

level of technology literacy, practical wisdom. These users range from expert to

discerning users. Their usage level ranges from power to being selective (Davies,

2011).

The second part of the framework describes the characteristics of users at

various levels of technology literacy. At the awareness level the typical learner

activities include hearing about new technologies and learning of capabilities of new

technologies. They are able to answer questions about what the technology does (p.

48). The praxis level is where learners interact with the technology at basic levels

and become skilled with the basic uses and functions of the technology. They

accomplish simple tasks with it and answer questions on how to use it. These users

move from novice use to enthusiastic use but they require the expert guidance and

practice involving simulated problem solving activities to become capable users

(Davies, 2011).

At the highest levels of technology literacy, phronesis level, the learners have

become adept and skilled at learning new technologies. They approach using

technology to accomplish learning tasks without fear or intimidation. They can

answer the why questions, such as Why do I use or not use technology in this

specific situation? (Davies, 2011, p. 49). At this level learners are involved in

reflective practice, and are continually refining their skills and abilities. This level of

practical competence and practical wisdom requires the application in authentic

situations. Students working at this level of literacy must have an understanding of

the learning task and recognize ways the technology will help him or her achieve
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that learning goal (Davies, 2011). These users know why the technology is being

used or not being used for a given situation. The teacher must design a

performance assessment involving an authentic situation to measure this level of

technology literacy (Davies, 2011).

The framework Davies developed has important implication for evaluating

technology integration in learning situations. Teachers and students both move

through the various levels of technology literacy, through awareness, praxis and

phronesis. The teachers must develop proficiency with technology before using it as

a teaching tool. Guided practice seems to be the best way to gain instructional

effectiveness and efficiency verses self-discovery. It requires less time and gets the

learners working on the tasks more quickly (Davies, 2011). To attain the highest

level of technology literacy the learner must be provided with an authentic

situation for which they are allowed to select the learning technologies (Davies,

2011, p. 50). The evidence of technology literacy is seen in the learners ability to

transfer knowledge to unique situations. As teachers reach this level of literacy they

will be experiencing their classroom as their authentic situation. Teachers use their

content knowledge and their pedagogical knowledge and as they attain technology

literacy they apply their practical wisdom in selecting the right technology for a

given learning task (Davies 2011). This is the picture of effective technology

integration. Finally, the teachers and the students levels of technology literacy can

be evaluated based on why they are using the technology and how well they used it

to accomplish the learning task (Davies, 2011).

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Davies, R. (2011). Understanding technology literacy: A framework for evaluating

educational technology integration. TechTrends, 55(5), 45-52.