Measuring media and information literacy skills: Construction of a test

Abstract

Abstract:Research on media and information literacy has been growing exponentially over the past years, but it has focused more on the examination of media practices than on the assessment of media and information literacy skills. In this paper we describe the process of designing and implementing a Media and Information Literacy Test comprising 20 items. We present the results of the analysis carried out to validate the items and to construct a scale of media and information literacy skills using Item Response Theory (IRT). Findings indicate that the conceptual framework adopted is adequate to measure media and information literacy and that the test has good discrimination and difficulty parameters. The test is based on a more comprehensive framework used to assess media and information literacy skills than those used in previous studies and can be used on an item-by-item basis. In this sense, it is a novel contribution to current efforts to measure media and information literacy skills.

MIL Competency Framework: Mapping Media and Information Competencies

“…The meta-analysis is based on eighteen published works on MIL indicators and competencies that study frameworks and the disaggregation of indicators (Durán-Becerra, 2016). This paper also includes the analysis of three publications issued after the first study was published (Petranová et al, 2017;Frau-Meigs et al, 2017;Lopes et al, 2018). Thus, the research provides a good understanding of the three principal approaches linked to MIL (media, information and digital literacies) and the exploration of assessment proposals and systematization of indicators that develop the main MIL frameworks from the European Commission, Unesco, the Association of College and Research Libraries, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority and tests such as A Media Literacy Quiz, B2i Brevet Informatique et Internet, the European Union survey on ICT usage, the PIAAC Background Questionnaire and PISA, among others -Similar outcomes from the analysis of these frameworks can be observed in Lopes et al (2018), in their case to create a MIL test-.…”

“…Renee Hobbs (2010, p. 19) proposes a map of essential competencies to design programs or evaluations for Digital and Media Literacy. These essential competencies (table 2) are core to many studies and have been part of large sets of MIL tests and assessment schemes proposed by different MIL actors (Lopes et al, 2018).…”

“…In 2011, Unesco (2011b, pp. 14-15;Giraldo-Luque et al, 2014) started emphasizing that the digital component deals with using ICT to process information and produce user-generated content (Leaning, 2017;Lopes et al, 2018). The advanced use component (B2) is then defined as the set of capabilities/skills necessary for the design and construction of ICT solutions for the storing of information and the making of ICT decisions that are critical, strategic and reflective (advanced and balanced use) (Ainley et al, 2012, p. 7;Durán-Becerra, 2016).…”

“…117-127;Literat, 2014). In this regard, media competence, as fostered by MIL, implies that citizens ought to gain the capacity to interact, understand, use, transform and create information in an advanced, critical and transparent way, a capability not granted by the mere acquisition of technical skills or the use of the latest information and communication technologies (Giraldo-Luque, Villegas-Simón, & Durán-Becerra, 2017;Lopes, Costa, Araujo, & Ávila, 2018).…”

The Development of a Measuring Instrument for Substance Abuse Media Literacy Scale in Students

“…There are several general and specific tools to measure ML 18–22. Each of these tools has introduced dimensions for ML.…”