Everyone’s favorite test and stress producer, ETS, has developed a new exam that purports to measure students’ information and communication technology proficiency. According to a press release from November, 2004:

Unique among literacy assessments, the ETS ICT Literacy Assessment measures multiple aspects of ICT proficiency. Rather than pose multiple-choice questions, it requires test takers to use basic technology as a tool to arrive at solutions. In that way, the test demands that students use technology to perform information management tasks, such as extracting specific information from a database, developing a spreadsheet, or composing an e-mail summarizing research findings. Equipped with a PC in a proctored environment and pencil and paper for notes, students are challenged to respond to 16 tasks over the course of the two-hour online test.

I looked at the Flash demo of the test and it was pretty interesting. We’ve talked at work occasionally about finding ways to evaluate our students’ information literacy skills, but I doubt a test of this type would be supported by building administrators and teachers who have to put up with a lot of testing already. (The ETS ICT literacy test is designed for college students anyway.) It’s not sufficient to ask students if they know how to make PowerPoint presentations or manipulate a spreadsheet. That doesn’t mean they have sophisticated information literacy skills. Have you ever noticed that teachers are sometimes overly impressed by students who display advanced technology skills? Fair or not, kids who know how to push the right buttons on a computer probably skate by too easily when their work is graded. Too often, teachers, who may not be all that sophisticated with technology themselves, go for style over substance. But I digress…

Has anyone developed an information literacy assessment for pre-college students? I’d be really interested to know more about it and how it’s working to inform teachers and other school leaders in your organization about what your students can do with information and technology.

IT Conversations, my favorite source for geeky podcasts, has started running a new series called Tech Nation. Hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn, Tech Nation is a public radio show that’s new to me, but quickly becoming a regular on my iPod rotation. A recent Tech Nation podcast included an interview with Frans Johansson, author of a new book The Medici Effect. From the book’s Web site:

Johansson calls this proliferation of new ideas “the Medici effec,” referring to the remarkable burst of creativity enabled by the Medici banking family in Renaissance Italy. In this fascinating book, he reveals how we can find intersections in our own lives and turn the ideas we find there into pathbreaking innovations. Johansson explains that three driving forces, the movement of people, the convergence of scientific disciplines, and the leap in computational power, are increasing the number and types of intersections we can access.

I was particularly interested when Johansson spoke about creativity, innovation, and traditional extrinsic rewards. [listen] If that clip piques your interest, read Punished By Rewards by Alfie Kohn.

Johansson and Kohn both conclude that extrinsic reward systems can get people to behave in particular ways. You can make almost any kid sit still, be quiet, and even do his homework if you make the rewards big enough. But rewards will never make the child want to do those things. Dependence on extrinsic rewards actually makes students less creative, innovative, and less likely to take intellectual risks. One of my highest hopes for technology in education, whether it’s blogging, wikis, or a spreadsheet, is that it will promote the habits of mind that extrinsic rewards subvert.