Hohlfeld, Tina M., Ritzhaupt, Albert, D., & Barron, Ann E. (2010). Development of Validation of
the Student Tool for Technology (ST2L). Journal of Research for Technology in Education, 42(4),
361-389.
the Student Tool for Technology (ST2L). Journal of Research for Technology in Education, 42(4),
361-389.
This week I read the an article from the Journal of Research of Technology on Education about the Student Tool for Technology Literacy (ST2L). The article discussed schools' reasoning for applying this literacy tool in their middle schools. In 2007, No Child Left Behind required that all eighth grade students in the United States must be documented on their technology literacy. Technology literacy consisted of students being able to perform technological-based tasks while staying within a specific assessment. The assessment was distributed to 106 students in five middle schools in the state of Florida, who had to perform tasks using Email, Spreadsheets, Software, Graphics, Presentation, Video Editing, and Word Processing. Overall, the group of students found the tool to be interesting. 57% of the students found the tool to be too easy for them, which showed in the results. 75% of the students received a score above 70%, meaning that many of the technology tasks may have been easy to accomplish, but also showed the students level of skill. The majority of the students finished the assessment in 30 minutes, and then participated in an hour long discussion group about the tool to get feedback and see if the student was able to provide meaningful content about the assessment.This type of Technology Literacy needs to be planned incredibly in advance and requires a lot of funding. According to the article, the creation of these particular assessments also took some time to develop. The article states that these assessments can be beneficial to literacy, but assessment, no matter what type, takes time.
I found that I agreed with a lot of points in this article. I agree with the statement that assessment takes time for all students, and I was pleased to see that the group of facilitators and teachers who developed the assessment really spent time finding content that would be meaningful to these students. I wasn't surprised that the students performed well on this assessment, since this generation has been exposed more to technology and is already comfortable with using it.
I did have a hard time understand what they meant by literacy in this article, unless they were generally speaking about technological literacy. Regardless of that, I think that this assessment is a great idea for middle students to take. I feel that with the constant enhancement of technology, students should know how to use all of it. Since teachers ranging from Pre-K to High School are encouraged to incorporate technology into their classrooms and lessons, more of this technology will be implemented, and students will have to know how to use it. I think that assessing where a student is in their understanding of technology is another great way to get students prepared for their next level of education.
Katie,
ReplyDeleteLiteracy in this article is referring to computer or technology literacy. Technology literacy means that students reach a certain technology benchmark by a certain grade level. Maryland has it's own set of technology standards for teachers and students.
Students today do have a much better understanding of how to use technology and the Internet. What they have less of is an understanding of what the information means and how it can impact their lives. It is wonderful that there is so much good information available to students, but there is also a lot of false information on the Internet. It is important that students learn the difference so they can be safe while online.