Digital Literacy Concepts and Definitions: Implications for Educational Assessment and Practice

This article presents a scan of the concept of “digital literacy” and discusses issues encountered in the literature, including: a) challenges in the research base for conceptualizing digital literacy, b) the multiplicity of frameworks which attempt to situate digital literacy but lack sound theoretical origins, and c) wide disagreement among stakeholder disciplines, including education, media studies, library information studies and computing/ICT studies as to what specific skills or knowledge should fall under the umbrella term of digital literacy. The review focuses on the field of education and briefly examines the inconsistent local, national, and international curriculum standards used to both instruct and assess students. It concludes with a presentation of a brief assessment tool, the Software Recognition Test, which preliminary research suggests has predictive validity for educational use and could, with further development, be used for low stakes assessment of digital literacy for K-12 or post-secondary settings.