BROOKE GLADSTONE: This ability to sort through on line information is being closely watched at universities, where internet research is eclipsing the library. So, if on line sorting skills are crucial to academic success, I guess it's inevitable that the Educational Testing Service would devise a way to test them. Yup. ETS, the people who brought you the rank anxiety of the SAT and the GRE, are now offering a new exam, primarily for college sophomores, to measure digital information literacy. About two dozen colleges will begin using the exam by the end of the month. Teresa Egan is managing the project for ETS, and she joins me now. Welcome to the show.
TERESA EGAN: Thank you.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: In broad strokes, first of all, describe what your test is trying to measure.
TERESA EGAN: We're measuring the critical thinking skills that are related to information literacy in a technological environment, so it's the ability to access the information, but also to evaluate it and to integrate information from a number of areas across this two hour assessment.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: I'm a reporter constantly going through search engines. I understand how to use "and," and "or," and quotation marks in order to narrow my search. That is part of what the ETS test is designed to measure, right?
TERESA EGAN: Yes.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: But you also have on the test a requirement that the students figure out how to graph that information - you know, a series of wavy lines across a graph or a bar graph. Why is that necessary to measure the credibility of information you can find on the net?
TERESA EGAN: This is not strictly an assessment of your skills with researching on the internet. That's one aspect, but we're also assessing other technological proficiencies, such as whether a student understands what type of data you would represent on the X axis and Y axis, and can you interpret a graphical display of data, which is really a critical skill at the academic level, or even in the field. If you're in the workforce environment, and you are expected to possibly present a sales report, being able to interpret a graphical display of data, or to create one, is a very important skill, and this was deemed important by the university representatives who helped us to develop the test for students at the junior and senior year of college.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Teresa, this is a thoroughly unfair question, but have you taken this test? [LAUGHTER]
TERESA EGAN: Yes, I have.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: How'd you do?
TERESA EGAN: Well, fortunately, I took the assessment before we had the scoring mechanism in place, but it-
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Ah! So you cheated. [LAUGHTER]
TERESA EGAN: When you take the test, it becomes apparent, even without a score, what your strengths and weaknesses are. I recognized what was very easy for me on the test, and where I needed to focus a little more effort.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Teresa Egan, thank you very much.
TERESA EGAN: Thank you, Brooke.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Teresa Egan is the project manager for the ICT Literacy Assessment Exam created by the Educational Testing Service. [MUSIC]
