[Chapter-delegates] Measuring On-line Skills and experience

Omar D. Al-Sahili osahili at gmail.com
Wed May 9 03:00:35 PDT 2007


Thank you very much Tony, Polly & Alan;

I'm very much aware of the ACS as an organization and also of the ICDL which
is widely adopted in Palestine. 

I actually got this query from a friend at Birzeit University, and the
question is what do we measure and to be indicate literacy as to Internet
usage? 

I agree that passing ICDL (and I also went to check OpenICDL) indicates
certain level of computer literacy, but maybe my question should be, what
did ICDL questions measure? And specifically to Internet, what should a
person know to be considered an Internet literate? Another colleague added
the below items which I think are a bit advanced to the definition of
"literacy":
- Using instant messaging and chatting
- expressing views and ideas through forums and web communities
- having a blog
- using Internet banking
- buying goods through the Internet
- running website or web community


I also went to Scottish Enterprise website, and link that was pointed to is
very interesting but is concerning e-business penetration or usage levels by
enterprises, and I'm more into individuals at this stage.

I appreciate your feedback and welcome additional remarks.

Regards.
 
Omar D. Al-Sahili
------------------------------------------------------------
Cel: +970 (or +972) 59 946 0387
osahili at gmail.com
osahili at hotmail.com
osahili @ Skype
-----Original Message-----
From: chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org
[mailto:chapter-delegates-bounces at elists.isoc.org] On Behalf Of Alan Levin
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 12:28 PM
To: Chapter Delegates
Subject: Re: [Chapter-delegates] Measuring On-line Skills and experience

Hi,

On 09 May 2007, at 10:35 AM, Omar D. Al-Sahili wrote:
> Have anyone worked on developing indicators to measure Internet  
> literacy?
Very interesting question. You list some very basic indicators. Good  
start.

On 09 May 2007, at 10:49 AM, Tony Hill wrote:

> The Australian Computer Society is a member of ISOC-AU and has  
> participated in developing an International Computer Driving  
> Licence.  See:
> http://www.acs.org.au/icdl/

Also interesting. The CSSA (Computer Society of SA) is a group of  
computer professionals and as ISOC-ZA we see ourselves more as a  
group of users where Internet/Computer professionals form only a part  
of our membership, i.e. a piece of the pie.

> The International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) is a competency  
> standard endorsed by the Australian Computer Society. The ICDL is  
> the standard for computer literacy in over 140 countries.

Not just endorsed by, very much owned by. Interestingly the CS  
'chapters' earn a great deal of revenue from the ICDL, a model that  
as ISOC chapters we can learn from.

> The ICDL is designed for a person to 'drive' a computer with the  
> same ease as they might drive a car.
We do not endorse the ICDL because we believe it's designed for  
Windows and not 'a computer'. If you ask any ICD Licensee any generic  
question, they do not know the answer although they know the answer  
in MS speak.

There's also http://openicdl.com which I personally feel meets the  
purposes/goals you mentioned that ICDL attempts. OpenICDL was largely  
developed in South Africa including some of our members.

warm regards

Alan



---------------------------------------------
Alan Levin
Tel: +27 21 409-7997


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