Internet use for school and in leisure time and its connection to Computer and Information Literacy in 8th grade students

Author(s):

Egon Werlen(presenting / submitting)Barbara Zimmermann

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

16. ICT in Education and Training

Format:

Paper

Session Information

16 SES 02 B, Increasing Skills and Information Literacy

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

15:15-16:45

Room:

307. [Main]

Chair:

Colin Harrison

Contribution

The objectives of this research with 8^th grade students are to find different groups of Internet use and to analyse the influence of their Internet use on computer and information literacy (CIL).

Therefore we formulated three research questions:

Are there differences of Internet use for school compared to Internet use in leisure time?
Are there distinct types of Internet use among 8^th grade students?
What’s the connection among user types and students’ CIL?

There are some recent studies searching for typologies of youth Internet use. Holmes (2011) found a typology of three groups in 12 to 15 year olds: limited users, informational users, and creational/communicative users. Eynon and Malmberg (2011) differentiated four types of Internet use in young people: peripherals, normatives, all-rounders, and active participators, which were differentiated by individual characteristics and contextual features. Livingstone and Helsper (2007) found in 9 to 19 year olds a continuum of non-us to use of Internet and defined four main graduations: non-users, occasional users, weekly users, and daily users. The more Internet use, the more they self-label themselves as skilled. Brandtzæg et al. (2011) analysed in a large European sample (ages 16-74) fife user groups: Non-Users (42%), Sporadic Users (18%), Instrumental Users (18%), Entertainment Users (10%), and Advanced Users (12%). As in Eynon et al. (2011) the differences are related to individual characteristics and contextual features (e.g. country, age, access, household members, and gender).

Computer and information literacy as part of media literacy means, to acting competent, the necessary requirements (knowledge, skills, values and motivation) are needed to handle computers and information in all life’s domains (home, school, work, society). This paper is based on data of the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS 2013). In ICILS we measured CIL as performances handling information and ICT including knowledge, skills, and understanding that students adapt and apply in new contexts (Fraillon et al., 2013).

To measure CIL few tests were developed: e.g. the tests for information and ICT competences (TILT; Senkbeil et al., 2013) for the National Education Panel Study in Germany, the ICILS-preceding studies in Australia (ACARA, 2012), the digital reading literacy in PISA (OECD, 2011), the Instant Digital Competence Assessment (iDCA) und the Situated Digital Competence Assessment (sDCA) by Calvani et al. (2010), and the ETS iSkills Assessment (Katz, 2007).

As far as we know, there are no studies connecting distinct Internet user groups in students to test-measured computer and information literacy.

Method

Data for this paper are from the sample collected for ICILS 2013 in Switzerland. The values for CIL are part of the international study, the Internet use for school and leisure time of the national supplementary study within ICILS 2013. There participated 3225 8th grade students (48% girls) with a mean age of 14.69 years, nearly all of public schools (96%), form all parts of Switzerland with exception of the cantons Vaud, Geneva and three Swiss German cantons. Because of drop outs and not responding of questions this paper bases on 3050 students (95%). Use of Internet for school and in leisure time was the first part of the national supplementary questionnaire. The Students responded five yes/no questions to the purposes of Internet use (information seeking, communication, entertainment, shopping and e-learning). Affirmative answers lead to further questions about frequency of Internet use for the corresponding purposes for school and in leisure time (1=never; 2=less than once a month; 3=at least once a month, but not every week; 4=at least once a weak, but not every day; 5=every day). Students had to answer all questions, and could always choose the option “no answer”. Further questions concerned the location (school, leisure time) where students learned to use Internet. CIL was measured with purpose-designed software administered via USB drives attached to school computers or notebook provided for the assessment. After administration data were uploaded to a server. The student test of CIL consisted in four 30-minute modules of questions and tasks based on a real-life theme and following a linear narrative structure. Each module had a series of small discrete tasks followed by a large task. The measured CIL consists of two strands with a receptive purpose – collecting and managing information – and a productive purpose – producing and exchanging information. Each student completed two modules randomly allocated from the set of four (Fraillon et al., 2014). Statistical analyses were carried out with SPSS 20 (quick cluster, oneway variance analysis).

