Assessment of Information Literacy and Its Relationship With Learning Outcomes

Author(s):  
Fernando Martínez-Abad ◽  
Patricia Torrijos-Fincias ◽  
Adriana Gamazo ◽  
María José Rodríguez Conde

The global integration of competence-based education and training systems and the search for a generalized common framework for the incorporation of key competences in the curriculums of national education systems have generated a growing need for information literacy as a way of advancing to the awaited knowledge society. Large-scale assessments of student performance present criterion variables such as language, mathematics, or science, but it is noticeable how these assessments leave aside contents from other key competences such as information literacy. This chapter shows a theoretical approach to the subject and an example of an empirical study that aims to shed some light to the topic of information literacy by analysing the relationship between the level of information literacy shown by a student and their academic performance in subjects such as language and mathematics. The results suggest that it is possible to develop an instrument for the assessment of the complex information literacy competence, and which is also easy to administer in the classroom.

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-407
Author(s):  
Daniel Naveed Tavakol ◽  
Karen Emmons

Since fall 2015, the University of Virginia’s (UVA) Engineering Student Council (ESC) has partnered with the nonprofit Virginia Science Olympiad (VASO) organization to host a Science Olympiad (SciOly) state tournament in Charlottesville, Virginia, each spring. This annual tournament brings over 2,000 middle and high school students, teachers, and parents to the UVA campus, and teams of 15–17 people from roughly 90 schools across Virginia participate in 46 different events (23 middle school, Division B; 23 high school, Division C) relating to the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields throughout the day-long competition. The national SciOly organization sets the events and rules to comply with national education standards, and the VASO board coordinates the teams and tournaments within the state. By collaborating with VASO, UVA ESC was able to plan a large-scale SciOly tournament at UVA in approximately 10 mo with the support of the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science. Since this event was planned and executed solely by undergraduates in cooperation with the nonprofit organization, there were institutional hurdles that were overcome through the months of planning. The Virginia SciOly state tournament has continued to be held at UVA with the support and cooperation of the UVA ESC and VASO, and bringing this tournament to UVA has allowed for increased excitement for participating K–12 students and a mitigated burden to the VASO organizers in planning the state competition. This paper aims to provide a resource for other universities to support STEM activities in K–12 outreach organizations, like SciOly, in the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Niemann ◽  
Kerstin Martens

As the policy field of education has become increasingly internationalized over the last two decades, international organizations like the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) play an increasingly decisive role in the diffusion of knowledge, monitoring, and research in global education policy. Although the OECD lacks any binding or coercive governance instruments in relation to states, or ability to provide material incentives for compliance, it has nevertheless successively expanded its influence regarding education. From a perspective of social constructivism, we argue that the transmission of ideas and information generated through ratings and rankings can be viewed as a crucial governance tool for the influence of an international organization (IO). Our article seeks to analyze how the OECD uses large-scale education assessments to promote the economically based idea of human capital and related learning techniques in education policy – thus influencing national education systems. Furthermore, the OECD and its distinctive approach of soft governance through putative hard fact may become a role model for other IOs, both in the field of education and beyond.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oren Pizmony-Levy ◽  
James Harvey ◽  
William H. Schmidt ◽  
Richard Noonan ◽  
Laura Engel ◽  
...  

Purpose – This paper presents a moderated discussion on popular misconceptions, benefits and limitations of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs, clarifying how ILSA results could be more appropriately interpreted and used in public policy contexts in the USA and elsewhere in the world. Design/methodology/approach – To bring key issues, points-of-view and recommendations on the theme to light, the method used is a “moderated policy discussion”. Nine commentaries were invited to represent voices of leading ILSA scholars/researchers and measurement experts, juxtaposed against views of prominent leaders of education systems in the USA that participate in ILSA programs. The discussion is excerpted from a recent blog published by Education Week. It is moderated with introductory remarks from the guest editor and concluding recommendations from an ILSA researcher who did not participate in the original blog. References and author biographies are presented at the end of the article. Findings – Together, the commentaries address historical, methodological, socio-political and policy issues surrounding ILSA programs vis-à-vis the major goals of education and larger societal concerns. Authors offer recommendations for improving the international studies themselves and for making reports more transparent for educators and the public to facilitate greater understanding of their purposes, meanings and policy implications. Originality/value – When assessment policies are implemented from the top down, as is often the case with ILSA program participation, educators and leaders in school systems tend to be left out of the conversation. This article is intended to foster a productive two-way dialogue among key ILSA actors that can serve as a stepping-stone to more concerted policy actions within and across national education systems.


MRS Bulletin ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 27-31
Author(s):  
Irene D. Hays

In April 1991, President Bush unveiled “America 2000,” a national strategy for improving the overall performance of students in America's school system. He and the nation's governors developed the strategy as a result of the historical Charlottesville Summit, held in Virginia in 1989.America 2000 focuses on six national education goals, three directly related to mathematics and science education. Goal 4, in particular, states that “by the year 2000, US. students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement.” By the Year 2000, the report of the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology (FCCSET) Committee on Education and Human Resources (CEHR) details the federal government's strategic objectives for meeting this goal.The primary objectives outlined in the report focus on (1) improving student performance, (2) providing a strong precollege work force, (3) ensuring an adequate pipeline for the science and engineering work force, including increased participation of underrepresented groups, and (4) improving public science literacy. I'll discuss later how a revolutionary materials science and technology curriculum developed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) and Northwest teachers has proved to be a model for meeting these objectives.The FCCSET/CEHR report identified precollege as the educational level receiving the highest priority. At this level, the strategy for achieving the objectives is structured around (1) improving teacher preparation and enhancement, (2) reforming curricula, (3) organizing systemic reform, and (4) providing student incentives and opportunities.


