Massive Open Online Course

(MOOC)
On
DEVELOPMENT OF 21ST CENTURY SKILLS (02)
Module-4. ICT Literacy skills
Course Material
MOOC

Prepared by
Dr. Mahesh H. Koltame

This course has offered under the UNESCO’s Open Education for Better World (OE4BW)
online mentoring program
Year- 2020
Massive Open Online Course
On
Development of 21st Century skills
through education (02)
Module-4. ICT Literacy skills

Course Material

Prepared by-
Dr. Mahesh H. Koltame

Year -2020
This course has offered under the UNESCO’s Open Education for Better World (OE4BW)
online mentoring program 2020
The Course Material of the MOOC on Development of 21st Century skills through
education (02): ICT Literacy skills, Year 2020 by Dr. Mahesh Koltame is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Acknowledgements: I would like to express out my sincere thanks to Dr. Sameer

Sahasrabudhe for, his guidance and support. I also express out my sincere thanks to Prof.
Vasudha Kamat and Dr. Jayashree Shinde who are coordinated this project.
Contents
ICT literacy skill Introduction…. ...............................................................................................1
What ICT are………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..1

What is the concept of ICT literacy?.........................................................................................2

Definitions……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………2
Components of ICT literacy …………………………………………………………………………………………………3
Need and Importance of ICT literacy…..…………….…………………………………………………………………5
Integration of ICT literacy into the day-today’s teaching-learning practice ………………………….5

Levels of ICT integration……………………………………………………………………………………………………….6

Expected learning Outcomes of ICT and Information literacy education………………………………7
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7
References……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
Suggested additional Web resources……………………………………………………………………………………8
 Development of ICT Literacy skills

Introduction:

Dear learners, this is the last chapter of this 21st century literacy skill MOOC (02). We started
from information literacy because Information literacy is the foundational skill. It helps
students to understand their information need, it makes them able to find, evaluate and use
needed information ethically. Students understand facts, especially data points, that they’ll
encounter online. More importantly, it teaches them how to separate fact from fiction and
facts from fakes. In an age of chronic misinformation, finding truth online has become a job
all on its own. It’s crucial that students can identify honesty on their own. Otherwise, they can
fall prey to myths, misconceptions, and outright lies.

Media literacy is the practice of identifying publishing methods, outlets, and sources while
distinguishing between the ones that are credible and the ones that aren’t. Just like the
previous skill, media literacy is helpful for finding truth in a world that’s saturated with
information. This is how students find trustworthy sources of information in their lives.
Without it, anything that looks credible becomes credible. But with it, they can learn which
media outlets or formats to ignore. They also learn which ones to embrace, which is equally
important.

Last, Information Communication Technology (ICT) literacy goes another step further to
teach students about the machines involved in the Information Age. As computers, cloud
programming, and mobile devices become more important to the world, the world needs
more people to understand those concepts. Technology literacy gives students the basic
information they need to understand what gadgets perform what tasks and why. This
understanding removes the intimidating feeling that technology tends to have. After all, if you
don’t understand how technology works, it might as well be magic. But technology literacy
unmasks the high-powered tools that run today’s world. As a result, students can adapt to
the world more effectively. They can play an important role in its evolution. They might even
guide its future. But to truly round out a student’s 21st Century skills, they need to learn from
a third category.

What ICT are

When the first computers made their entry into schools in the late 1970s, we used to speak
about computers in education. With computers came printers, floppy disk drives, scanners
and the first digital cameras. We began to use the term IT, or Information Technology, to
describe computers and these various peripheral devices. Then the internet arrived together
with computer networks, the World Wide Web, email and search engines. A new term
entered the language – ICT. The term ICT, short for Information and Communication
Technologies, embraces the many technologies that enable us to receive information and
communicate or exchange information with others. You see what some of these many
technologies (both devices and functions) are in below figure.

Source: ICT transforming education: A Regional Guide

What is the concept of ICT literacy?

Engauge, 21st century skills: literacy in digital age (2003), Technological literacy is knowledge
about what technology is, how it work, what purpose it serve, and how it can be used
effectively to achieve specific goals

Education Testing Services, (2002) ICT literacy skill is defined as the ability to use digital
technologies, communication tools, and networks appropriately to solve information
problems in order to fit in into the society. This includes the ability to use technology as a tool
to research, organize, evaluate and communication and the possession of the ethical and legal
issues surrounding the access and use of information
Igun (2006) opines that one essential requirement to operate in the knowledge society of the 21st
century is ICT skills which start from turning on a computer to create, store, retrieve and access
information online. Meanwhile, digital library environment lays more emphasis on the users’
knowledge of the applications, navigation, evaluation, retrieval of information. ICT literacy skill is the
proficiency in using digital technology, communication tools, and network appropriately to solve
information problems in order to function in the knowledge society.

