Rethinking ICT literacy: From computer skills to social network settings

Abstract This paper starts from the perspective that the current conceptualization of educational assessment is out of date, but particularly with regard to conception of information and communication (ICT) literacy. We initially provide a brief summary of the idea of a 21st century skill, then trace the conceptual changes in the idea of ICT literacy in four main steps: First, we briefly describe a concentration of knowledge about computers and their use, coalescing into the concept of ICT literacy in the early years of the field. Second, we describe the transition to a view of ICT literacy as a broad set of skills that have links to many traditional and non-traditional school subjects, and the move to technology integration in education. Third, we see the next transition for ICT literacy expressed as progress variables that are essential tools for the design of curriculum and assessments. Fourth, we discuss the impact of the “social network” perspective on ICT literacy—the critical need for building the power of virtual skills through proficiency with networks of people, information, tools, and resources. In summary, we offer a new framework for assessing student ICT learning, based on a learning progression and social networking point of view. Throughout, we use extensive examples to help illustrate our review of the broad sweep of this development, and, as a part of the conclusion, we speculate about the coming next steps.