Information Literacy Commons^™

Using Cognitive Interviews And Student Response Processes To Validate An Interpretive Argument For The Ets Iskills™ Assessment, Eric Snow, Irvin Katz

Communications in Information Literacy

Evaluating the trustworthiness of Internet-based or other digital information has become an essential 21st century skill. The iSkills™ assessment, from Educational Testing Service (ETS), purports to measure such digital evaluation skills, along with other digital literacy skills. In this work, we use an argument-based approach to assessment validation to investigate the extent to which iSkills test scores can support inferences about the ability of college students to evaluate information in a digital environment. Eighty-eight undergraduates responded to iSkills assessment tasks and to more open-ended "naturalistic" tasks. These naturalistic tasks were designed to be like homework assignments that incorporate the critical …