Tech Tally Approaches to Assessing Technological Literacy (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
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, the International Technology Education Association (ITEA, 1996) , and other organizations have also called for Americans to become more savvy about technology.
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Therefore, the starting point for improving technological literacy must be to determine the current level of technological understanding and capabil ity, which areas require improvement first, and how technological literacy varies among different populations -- children and adults, for instance. The goal of the Committee on Assessing Technological Literacy was "to determine the most viable approach or approaches for assessing technological literacy in three distinct populations in the United States: K12 students, K12 teachers, and out-of-school adults."1 The commit tee was not asked to develop assessment tools but to point the way toward their development.
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, schools will have to measure how well they are implementing those standards. Assessments will provide a gauge of how effectively schools promote technological literacy and an indication of where improvements can be made.
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Most of them emphasize the knowledge dimension, although a number include items that explore technological capabilities, and a hand ful even focus solely on the capability dimension. But very few include the 4 T E C H T A L L Y
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modeled after conceptual frameworks developed for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for closely related subjects (e.g., science and mathematics)
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Findings and Recommendations In addition to these general principles, the committee developed findings and 12 related recommendations that address five critical areas (Table ES-1) : instrument development; research on learning; computer based assessment methods; framework development; and public percep tions of technology.
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On a more positive note, the committee finds no reason why valid, reliable assessments cannot be developed that address one or more of the cognitive dimensions and all of the content domains of technological literacy. Items related to ways of critical thinking and decision making may be the most challenging for assessment developers, and items intended to measure design-related capability pose special challenges related to time and resource constraints.
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Recommendation 1. The National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
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Department of Education should fund the development and pilot testing of sample-based assessments of technological literacy among pre-service and in-service teachers of science, technology, English, social studies, and mathematics. These assessments should be informed by carefully developed assessment frameworks.
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Department of Defense, and National Institutes of Health, should consider funding projects to develop and conduct studies of technological literacy. Fi nally, opportunities for integrating relevant knowledge and attitude measures into existing studies, such as the General Social Survey, the National Household Education Survey, and Surveys of Consumers, should be pursued.
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The study should draw on the findings of multidisciplinary research in mathematics learning, spatial reasoning, design thinking, and problem solving. The study should provide guidance on pedagogical, assessment, teacher education, and curricular issues of interest to educators at all levels, teacher-education providers and licensing bodies, education researchers, and federal and state education agencies.
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Informal learning institutions that engage broad populations, such as museums and science centers, should be considered important venues for research on adult learning, particularly related to technological capability. To ensure that the perspectives of adults from a variety of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds are included, studies should also involve community colleges, nonprofit community outreach programs, and other programs that engage diverse populations.
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Recommendation 10. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which has a broad mandate to promote technology development and an extensive track record in organizing research conferences, should convene a major national meeting to explore the potential of innovative, computer-based techniques for assessing technological literacy in students, teachers, and out-of-school adults.
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Department of Education, which both have programmatic activities that address adult literacy, should fund research to de velop a framework for the assessment of technological literacy in this population. The research should focus on determining thresh Confusion about olds of technological literacy necessary for adults to make in the word formed, everyday, technology-related decisions.
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but also the study of technology, as described in the International Technology Education Association Standards for Technological Literacy and the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council report Technically Speaking. Conclusion The committee's recommendations are largely interdependent.
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The case studies range from a nationwide sample of 7th graders to assessments of visitors to a science museum. In addition to summaries of the assessment instruments collected by the committee, the report in cludes excerpts of K12 learning goals related to the study of technology from three sets of content standards (Appendix B)
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A Report of the Survey Conducted by the Gallup Organization for the Interna tional Technology Education Association. Available online at: http:// www.iteaconnect.org/TAA/PDFs/Gallupreport.pdf (October 5, 2005)
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Paper commissioned by the Na tional Research Council Committee on Assessing Technological Literacy. Un published.
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