Comments on: Two Very Different Types of Literacy http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333 Just what it says! Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:27:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Todd http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333&cpage=1#comment-2341 Todd Sat, 14 Jan 2006 16:55:04 +0000 http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333#comment-2341 I completely agree with you. It is messy to measure true student achievement and all the ETS standardized tests in the world mean little when taken down to their real value, instead of being held up as *the* way to measure how effective schools are. Those tests measure how well students take tests, not how much they actually know. Alternate assessments are needed as much in the classroom as in "school accountability," or whatever passes for that. When measuring something like student achievement, I wonder if there actually is an objective way of doing it or if it is a subjective thing. Are we once again trying to take a subjective art and turn it into an objective science? Since information and technology literacy are different skills, they cannot be blended into one set of standards. Perhaps we can have an agreed upon set of information literacy standards and a set of technology literacy standards, but the two are not the same skill. Information literacy may require technology literacy at times, and vice versa, but they simply are not the same thing. I've looked at those fax-copy-printer machines in the past and they all do one of the three things adequately, but the other two functions are unacceptable. Maybe we can have a combined set of standards where the information literacy standards are merely OK, but the technology literacy standards would likely suffer. I completely agree with you. It is messy to measure true student achievement and all the ETS standardized tests in the world mean little when taken down to their real value, instead of being held up as *the* way to measure how effective schools are. Those tests measure how well students take tests, not how much they actually know. Alternate assessments are needed as much in the classroom as in “school accountability,” or whatever passes for that. When measuring something like student achievement, I wonder if there actually is an objective way of doing it or if it is a subjective thing. Are we once again trying to take a subjective art and turn it into an objective science?

Since information and technology literacy are different skills, they cannot be blended into one set of standards. Perhaps we can have an agreed upon set of information literacy standards and a set of technology literacy standards, but the two are not the same skill. Information literacy may require technology literacy at times, and vice versa, but they simply are not the same thing.

I’ve looked at those fax-copy-printer machines in the past and they all do one of the three things adequately, but the other two functions are unacceptable. Maybe we can have a combined set of standards where the information literacy standards are merely OK, but the technology literacy standards would likely suffer.

]]> By: Scott McLeod http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333&cpage=1#comment-2339 Scott McLeod Fri, 13 Jan 2006 12:50:34 +0000 http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333#comment-2339 I had the opportunity a few months ago to see a demonstration of the ETS ICT Literacy Assessment (http://www.ets.org, click on Tests, scroll down to ICT Literacy Assessment). It's a scenario-based test - a completely new paradigm for ETS, which the ETS rep said was challenging but also exciting for its psychometricians to try and wrap their heads around. The ETS site lets you see how the test works (http://www.ets.org/Media/Products/ICT_Literacy/demo/menu.html) - I'd encourage you to check it out. It may not be ideal, but I think it's a lot further from your typical standardized test than one might expect. An interesting attempt to blend both the technology and information literacy skills needed by future generations - at least it offers some food for thought... I had the opportunity a few months ago to see a demonstration of the ETS ICT Literacy Assessment (http://www.ets.org, click on Tests, scroll down to ICT Literacy Assessment). It’s a scenario-based test – a completely new paradigm for ETS, which the ETS rep said was challenging but also exciting for its psychometricians to try and wrap their heads around. The ETS site lets you see how the test works (http://www.ets.org/Media/Products/ICT_Literacy/demo/menu.html) – I’d encourage you to check it out. It may not be ideal, but I think it’s a lot further from your typical standardized test than one might expect. An interesting attempt to blend both the technology and information literacy skills needed by future generations – at least it offers some food for thought…

]]> By: Doug Johnson http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333&cpage=1#comment-2337 Doug Johnson Thu, 12 Jan 2006 17:15:36 +0000 http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=1333#comment-2337 I respectfully disagree. http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2006/1/12/one-set-of-standards-please.html Doug I respectfully disagree.

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2006/1/12/one-set-of-standards-please.html

Doug

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