Predictors of Fostering Students` Computer and Information Literacy – Analysis Based on a Representative Sample of Secondary School Teachers in Germany

Author(s):

Ramona Lorenz(presenting / submitting)Wilfried Bos

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

16. ICT in Education and Training

Format:

Paper

Session Information

16 SES 05 A, Media Literacy

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

13:30-15:00

Room:

W4.23

Chair:

Ed Smeets

Contribution

With the increased use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the digital age as well as the need for relevant skills to participate effectively in the modern society new challenges for schools and teachers have emerged in order to foster students’ skills (Anderson, 2008). ICT provides the tools for creating, collecting, storing, and using knowledge as well as for communication and collaboration (Kozma, 2003). The importance of exchanging and transforming knowledge through ICT emphasizes that digital literacy such as computer and information literacy (CIL) isone of the key competencies in the 21^st century (Fraillon, Schulz, & Ainley, 2013; Voogt, Erstad, Dede, & Mishra, 2013).

For Germany, recent findings indicate the need for development in the area of media education in schools. With the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (IEA-ICILS 2013), students’ CIL was measured by means of computer-assisted assessments. The international comparison of the 21 participating countries revealed that students’ average CIL scores in Germany were ranked mid-table. Furthermore, with regard to the five differentiated proficiency levels, it could be shown that one third of the students in Germany achieved scores that placed them within CIL level 1 or below (Fraillon, Ainley, Schulz, Friedman, & Gebhardt, 2014). Thus, there is a huge amount of students in Germany which are attested only rudimentary and basic skills suggesting the assumption that these students might fail to participate effectively in the modern society. Within the highest proficiency level 4 only one percentage of the students in Germany could be located which indicates not only the challenge for schools to promote students basic skills but also to further foster complex performance skills and CIL.

Within the framework of school effectiveness and the understanding of school systems as a multi-level structure a differentiation of input, process, and output levels, nested in specific contexts, can be considered. Within such a framework (e.g. Eickelmann, & Schulz-Zander, 2008), fostering CIL can be seen as a variable at the process level.

In order to describe ICT-related learning methods in instruction used to promote students’ CIL according to the five proficiency levels defined in ICILS 2013, indicators were developed within the scope of the nationwide German study ‘Schule digital – der Länderindikator’(Lorenz, & Endberg, 2015). Based on a representative survey of secondary school teachers in Germany the study has shown that about half to three-quarters of the teachers are fostering students’ respective competencies (ibid.). Furthermore, it could be revealed that teachers’ positive attitudes towards the use of ICT in instruction go along with increased fostering of CIL (Lorenz, & Endberg, 2016). Moreover, factors whose relevance in the context of media education could be empirically demonstrated are school ICT equipment as a factor on the input level as well as ICT-related collaboration among teachers as a process variable (e.g. Law, & Chow, 2008).

It is not clear, however, to what extent these factors on the input and process levels have an effect on the fostering of students’ CIL. Empirically, the connection of input and process factors with regard to fostering of students’ CIL has not yet been fully investigated. Thus, there seems to be a certain necessity to gain a better understanding of factors which support the fostering of students’ CIL in schools. The question to be answered is whether there is a connection of selected factors on the input and process level (teacher attitudes, ICT-related collaboration, school ICT equipment) with the fostering of students’ CIL.

Method

This question is investigated using the data from a representative teacher survey conducted in Germany in 2015 within the scope of the study ‘Schule digital – der Länderindikator’. This study focused on several ICT-related domains such as the use of ICT in instruction, school ICT equipment, teachers’ attitudes towards ICT in instruction as well as ICT-related tasks in order to foster students’ CIL. Data was gathered by computer-assisted personal interviews with secondary school teachers in Germany (N = 1250). By means of a structural equation model (Wang, & Wang, 2012), calculated with the software Mplus7 (Muthén, & Muthén, 2012), the effect of the latently modeled constructs of teachers’ attitudes, ICT-related collaboration, and school ICT equipment on the fostering of students’ CIL was analyzed. Concerning teachers’ attitudes, five variables indicating potentials of ICT in instruction have been considered. ICT-related collaboration was operationalized by six variables comprising three levels of collaboration differing in quality (referring to the well-established distinguished levels of collaboration according to Gräsel, Fußangel, & Pröbstel, 2006). ICT equipment at school was grasped not as a quantitative measure but from a pedagogical point of view by asking the teachers whether sufficient ICT equipment according to pedagogical purposes is available at the school. Four variables concerning different forms of basic ICT equipment or conditions such as Wi-Fi-connectivity were included in the applied model. A weighting variable has been included to adjust for regional distributions in the sample. A robust Maximum Likelihood estimator (MLR) was used to take into account the complex data structure (Muthén, 2004). The results show that the applied model fits the data very well (RMSEA = 0.037 [90%]; CFI = 0.947; TLI = 0.936; SRMR = 0.048; Wang, & Wang, 2012).