According to Report of the International ICT Literacy Panel “Digital Transformation A Framework
for ICT Literacy ICT literacy”

• ICT literacy cannot be cannot be defined primarily as the mastery of technical skills. The
panel concludes that the concept of ICT literacy should be broadened to include both
critical cognitive skills as well as the application of technical skills and knowledge.
These cognitive skills include general literacy, such as reading and numeracy, as well
as critical thinking and problem solving. Without such skills, the panel believes that
true ICT literacy cannot be attained.
• The panel views ICT literacy as a continuum of skills and abilities. Just as we no longer
think of general literacy as an either/or proposition in which an individual is either
literate or not, ICT literacy ranges from simple uses of technology in everyday life to
uses in performing complex tasks
The panel defines ICT literacy in the following way:

ICT literacy is using digital technology, communications tools, and/or networks to

access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information in order to function in
a knowledge society

Components of ICT literacy:

This definition is also important in that it lists five critical components of ICT literacy. The five
components represent a set of skills and knowledge presented in a sequence that suggests
increasing cognitive complexity. After discussions regarding the kinds of tasks represented by
each component, the panel agreed on the following definitions:

• Access - knowing about and knowing how to collect and/or retrieve information.
• Manage - applying an existing organizational or classification scheme.
• Integrate - interpreting and representing information. It involves summarizing,
comparing and contrasting.
• Evaluate - making judgments about the quality, relevance, usefulness, or efficiency of
information.
• Create - generating information by adapting, applying, designing, inventing, or
authoring information.

For better understanding please go through the given scenario

 Scenario (Health Context)

Following a stroke, your mother has been diagnosed with an atrial septal defect, or a hole in one section
of her heart. While not an emergency, her doctor has recommended open-heart surgery to repair the hole
and reduce the risk of additional strokes. You would like to find several reliable sources on the Web that
recommend treatment options for this condition. The Five Components Based on this scenario, test takers
would be presented with a series of tasks organized around the five components, as summarized in the
chart on the following page.

The Five Components Based on this scenario, test takers would be presented with a series of tasks
organized around the five components, as summarized in the chart on the following page.

Access Using a search engine, locate sites that have articles about
holes in the heart, or atrial septal defects.
Evaluate Evaluate the sites and identify three that you would expect
to provide reliable medical information.
Manage Identify the treatment information in each article.
Integrate Compare and contrast the treatment options suggested in
the articles.
Create Develop a Word document with treatments listed (citing
sources) to share with physician.

Task Description: Use the search engine provided to find three sites with information about
your mother’s medical condition as described in the opening scenario.
Assessing Underlying Technical Skills

If a test taker did not complete the task correctly, one question would be whether he or she had the
requisite technical skills. Technically, this access task requires test takers to open up a browser, type
a word or phrase into the text entry box, and click on the Search button. They might additionally need
to open a site and then navigate back to search engine. As an individual test taker completed this task,
the computer would record clicks, typing and other actions. Based on the test taker’s responses,
additional discrete computer-based tasks might be presented (e.g., “Type the phrase ‘Movie Listings’
into the search box” or “Click on the button that will take you back to the search page”) to assess the
technical skills underlying this basic Access task.

Assessing Underlying Cognitive Skills

Cognitively, this access task requires a test taker to select or invent a search term that would yield the
requested information. Some of the words or phrases in the task description and scenario would be
more likely than others to provide the information needed. For example, typing in the phrase “hole in
the heart” in one browser would yield the results shown below, none of which would be likely to
include the information needed.
Need and Importance of Information Literacy:

Those born at the start of the 21st century, already in the middle years of primary school, have
been dubbed the “Net generation” or, more descriptively, “digital natives” (Prensky, 2001).

Information and communication technologies (ICT) play an increasingly important role in

virtually all aspects of our daily lives. Not only is technology profoundly transforming people’s
work and professional life, but it is also altering how people interact, communicate, retrieve
and share information, and even how governments provide public services to citizens for
example Digi locker, UDI, DBT and many more. ICT also significantly affect multiple facets of
education. Lifelong-learning has become an imperative in the current dynamic challenging
scenario. ICT is an important tool for the creation of a learning society. Only due to ICT, high
quality educational resources in a different form like audio, video, digital games, interactive
learning content, eBooks and courses like MOOC, micro MOOC are easily available for lifelong
learning; the only requirement is that, we use it properly and skilfully. ICT is providing new
opportunities for students to learn outside of school, and it going to change the educational
outlook of teachers and the learning experience of students in school. That's why our
education systems will have to enhance digital competencies in our curriculum.

