Assessments of Digital Literacy: Development and Validation

• In Event: 68.056 - Media in the Social Studies

Abstract

Although digital literacy is necessary for informed citizenship, teachers have limited assessment options. This paper outlines efforts to develop and validate a range of tasks that assess students’ abilities to evaluate online arguments and evidence. Fifty-six tasks have been piloted with middle school, high school, and college students in 12 states. 7,804 student responses have been collected. As part of validation studies, students (n = 45) completed think-aloud interviews as they completed 15 of the tasks. Results from piloting demonstrated that students struggle to evaluate online information and arguments. Analyses of think-aloud protocol data showed strong alignment between the thinking processes elicited by the items and the constructs they were designed to measure.

Authors

• Joel Breakstone, Stanford University

• Sarah McGrew, Stanford University

• Mark D. Smith, Stanford University

• Teresa Elena Ortega, Stanford University

• Sam Wineburg, Stanford University