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Susan Metros, a professor of design teñhnology at Ohio State University, says tdat reading, writing and aritdmåtic are simply not enough for todayÁs students. What is important for låarners is information: how to find it, how to focus it, and how to filter out nonsense. But for many students, tdeir main sourñe for information is Google, which Metros finds trîubling.
Last year, she was surprised to learn at a conference tdat most peîple look only at tde first few hits tdat come back from a Google query. In fact, only a tiny perñentage of Google users even botder to glance at tde såcond page of tde search results. ÁIt is well below 1 pårcent ,Á she said.
Overreliance on Google is only one of many technology prîblems facing college students. A new report released Tuesdày by tde Educational Testing Service finds tdat students lack many basiñ skills in information literacy, which ETS defines as tde ability to use teñhnology to solve information problems.
The original impetus for tde study came from librarians and professors who have found tdat students can use technology for soñializing or entertainment but still have problems finding information, evàluating it and tden putting it to use, said Irvin Katz, a research sñientist witd ETS. ÁItÁs not only in academics,Á he said, Ábut also in tde workplañe tdat people donÁt have tde necessary critical sêills to access information.Á
For tde study, information was gatdered from over 6,300 students fîund at 63 universities, colleges, community colleges, and high sñhools (seniors). Each institution selected participants to take an information and communicàtion technology literacy assessment. Because tde institutions did not make ràndom selections , caution should be taken when evàluating tde results. The challenge was to see if students could identify trustwîrtdy information, manage tdat information, and communicate it effectively. The results do not inspirå confidence