Expected Outcomes

So far, the impact of single conditions affecting media education has been analyzed and identified. With the presented analysis in the paper at hand, the combination of these conditions can be investigated more in-depth. It can be shown that teachers’ attitudes towards the use of ICT in instruction, the ICT-related collaboration as well as a sufficient ICT equipment at schools can be seen as significant predictors of fostering students’ CIL. Thus, not only technical antecedents and cognitive preconditions such as teachers’ attitudes but also process factors on school level e.g. teacher collaboration can be stressed as essential for media education at school. Overall the results indicate the importance of teachers as indispensable actors in the area of school media education and emphasize the particular importance of teachers’ attitudes towards the use of digital media in teaching as well as their ICT-related collaboration in order to foster students’ CIL. ICT equipment at schools is generally regarded as a necessary but not sufficient condition for school media education, which can be empirically underlined by the conducted analysis. Thus, the presented results give important hints not only for Germany but also for other educational systems with regard to important factors to promote media education. Further analysis should comprise additional empirically well-established relevant factors in the field of media education to get more insights to hindering or supporting conditions of fostering students’ CIL. These should include first and foremost the teachers’ competencies to use ICT, to integrate it in instruction, and to foster students’ CIL.

References

Anderson, R. (2008). Implications of the information and knowledge society for education. In J. Voogt, & G. Knezek (Eds.), International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education (pp. 3–22). New York: Springer. Eickelmann, B., & Schulz-Zander, R. (2008). Schuleffektivität, Schulentwicklung und digitale Medien. In W. Bos, H. G. Holtappels, H. Pfeiffer, H.-G. Rolff, & R. Schulz-Zander (Eds.), Jahrbuch der Schulentwicklung (Vol. 15, pp. 157–193). Weinheim: Juventa. 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. Springer. Fraillon, J., Schulz, W., & Ainley, J. (2013). International Computer and Information Literacy Study: Assessment framework. Amsterdam: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Gräsel, C., Fußangel, K., & Pröbstel, C. (2006). Lehrkräfte zur Kooperation anregen – eine Aufgabe für Sisyphos? Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52(2), 205–219. Kozma, R. (Ed.). (2003). Technology, innovation, and educational change: A global perspective. Eugene, OR: ISTE. Law, N., & Chow, A. (2008). Teacher characteristics, contextual factors, and how these affect the pedagogical use of ICT. In N. Law, W. J. Pelgrum, & T. Plomp (Eds.), Pedagogy and ICT use in schools around the world. Findings from the IEA-SITES 2006 (pp. 182–221). Hongkong: CERC-Springer. Lorenz, R., & Endberg, M. (2016). Zusammenhang zwischen medienbezogenen Lehrereinstellungen und der Förderung computer- und informationsbezogener Kompetenzen. In R. Strietholt, W. Bos, H.-G. Holtappels, & N. McElvany (Eds.), Jahrbuch der Schulentwicklung (Vol. 19, pp. 206–229). Weinheim: Beltz Juventa. Lorenz, R., & Endberg, M. (2015). Förderung der IT-bezogenen Fähigkeiten von Schülerinnen und Schülern durch Lehrpersonen in der Sekundarstufe I. In W. Bos, R. Lorenz, M. Endberg, H. Schaumburg, R. Schulz-Zander, & M. Senkbeil (Eds.), Schule digital – der Länderindikator 2015. Vertiefende Analysen zur schulischen Nutzung digitaler Medien im Bundesländervergleich (pp. 141–188). Münster: Waxmann. Muthén, B. O. (2004). Latent variable analysis. Growth mixture modeling and related techniques for longitudinal data. In D. Kaplan (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of quantitative methodology (pp. 345–368). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Muthén, B. O., & Muthén, L. K. (2012). Software Mplus Version 7. Voogt, J., Erstad, O., Dede, C., & Mishra, P. (2013). Challenges to learning and schooling in the digital networked world of the 21st century. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29 (5), 403–413. Wang, J., & Wang, X. (2012). Structural Equation Modeling. Applications Using Mplus. West Sussex, UK: Wiley.

Author Information

Ramona Lorenz (presenting / submitting)

TU Dortmund University, Germany

Wilfried Bos