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Does it feel a bit like suddenly everyone is talking about DL – digital literacy – and how digitally literate your workforce should be?
This got me thinking. This is really two separate issues, or questions, and should be looked at as such.
What exactly is digital literacy and how do I measure it?
For starters, let’s be clear about what digital literacy is:
It is being able to find digital information, to analyze, evaluate and create information with the help of digital tools and participate, share, and collaborate in organizations digitally.
This may seem like a lot packed into one definition, so here’s a short checklist to help you think about what this means and where you need to focus your digital literacy assessment.
In many ways, this is the easy part – figuring out what areas you should assess. The hard part comes next: not just determining how to measure these areas, but importantly, determining how you will use the data you collect.
To help with this, start with the end. First think about how you’re planning to use the data. For example:
The development of the questions themselves is the next step. Get inspiration from online resources – don’t feel you need to recreate the wheel. Example basic digital literacy tests provided by the National Association of Workforce Boards can get you started; there are similar online quizzes about cloud computing, computer security and other topics that are easily searched for. Be sure to leverage trusted resources (e.g., internal experts, your IT department) to verify the accuracy of your digital literacy questions.
As you’re creating your assessment, remember your audience! No one likes to take a test, so try to make it interesting by varying the question type. Multiple choice questions are certainly easy to create; matching, ranking and rating questions can introduce enough variety to keep things interesting. Scenario-based questions are great for helping to assess the softer-side, yes there is one, of digital literacy – judgement, norms, ethics and so forth. Adding images and videos to your questions can put it over the top on the engagement scale. In a similar vein, keep the overall assessment concise to maximize the number of respondents who will complete it.
Once the assessment is complete, I’ve found it best to test it on a sample cohort which will help you work any bugs out, get an estimate of how long it will take to complete, and ensure that your questions are clear and meeting your intent. Then roll out your assessment and see the results come in! Finally, don’t let all that hard work go to waste – use those results to design and create your organization’s digital literacy strategy.
Have more questions? I highly recommend checking out Courtney Hunt & John T Miller’s framework on assessing digital literacy.
Emily Wiese is the VP of Digital Skills for Skillsoft.