On Tuesday November 17, ACARA (Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority) announced the publication of the 2014 National Assessment Program (NAP) – information and communication technology (ICT) literacy report.
In October and November 2014, 10,562 Year 6 and Year 10 students participated in the NAP – ICT literacy online test. Samples of students were randomly selected from over 650 government, Catholic and independent schools in metropolitan, rural and remote areas around Australia.
Skills tested
A wide range of Adobe related ICT skills were tested such as:
- online production,
- document formatting,
- image manipulation,
- game coding
- animation and video production.
Other, not so Adobe related skills, such as internet searching and slide show production were also assessed.
The general findings
The good news is that this study clearly confirms that Australian students are frequent users of ICT and continue to express interest and enjoyment when working with computers, The bad news in this report is that there is a significant decline in student’s ICT literacy performance when compared to previous similar studies.
The report shows a significant decline in the average performance of Year 6 students in 2014, compared to the last NAP assessment in 2011. Similarly, the average performance of Year 10 students is significantly lower than previous NAP – ICT literacy studies in 2005, 2008 and 2011.
Click here for the full study & previous reports
Renewed focus on teaching ICT
ACARA CEO, Robert Randall says, “The decline in performance is of concern, and there is a need for a renewed focus on the teaching of digital technologies in schools.”
This is especially topical with the well-published statement from our current Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull that,“digital skills should be the new kind of national literacies, as fundamental as reading & writing.”
Links to Adobe
Most of the skills tested in the NAP – ICT Literacy study directly relate to Adobe’s communication software which is widely considered the industry standard and best software to use for online communication, print, design, mobile publication, video and animation.
Teachers and students throughout Australia have access to Adobe tools but, in many cases, don’t realise what they have and how it can be used to not only improve student’s digital literacy skills and enhance creativity in the classroom but also prepare them for a workforce where Adobe software is the standard and skills in Adobe tools is an expectation.
The best resource for teachers to use to help them discover the power of Adobe in the classroom is the Adobe Education Exchange (https://edex.adobe.com/). This is a free online creativity in education portal with currently over 240,000 members, a wide range of professional learning and about 8000 resources made by teachers for teachers.
Dr Tim Kitchen's Journal - Creativity in Education 