Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 ( 2013 ) 684 – 688

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND
license.
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Ferhan Odabaşı
doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.09.261
ScienceDirect
3rd World Conference on Learning, Teaching and Educational Leadership (WCLTA-2012)
ICT literacy among the students of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of
Mostar
Andrea Ivanković
a
*, Sonja Špiranecb
, Dražan Miljkoc
a
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Mostar, Matice hrvatske bb, 88 000 Mostar, Bosnia and
Herzegovina
b
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lučića 3, 10000 Zagreb,
Croatia
Abstract
Questions about the level of ICT literacy among students are rarely raised due to the common
believe that new generations of students are
internet-savvy and technology-savvy since they grew up in a world saturated by ICTs. These
basic competencies should not be taken for
granted since they affect abilities of new generations to participate in different domains in the
e-society.| Therefore, data is needed about the real
level of ICT's within student populations, and variables these competencies depend upon.
The aim of this study was to determine the level of ICT literacy. It was conducted among 807
students from different study groups
(undergraduate and graduate level). The used questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part
is related to students' personal characteristics,
and the second part consists of a test (we used 15 questions to determine level of their ICT
literacy).
ICT literacy test questions were analyzed via frequencies and percentage according to the
accuracy of the response. The results were presented
on the interval scale, treating the responses from the test as a simple linear combination of
accurate responses. The percentage of the accurate
responses range from 24.56% to 99.01%. The average percentage of the accurate responses
among the students is 62.85%, whereas of the
inaccurate responses is 36.59%. We determined the connection of the questioned level of the
ICT literacy with some characteristics of the
sample and the students' habits of using the computer, as well as self-evaluation of their own
ICT literacy.
© 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer review under the responsibility of Prof. Dr.
Ferhan Odabaşı
Keywords: ICT literacy, students, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Mostar, survey;
1. Introduction
The world that we live in is changing with the development of technology. The trend of
development is so intensive that we
are confronted with the constant increase of new technologies every few years. It is impossible
to predict what will be the
direction of development in the future, but it is certain that we will have to adapt and learn new
things brought by new
technologies. The development of new technologies results in a requirement for improvement
of new human capacities. Different
social and technological discoveries redesign almost every aspect of human life, generating the
need for new literacies such as -
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy, digital literacy, computer literacy,
technological literacy, media
literacy, information literacy, and others.
With the rapid development of information and computer technologies we are more and more
frequently faced with the term
ICT literacy and the broader concept of information literacy, which represent the fundament for
modern society development.
Since today’s society is becoming more dependent on new technologies, a great deal of
attention is paid to ICT literacy which
nowadays is equivalent to the importance of reading, writing and numeracy in the 19th and
20th century. While the traditional
term for literacy meant writing, reading and numeracy, a new term “ 21st century literacy”
stands for communication skills, skills
of using modern information and communication technology, high-quality understanding of
natural and social events, problem
solving and informed decision making, skill and ability for teamwork and continuous learning
(Špiranac & Banek-Zorica, 2008).
ICT literacy could be defined as the ability to use digital technology, communications tools,
and/or networks to access,
manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in a knowledge society
(The International ICT Literacy
Panel, 2002).
* Andrea Ivanković. Tel.: +387-63-359-466
E-mail address: andreaivankovic@gmail.com
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Ferhan Odabaşı
Andrea Ivanković et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 93 ( 2013 ) 684 – 688 685
The basic ICT knowledge and skills that an ICT literate person should own are constantly being
complemented. Therefore,
people need to improve themselves to follow the rapid development of information and
communication technologies. About a
decade ago basic knowledge included computer configuration knowledge and the base use of
operating systems, the elementary
use of word processing programs, spreadsheets and making presentations with computers that
actually belong to computer
literacy.(hoic – Bozic, 2003)
ICT literacy becomes an important precondition for the socialization and professional career.
Therefore, education as an
important factor of social development plays a key role in the ICT literacy.
The term computer literacy has long been used to describe human skills and predisposition to
use computers and information
technologies. Despite the sustained loss of reputation and popularity in recent years, computer
literacy still prevails in the
educational literature, and with the chaining of computers and literacy, communication skills
have become involved. The broader
use of the concept “ICT literacy” has in its roots the need to include as soon as possible
technology dimensions contributed by
developments such as networks and Internet. Most of these skills, that an individual should
acquire to be considered computer
literate, are now often considered to be components of more comprehensive concept of ICT
literacy. (Oliver & Towers, 2000)
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Related literature
Erlich, Zippy and et al., (2009) in the article “The Effect of
Computer Literacy Course on Students’ Attitudes toward Computer
Applications” (EJ816678) which was published in “Journal of Educational
Technology Systems”, (v37, Issue.1, pp.83-95) indicated that the use of
technologies as teaching aids and tools for self-study is influenced by
students’ attitudes toward computers and their applications. The purpose
of this study was to determine whether taking a Computer Literacy and
Applications (CLA) course has an impact on students’ attitudes toward
computer applications, across various undergraduate disciplines. A
Computer Application Attitude (CAA) questionnaire was administered at
the beginning and at the end of the semester to social science students
enrolled in a CLA course. The study population was divided into two
groups according to the students’ field of study: quantitative-oriented and
qualitative-oriented. A significant difference was found in attitudes before
and after the CLA course only in the quantitative group. Based upon the
results of this study, it is recommended to offer different computer literacy
courses to the different groups to improve students’ attitudes toward the
use of these applications.