The European Commission (2008) opines that ICT literacy is increasingly becoming an
essential life competence and the inability to access or use ICT has effectively become a
barrier to social integration and personal development.

Competence in the fundamental basic skills of language, literacy, numeracy and in

information and communication technologies (ICT) is an essential foundation for learning, and
learning to learn supports all learning activities (European Parliament 2006).

During the COVID-19 pandemic we experienced the increasing importance of digital

technologies in education systems and the pressing need to equip students with digital
competencies.

Integration of ICT literacy into the day-today’s teaching-learning practice:

ICT literacy can best be achieved through experiences that integrate cognitive and technical
learning. Single focused, stand-alone curricula, whether academic or technical, will limit the
learners’ attainment of ICT literacy. ICT literacy skills need to be integrated appropriately into
curricula addressing cognitive skills as well as those addressing IT and technical skills in order
to ensure improved ICT literacy. It is clear that the issue of making ICT literacy a global
objective is a complex process. It is exacerbated by many factors, including inequalities in
education, income and access to health care, differences in class, gender, and race, access for
individuals with disabilities, and geography. No simple solutions leading to the attainment of
global ICT literacy are easily forthcoming. However, we hope that both the framework
presented in this report and our recommendations will start a discussion that will ultimately
lead to a clearer understanding of ICT literacy and ways to improve it.
ICT literacy can best be achieved through experiences that integrate cognitive and technical
learning. Single focused, stand-alone curricula, whether academic or technical, will limit
learners’ attainment of ICT literacy. ICT literacy skills need to be integrated appropriately into
curricula addressing cognitive skills as well as those addressing IT and technical skills in order
to ensure improved ICT literacy
Levels of ICT integration:
Curricular integration — the extent to which, and ways in which, an ICT activity relates
directly to appropriate curriculum goals, and to the same or complementary curriculum
content or skills as other learning activities in a given unit of work or sequence of lessons.
Spatial integration — the extent to which the use of computers or ICT is separated in place
or location from other learning activities in a unit of work.
Pedagogical integration — the extent to which the choice of particular ICT, and the ways in
which they are used in classes, are consistent with and between the pedagogical philosophies,
orientations and intentions of the teacher, and the learning styles, abilities and motivations
of the students. Ham et al. 2002. Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand
(http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/ict/5807)
Expected learning outcomes from ICT literacy:
Technological illiterate students will be able to….

• demonstrate a sound conceptual understanding of the nature of Technology systems

and view themselves as proficient user of these systems,
• understand and model positive ethical use of technology in both social and personal
context,
• use a variety of Technology tools in effective ways to increase creative productivity,
• use Communications tool to reach route the world beyond the classroom and
communicate ideas in powerful ways,
• use technology effectively to access, evaluate, process and synthesize information
from a variety of sources,
• used technology to identify and solve complex problems in real world context.

ICT are integrated into schools and learning in three major ways:

• Students’ engagement with ICT (both in and outside of school) can affect their
cognitive processes and their well-being, and eventually what they learn.
• Teachers are increasingly using ICT for instruction, and administrative and
communication purposes, with numerous implications for classroom management,
instructional practices, pedagogical approaches and time use.
• Competence in using ICT and digital literacy are being recognised as important skills
that students need to acquire if they are to flourish in the digital age.

Conclusion:

The development of Information, Media and ICT Literacy competencies and abilities among the
students is very essential in 21st century knowledge based digital society. Every student will be
prepared as citizens to engage with media and use libraries, archives and other ICT information
communication technology tools for well-being, freedom of expression, pluralism, intercultural
dialogue and tolerance, and as contributors to democratic debate and transparent governance. Digital
literacy can facilitate informed debates among diverse social actors, and encouraging the resolution of
disputes by democratic means. However, it is very important to note here that, development of 21st
century digital literacy skills MOOC would be more successful, if you as teachers are able to integrate
these skills into your day-todays teaching-learning practice.

Thank you!
References:
A Report of the International ICT Literacy Panel, (2002) Digital Transformation A Framework for ICT Literacy,
Global Assessment Mail, Educational Testing Service, USA

Jonathan Anderson, (2010) ICT TRANSFORMING EDUCATION: A Regional Guide, UNESCO Bangkok

OECD (2019), PISA 2021 ICT Framework.

Wisdom O. Anyim, (2008) Assessment of ICT Literacy Skills of Digital Library Users and Staff in Salem University
Lokoja, Kogi, Lincoln Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Additional resources:

https://youtu.be/Io2A6dVsHVQ

https://youtu.be/toBDwLYQLus

https://youtu.be/AOTEQVYDPpg

https://youtu.be/H9u6Ql-1AJo

https://youtu.be/cSAst8RrfWk

https://youtu.be/J0N2IC-S4NY