Digital Literacy Concepts and Definitions: Implications for Educational Assessment and Practice

2.1. Computer Literacy

According to Childers (2003), the first article on computer literacy was published in the late 1970’s with the use of the term peaking in the mid 1980’s, followed by a steady decline until the late 1990’s. Computer literacy was traditionally defined as the ability to use tools to manipulate data and write small codes (Leahy & Dolan, 2010). Koehler and Mishra, (2009) shifted, “…beyond traditional notions of computer literacy to require that persons understand information technology broadly enough to apply it productively at work and in their everyday lives, to recognize when information technology can assist or impede the achievement of goals, and continually adapt to changes in information technology” (p. 64). The ongoing changes in information technology make defining the skills and knowledge in computer literacy a moving target. Simonson, Maurer, Montag-Torardi and Whitaker [30] defined computer literacy as ‘an understanding of computer characteristics, capabilities and application, as well as an ability to implement this knowledge in the skillful and productive use of computer application’”(Ferrari, Punie & Redecker, 2012, p. 81). When computers were less common in everyday life, computer literacy was defined as being able to write computer programs. This definition now has moved away from specific computer skills and towards a more general understanding of being able to use computer applications to solve everyday problems (Barthomew, 2004).