Diagnostica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-157
Author(s):  
Martin Senkbeil ◽  
Jan Marten Ihme

Zusammenfassung. ICT Literacy legt eine performanzbasierte Erfassung mit simulierten und interaktiven Testaufgaben nahe. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht, ob mit Multiple-Choice (MC)-Aufgaben ein vergleichbares Konstrukt wie mit Simulationsaufgaben erfasst wird. Hierfür wurden die Testergebnisse zweier Instrumente aus aktuellen Large-Scale-Studien gegenübergestellt, die an N = 2 075 Jugendlichen erhoben wurden: der auf MC-Aufgaben basierende ICT Literacy-Test für Klasse 9 des Nationalen Bildungspanels (National Educational Panel Study, NEPS) und der simulationsbasierte Kompetenztest der internationalen Schulleistungsstudie ICILS 2013 (International Computer and Information Literacy Study). Die Analysen unterstützen die Gültigkeit der Konstruktinterpretation des MC-basierten Tests in NEPS. Im Sinne der konvergenten Evidenz korrelieren die MC-Aufgaben substanziell mit den computer- und simulationsbasierten Aufgaben in ICILS 2013 (.68 ≤  r ≤ .90). Weiterhin ergeben sich positive und für beide Tests vergleichbar hohe Korrelationen mit ICT-bezogenen Schülermerkmalen (z. B. Selbstwirksamkeit). Weiterführende Analysen zum Zusammenhang mit allgemeinen kognitiven Fähigkeiten zeigen zudem, dass ICT Literacy und kognitive Grundfähigkeiten distinkte Faktoren repräsentieren.


Author(s):  
Mary Anne Beckie ◽  
Leanne Hedberg ◽  
Jessie Radies

In order for local food initiatives (LFIs) to have a transformative effect on the larger food system, greater levels of economic, organizational and physical scale are needed. One way for LFIs to reach the scale necessary to generate a more significant impact is through increased institutional procurement of local foods. But how do people and organizations come together to generate the social infrastructure required to shift food purchasing practices and processes? This field report shares the story of an innovative community of practice consisting of institutional food buyers, large-scale distributors, regional retailers, processors, producers, researchers, municipal and provincial government representatives within the Edmonton city-region that formed for the express purpose of “creating a positive community impact by getting more local foods on more local plates”. In describing the formation and first three years of the Alberta Flavour Learning Lab we examine the unique characteristics of this community of practice that has aided the development of a common framework for learning, understanding and joint action. In addition to the accomplishments to date, we also discuss the challenges faced by the Learning Lab and the strategies used to overcome them.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 205395172110031
Author(s):  
Fabian Stephany

Digital technologies are radically transforming our work environments and demand for skills, with certain jobs being automated away and others demanding mastery of new digital techniques. This global challenge of rapidly changing skill requirements due to task automation overwhelms workers. The digital skill gap widens further as technological and social transformation outpaces national education systems and precise skill requirements for mastering emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, remain opaque. Online labour platforms could help us to understand this grand challenge of reskilling en masse. Online labour platforms build a globally integrated market that mediates between millions of buyers and sellers of remotely deliverable cognitive work. This commentary argues that, over the last decade, online labour platforms have become the ‘laboratories’ of skill rebundling; the combination of skills from different occupational domains. Online labour platform data allows us to establish a new taxonomy on the individual complementarity of skills. For policy makers, education providers and recruiters, a continuous analysis of complementary reskilling trajectories enables automated, individual and far-sighted suggestions on the value of learning a new skill in a future of technological disruption.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Kochmar ◽  
Dung Do Vu ◽  
Robert Belfer ◽  
Varun Gupta ◽  
Iulian Vlad Serban ◽  
...  

AbstractIntelligent tutoring systems (ITS) have been shown to be highly effective at promoting learning as compared to other computer-based instructional approaches. However, many ITS rely heavily on expert design and hand-crafted rules. This makes them difficult to build and transfer across domains and limits their potential efficacy. In this paper, we investigate how feedback in a large-scale ITS can be automatically generated in a data-driven way, and more specifically how personalization of feedback can lead to improvements in student performance outcomes. First, in this paper we propose a machine learning approach to generate personalized feedback in an automated way, which takes individual needs of students into account, while alleviating the need of expert intervention and design of hand-crafted rules. We leverage state-of-the-art machine learning and natural language processing techniques to provide students with personalized feedback using hints and Wikipedia-based explanations. Second, we demonstrate that personalized feedback leads to improved success rates at solving exercises in practice: our personalized feedback model is used in , a large-scale dialogue-based ITS with around 20,000 students launched in 2019. We present the results of experiments with students and show that the automated, data-driven, personalized feedback leads to a significant overall improvement of 22.95% in student performance outcomes and substantial improvements in the subjective evaluation of the feedback.


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