Expected Outcomes

The most frequent Internet use for school is information seeking (at least once a month), followed by communication, entertainment, and e-learning (all once or less than once a month). Shopping on Internet for school practically does not exist. Internet use in leisure time is generally much higher (information search, communication, entertainment all at least once a week; e-learning and shopping on Internet less than once a month). The sample was divided with a cluster analysis (quick cluster, Wart method) of the fife purposes of Internet use for school into three groups: frequent users (26%), information and entertainment users (22%), and rare users (52%). Independently, there were found three groups for leisure time Internet use: frequent users (58%), communication and entertainment users (25%), and rare users (17%). The frequent Internet users for school show the highest CIL (537 points), significantly different from the rare users (523 points) and the information/entertainment users (515 points). A similar pattern results for leisure time Internet use: The frequent users have the highest values on CIL (534 points), significantly different from communication/entertainment users (514 points) and rare users (513 points). The results correspond to Singer et al. (2012) of a small adult sample. “In the case of simple task [Internet search] people who are more active on the Internet and regularly perform various kinds of activities from information seeking over communicating to entertainment related activities (both in their leisure time as well as professionally) perform significantly better than their less active counterparts”. Livingstone et al. (2011) found a similar result in a mixed age sample with self-labelled skills.

References

ACARA. (2012). National Assessment Program—ICT literacy: Years 6 & 10 report 2011. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Retrieved the 25.09.2014 Brandtzæg, P. B., Heim,J., & Karahasanovic´, A. (2011). Understanding the new digital divide: A typology of Internet users in Europe. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 69(3), 123–138. Calvani, A., Fini, A. & Ranieri, M. (2010). Digital competence in K-12. Theoretical models, assessment tools and empirical research. Anàlisi, 40, 157-171. Eynon, R., & Malmberg, L.-E. (2011). A typology of young people’s Internet use: Implications for education. Computers & Education, 56(3), 585-595. Fraillon, J., Ainley, J., Schulz, W., Friedman, T., & Gebhardt, E. (2014). Preparing for life in a digital age: The IEA International Computer and Information Literacy Study international report. Cham: Springer. Fraillon, J., Schulz, W. & Ainley, J. (2013). International Computer and Information Literacy Study. Assessment Framework. Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Education Assessment (IEA). Holmes, J. (2011). Cyberkids or divided generations? Characterising young people’s Internet use in the UK with generic, continuum or typological models. New Media & Society, 13(7), 104-122. Katz, I.R. (2007). Testing information literacy in digital environments: The ETS iSkills™ assessment. Information Technology and Libraries, 26(3), 3–12. OECD (2011). PISA 2009 Results: Students on Line: Digital Technologies and Performance (Volume VI) http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264112995-en Okazaki, S. (2006). What do we know about mobile Internet adopters? A cluster analysis. Information and Management, 43(2), 127-141. Senkbeil, M., Ihme, J.M. & Wittwer, J. (2013). Test zur Erfassung technologischer und informationsbezogener Literacy (TILT) im Nationalen Bildungspanel: Entwicklung, empirische Überprüfung und Validitätshinweise. Journal for Educational Research Online / Journal für Bildungsforschung Online, 5(2), 139–161. Singer, G., Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, P., Norbisrath, U., & Lewandowski, D. (2012). The relationship between Internet user type and user performance when carrying out simple vs. complex search tasks. First Monday ,17(6). http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3960/3245

Author Information

Egon Werlen (presenting / submitting)

Swiss Distance University of Applied Sciences (FFHS)

Institut for Research in Open, Distance and eLearning (IFeL)

Brig

Barbara Zimmermann

Bern University of Applied Sciences (PHBern), Switzerland

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