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IT Literacy Test
crumley writes "The Educational Testing Service just announced a new
test that is designed to measure information technology literacy. The test is supposed to measure the ability of students to use software to solve problems, and not just how to use particular programs. So has anyone out there taken a test like this? Did it seem to measure critical thinking and problem solving skills?"
one wonders how in two hours one can truly test someone's compentency when most projects requires at least 2hours to determine the source of the problem
I make my face look like this and concerned words come out.
Take the test but ya be warned: Failing even one question will result in a one year suspension of your Geek Licence.
They got the URL wrong - of course if you can't figure out how to fix it, you fail the literacy test. anyway it's a slash, not a backslash. (If you can't tell those apart, that's an automatic fail, too.)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
While this is a good measurement of progress for our current interface and will be useful to measure the average worker. I expect it to be hopelessly interface dependent. There is more than one good and useful GUI or TUI (is there another name for a text only UI?)
...it's pencil & paper based!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
... but a test like this seems long overdue. I can't tell you how irritated I get when some new snotnose paper-MCSE comes strollin into my office thinking they know everything. If the test is accurate, fair, and relevant, I might consider it as part of the candidate screening process when hiring new IT workers.
bash: rtfm: command not found
When we were kids we had MAN this and MAN that. Now you whippersnappers have your fancy F1, and ICT literacy assessments. We didnt even have F keys and we had to flip switches both ways, in the snow!
Now get off my lawn j00 l33t whippersnappers!
and something about an onion on my belt
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
Question 1:
File Edit View Favorites Tools Help.
What does this mean?
Question 2:
What is that little X thingy in the upper right hand panel?
If you can answer these questions correctly, you're technically competent. If not, you have a bright future as a technology patent examiner.
Yeah? Well I think you're overrated too.
Back in 1999, I was a chemical engineer looking for a change of pace. Purdue was desperate for computing folks, so they offered a program called Information Systems and Technology Eduction Program.
The entrance exam was a test that determined your ability to think logically and break down the wholes into their parts with appropriate linkages. It included block diagram puzzles and other assorted logic statements and questions. Not a single line of code anywhere in it (that would have defeated the purpose). I took the test, did well, and was hired.
So, these things have been around for quite a while, at least since 1999.
I was going to respond to a comment by someone else, but nothing previously posted merited a response of any sort (with the possible exception of the bitter guy who seems to hate ETS).
Personally, from a psychometrics point of view, which is something I have a more than passing interest in, ETS is incredible. They have data sets that are invaluable, and have done a lot to further the field of testing. Yes, they do make a lot of money, but I can say that they also earn that money.
If you think otherwise, consider it this way--for every test that they publish there are literally thousands of hours of research, testing, and retesting that have been done. Those doing this work need to be paid, and they typically demand fairly generous salaries (IRT analysts aren't that common, and certainly earn their pay).
Now, that said--wait a few years before you spend a ton of money on this one. That time is critical in making absolutely certain that the test really predicts success or ability. In a few years, we'll know.
"We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
Many are familiar with the often frustratingly cryptic interview questions from Microsoft and others... my favorite (which I would certainly use if I were running a support department):
"You come home and flip the switch, but the lights don't come on. Describe in as much detail as you can how you would go about fixing the problem."
Most people I've asked respond with "replace the light bulb." While that might be the problem, I think the first thing you should do is try the switch again. Maybe you didn't flip the switch all the way, or you hit the wrong one.
The point is that it's a problem solving experience - and not just in technology. It doesn't require expertise in Microsoft Word. It doesn't take a techie to know this stuff. You can measure a person's aptitude for logic, problem-solving, etc. without ever testing specific examples of those skills. That's what I really like about that question. Hopefully, the ETS exam will take this perspective when developing such tests.
I'm the network admin for a school. I've been doing this for seven years and have been teaching computer classes for five. I teach the 7th grade how to do simple programming in LOGO. They learn the concepts of loops, variables, functions, etc. They learn how to take a problem, break it into parts and come up with a program to solve the problem. They also learn a bit of computer history and how to count and do simple math in binary. I believe I'm the only one doing this in my area.
I deal with a number of people in my position in other schools. Without fail, the computer "literacy" classes in those schools is training in Microsoft Office. They're just training kids to use a particular version of a particular product from ONE company. They're not teaching them the concepts behind a modern word processor, they're training them how to click buttons in Word.
When I started this job, I thought education was all about teaching people how to think and solve problems. I was wrong!
I'm fortunate at this job in that I'm pretty much free to use whatever solutions get the job done. 80% of the machines here are Linux based terminals (using LTSP). I'm also fortunate that I won the old teaching concepts vs. training argument with the administration. I'm free to teach the computer literacy class however I wish.
To answer your question....I took ETS's CS Subject AGRE 4 years back after completing my Bachelors....and found it pretty interesting.
The exam webpage (no time to dig it up) lists a few CS categories that they'll test on, and happily, these include all the core areas of CS. From memory, the list goes roughly as follows:
Formal Languages and Automata Theory
Algorithms
Languages and Compilers
Computer Architecture
Logic
Databases
All questions were multiple choice like the regular GRE test (the pattern has changed since), but I liked the fact that they focussed on the "core" CS subjects, which every Bachelor's CS course should cover.
New buzzwords like "IT" frighten me....hope they continue to adhere to fundamental knowledge than buzzwordish software/peripheral areas.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
My carefully cultivated bullshitting skills... now rendered useless!!!
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
I'm the network admin for a school. I've been doing this for seven years and have been teaching computer classes for five. I teach the 7th grade how to do simple programming in LOGO
People are still teaching LOGO? Holy 1982 Batman! Do they use a mouse to move the turtle nowadays?
It's hard to know much about this test until we see it. Tests in general are measurements based on a body of knowledge. Maybe it's good, maybe it's not. Damning tests because they seem unfair is silly. Measurements are referential. Some have bad reference points and therefore can't measure very well. Some can, some tests age and become useless, some are good in specific areas. Without the knowledge of the test questions and the criteria for them, comments will likely be specious.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
Our society has gotten far to hung up on testing as a silver bullet. Tests are just attempts to measure something, exactly as a ruler measures length or a scale measures weight. But tests such as the one in the article are, due to their nature, far less accurate or precise.
I see the introduction of yet another test as a poor substitute for one on one personal interviewing of the test subject. They are looking for a quick fix, one that is not people intensive when the fact is, people are best able to evaluate these complex abilities and skills, so long as they take sufficient time in doing so.
This is just like "No Child Left Behind". Instead of investing in the people, in that case teachers to work with students, a battery of standardized tests are introduced as a substitute. Yet, there is no validation of the testing against its objective, while we entrust our decisions to those very tests.
That is the biggest issue here as well. We are attempting to replace human judgement with supposedly objective testing, when it is precisely the complexity of that human judgement that is called for.
It's easier to test for incompetency than for competency.
A company I worked for got so many liars applying for jobs that we made these rediculous little tests to give people. Here's a sample question from our C test:
Or for electrical engineers:
I thought these tests were a waste of time. I think I said something like, "If someone is breathing they'll pass it." Then I saw how many people who claimed "expert" on their resume failed the liar's test. Weeding out the liars left us with a much smaller pool of candidates.