Evaluation of ICT skills in Mexico and Uruguay
INSTITUTIONS
The project is led by the Ceibal Foundation and Aprende Mexico, and is supported by the National Institute for Educational Assessment (INEE) Mexico-, as well as the National Institute of Educational Assessment (INEEd).
The project is financed by the joint fund of the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) and the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation (AUCI)
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Studies on the effectiveness of technology in the classroom have yielded inconclusive results (see Pedró 2011), so it is difficult to generalize about the overall impact of technology on improving learning. In this area, it is important to consider perspectives that analyze the impact of technology on teaching and learning designs and processes, rather than on academic performance. The skills to be promoted through technology may seem similar to those proposed for development without the use of devices, yet some of them are very different when used in digital environments. For instance, searching for and filtering information available on the Internet is very different because of the volume and formats of what it is possible to find. The joint creation of content affords new channels that were previously unavailable, and they expand the modalities of interaction and collaboration. These skills are important not only at the school level, but also in intellectual, social and productive development settings in which students will have to perform in the future. This requires citizens who can take advantage of the possibilities of the new technological environments in order to join the different spheres of participation in the digital space (Pedró et al., 2015). Authors such as Levy & Murnane (2007) highlight the significance of these skills in the context of emerging knowledge-based economies and the need to expand the literacy of the new generations from foundational skills (language, numeracy, science and literature) to the ability to solve information and communication management problems such as searching for, assessing, summarizing, analyzing and representing information in the digital environment associated with the so called “21st Century Skills”. In this line, Tedesco (2014) reminds us of the significance of digital skills in the exercise of 21st century citizenship, as they contribute to active participation in the circuits through which much of socially significant information circulates.
At the international level, there are various initiatives for the assessment of these skills. A particularly remarkable one is the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) test of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Performance (IEA), which was first implemented in 2013 and has now been adopted by twenty countries around the world; Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Chile at the Latin American level. The importance of ICILS is fundamental, as it is the first international test exploring digital skills related to digital literacy and information management.
Another noteworthy initiative, in the case of Chile, is the Assessment of ICT Skills for Learning (EHTPA) – formerly SIMCE TIC – developed by the Enlaces programme of the Chilean Ministry of Education for the purpose of determining the level of development of the ICT Skills reached by students in the school system.
Finally, and in relation to this experience, another fundamental precedent is the pilot programme used by the Coordinator of National Digital Strategy of the Office of the President of the Republic of Mexico in 2013, endorsed by the Inter-American Development Bank and UNESCO. This programme was responsible for the decentralized body Aprende México, an entity created in 2014 whose main objective is to develop a public policy on the introduction and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), and promote digital competencies cutting across the Ministry of Education’s curriculum and programmes.
The aim of the project is to build indicators on digital skills for the cases of Mexico and Uruguay and provide tools to assess the level of students’ digital skills. As pointed out, the significance of these skills for greater and better development of citizenship and, in turn, for proper insertion in economic, social and cultural life in general is central to the project.
The construction and assessment of the indicators from a comparative perspective between both countries will contribute to the development of instruments that could be applied to other realities in Latin America, thus producing inputs for the formulation of public policies focused on closing the gap in the use and ownership of ICTs by individuals and contributing to reduced social inequality in our societies.
In this area, the creation of a common frame of reference will represent the first concrete input for the definition of digital skills. The subsequent stage of the project will enable the construction of indicators for the assessment of digital skills. This stage will be implemented with technical assistance from other institutions. The third stage of the project will involve the design of the pilot plan for subsequent implementation in both countries. At the end of the fourth stage, the outcomes of the pilot plan will be available in both countries, and they will be presented at a regional seminar on the experience.
OBJECTIVES
Building a common frame of reference in which digital skills will be defined.
Developing standardized indicators and reviewing virtual platforms.
Designing the pilot plan to be implemented in Mexico and Uruguay.
Implementing the pilot plan for students and teachers in selected educational institutions in Mexico and Uruguay.
Analyzing and presenting the findings at a seminar with regional and international stakeholders, which will contribute to an exchange at the regional level.
Promoting the dissemination and use of the research findings at the regional level and ensuring post-project sustainability.