RELATED STUDIES
Over the last few years a considerable body of literature has developed to describe computer
usage and attitudes toward computers,computer literacy, computer anxiety, computer stress,
perceptions of computers. This broad array of research is multi-disciplinary and incorporates a
wide variety of perspectives and topics. However, at its foundation this research is directed at
influencing a person’s ability to use a computer efficiently.

Chickering collaborated with Ehrmann (1996) studied some principles in light of the growing
influence of IT in the educational forum. Those principles were summarized as follows: IT
encourages communication between students and faculty by increasing the avenues for various
types of synchronous and asynchronous communication – e-mail, computer conferencing, web
access all make new ways of relating possible. IT fosters reciprocity and cooperation among
students – e-mail, discussion boards, and instant messaging present diverse venues for such to
occur. IT promotes active learning techniques by offering students opportunities to engage in
simulations, virtual reality, and augmented reality – all of which provide opportunities for active
learning. IT provides increased opportunities for feedback to students by improving the range of
communication tools that can be used by faculty. IT maximizes time-on-task – at the same time
that IT can make studying more efficient, it also can draw the student into exploring issues
further through the use of hotlinks and the ease of accessing diverse materials. IT promotes high
expectations by fostering improved skills of analysis, synthesis, application, and evaluation. IT
accommodates diverse talents and ways of learning and, thus, can be used to respond to diverse
needs and levels of skill (Chickering and Ehrmann, 1996).

Anandan and Gopal (2011), studied the impact of ICT in classroom instruction. The quality of
education depends to a great extent on the quality of teachers who use innovation in their
teaching aspect through integrating technology in the classroom instruction to give the best to
the students.As technology is a powerful tool for problem solving, conceptual development and
critical thinking, it helps in making the learning process a much easier for the students. ICT has
significant impact in the classroom teaching methodology. Using ICT in the classroom instruction
educators would have enormous positive impact on different aspects, as teachers using ICT can
plan and prepare lessons more effectively and efficiently and teachers become multifacilitators.
Transition, transformation and revolution is the scenario of today‟s educational system.All the
processes of learning are crossing boundaries and barriers. This technology requires a change in
knowledge competencies and skills to deal with technological advancement in networking which
is necessary to establish a network between students, educators, parents, institutions and
libraries in the world over. The teachers have to realize that if the students have to achieve high
level of competency and competitiveness, they have to adopt technology as an integrated tool
in the field of education. Thus teacher may be called as a “Teaching Technician”.
Wighting MJ (2006), has used a mixed method design to determine how far the use of
computers in the classroom affects the sense of learning in a community among high school
students. The main objectives of his study were to study how do high school students describe
classroom community and its importance for their learning and what are the factors student
consider to be important for the development of a sense of classroom community. Secondly to
study the use of technology in their classroom affects students‟ sense of learning in a classroom
community.
Haroon,A.M.(2009): The introduction of ICT into Ghanaian Education curriculum noted that the
students access educational websites for textbooks and other educational information. The
ministry of education had developed ICT policy with support of the Global e-schools and
communities Initiatives(GeSCI).Regarding achievements of the introduction of ICT into the
school‟s curriculum, that increasing number of students have computer awareness, teaching
and learning has became easier with the use of computer, students with high IQ can now find
something to engage them meaningfully, there is keen and healthy competition among schools
of ICT knowledge sharing. However certain challenges are still present such as inadequate
trained personnel to handle the felicitation of the subject, inadequate supply of teaching and
learning materials, lack of infrastructure,lack of administrative support, lack of internet
connectivity,lack of power supply in the rural areas,high cost of ICT services and components
and brain drain syndrome in the area of ICT professional.