Student computer literacy to be tested
Alberta’s education ministry has signed students up for another international test — this time, on computer literacy.
Despite calls from the Alberta Teachers’ Association to pull out of international tests that rank countries, thousands of Grade 8 students will participate for the first time in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS).
The tests for the study will be taken in spring 2017 and 2018.
Alberta is the only Canadian province taking part in the exams, which will cost taxpayers $300,000 over five years.
“Alberta participates in international assessments for a number of reasons, including the chance to assess the performance and abilities of its students in an international context,” Larissa Liepins, press secretary for Education Minister David Eggen, said in an email.
The exam tests the abilities of eighth graders in computer use, finding information and assessing its reliability, then asks them to create a simple webpage or information sheet, according to online information about the study.
Liepins said that technology will be central in an upcoming redesign of the curriculum redesign: “We know that these skills are important to students in order to thrive in a diversified economy.”
In spring of 2017, 600 students and 90 teachers from 30 randomly selected Alberta schools will field test the exam, Liepins said.
The main exam takes place one year later, when as many as 4,000 Alberta students and 600 teachers at up to 200 schools will take part in the hour-long test.
The program will also survey students about their access to technology, while separate questionnaires about technology and usage will be completed by teachers, principals and local test co-ordinators.
Twenty-one countries had signed up for the exams as of January, says the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement website.
Ontario, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, took part in the test in 2013, but have not enrolled this time around.
Mark Ramsankar, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, calls the exams a waste of money and poor use of teacher time.
Money being spent by the province to participate in this study could go to hiring staff or buying classroom resources, he said.
“When we’re talking about a time when there’s a premium on educational dollars, is this the best value? Is this the best use of education dollars? The short answer to that is ‘No,’ ” Ramsankar said.
Existing research shows a student’s socio-economic status, access at home to books and technology, and their parents’ levels of education are good predictors of technological literacy, he said. The exams won’t tell teachers anything they don’t already know, he said.