Forty MSU students are taking part in pilot exams for a new national computer literacy assessment this month.
Universities hope to use this assessment to improve their curriculum and students' abilities to use and understand technology.
"This is a way to redefine what liberal arts is in an information society," said Robert LaRose, professor of telecommunication, information studies and media. "What we'd like to do is use tests like this in our own curriculum to assess gaps and improve."
In the new Core Level of the Information and Communication Technology Literacy Assessment, students are tested on their ability to use digital technology, communication tools and networks to think critically about the given information through 15 tasks in about 75 minutes.
The assessment is offered by the Educational Testing Service, a New Jersey-based nonprofit institution, which aims to improve higher education through assessments and research.
The Core Level assessment is designed for students transitioning from high school to college and for students in their first or second year at four-year institutions.
The tasks — which are presented in real-time scenarios — range in difficulty from opening an e-mail attachment to multi-step tasks that build upon each previous step, said Karen Bogan, manager of external relations for the service.
Some of the 40 students from MSU's departments of Writing, Rhetoric and American Culture and Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media took the assessment last week and offered positive feedback, LaRose said.
"They had no problem and said it seemed like an interesting test to take," he said, adding that the assessment will be administered to the remaining students on Friday.
E-mails were sent out as a way to find interested students in the two departments, and each student receives $25 from the service for participating, LaRose said.
Another version of the literacy assessment — called the Advanced Level — was first administered in January 2005 and is designed for higher-level college students and students transferring from community colleges into four-year institutions, Bogan said.
"The tasks are not as involved with the core level," Bogan said. "The advanced is more difficult because the tasks are a little longer and a little more involved."
About 3,000 students from 15 two-year and four-year institutions and 10 high schools across the nation are participating in the pilot testing, which ends on Friday, Bogan said.
The Core Level assessment officially will be offered April 3-May 5 and continuous testing for schools will begin in August, Bogan said.
