Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
As the term is used in this framework, ICT includes a wide variety of technologies, including computers and software learning tools, networking systems and protocols, hand-held digital devices, digital cameras and camcorders, and other technologies, including those not yet developed, for accessing, managing, creating, and communicating information.
Although ICT is just one among many different types of technologies, it has achieved a special prominence in technology and engineering literacy because familiarity and facility with ICT is essential in virtually every profession in modern society, and its importance is expected to grow over the coming decades. A wide variety of ICT tools are routinely used in schools, the workplace, and homes. Rapidly evolving learning tools such as computers, online media, telecommunications, and networked technologies are becoming powerful supports for communities of learning and practice. Moving far beyond traditional text-based communication methods, the common language of global information sources and communication has broadened to include vast collections of images, music, video, and other media. Computers, networks, telecommunications, and media support collaboration, expression, and dissemination ranging from data organization and analysis, research, scholarship, and the arts to peer interactions. Ever-shrinking computer chips are put to work in a collection of devices that seems to be growing exponentially and that, at present, includes cell phones, digital assistants, media players, and geographical information systems, among a host of other devices.
Students should be aware of these devices and know how and when to use them. They must have mastered a wide range of ICT tools in common use, and they must have the confidence and capability to learn to use new ICT tools as they become available. Although students are not expected to understand the inner workings of these devices, they should have enough of an understanding of the principles underlying them to appreciate the basics of how they work. Five sub-areas of ICT literacy have been identified for assessment:
- Construction and Exchange of Ideas and Solutions;
- Information Research;
- Investigation of Problems;
- Acknowledgement of Ideas and Information; and
- Selection and Use of Digital Tools.
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