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As part of the ICILS 2013 survey, Grade 8 students in the 21 participating ICILS countries completed a questionnaire concerning their use of information and communication technology (ICT) at home and at school, their experience of using ICT, and their access to ICT resources. Students answered this computer-based questionnaire after completing the ICILS assessment of computer and information literacy (CIL).

The International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2013 (ICILS 2013) investigated the ways in which young people develop computer and information literacy (CIL) to support their capacity to participate in the digital age. Computer and information literacy is defined as “an individual’s ability to use computers to investigate, create and communicate in order to participate effectively at home, at school, in the workplace and in society” (Fraillon, Schulz, & Ainley, , p. 17).

The contextual framework for ICILS (Fraillon, Schulz, & Ainley, ) emphasizes the importance of establishing students’ learning environment when examining outcomes related to computer and information literacy (CIL). The framework distinguishes different levels of influence:

The ICILS defines computer and information literacy (CIL) as an “individual’s ability to use computers to investigate, create, and communicate in order to participate effectively at home, at school, in the workplace, and in the community” (Fraillon, Schulz, & Ainley, , p. 18). According to the framework, CIL comprises two strands, each of which is specified in terms of a number of aspects. The strands describe CIL in terms of its two main purposes: receptive (collecting and managing information) and productive (producing and exchanging information). The aspects further articulate CIL in terms of the main processes applied within each strand. These are knowing about and understanding computer use, accessing and evaluating information, managing information, transforming information, creating information, sharing information, and using information safely and securely.

Many studies (among them those by Bradley & Corwyn, 2002; Saha, 1997) show that students’ personal and home background influences their acquisition of knowledge as well as other learning outcomes. Among the student background factors found to be statistically significantly associated with educational achievement are gender, parental socioeconomic status, language used at home, ethnicity, and whether or not the student and/or his or her parents have an immigrant background. Research also provides evidence of the particular impact that students’ respective socioeconomic backgrounds have on their achievement. This association has been observed across many learning areas (see, for example, Saha, 1997; Sirin, 2005; Woessmann, 2004).

As part of the ICILS 2013 survey, Grade 8 students in the 21 participating ICILS countries completed a questionnaire concerning their use of information and communication technology (ICT) at home and at school, their experience of using ICT, and their access to ICT resources. Students answered this computer-based questionnaire after completing the ICILS assessment of computer and information literacy (CIL).

Using information and communication technology (ICT) for teaching and learning has become an increasingly common practice in educational settings, especially given that ability to use ICT is a requisite skill in today’s digital age (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009; European Commission, 2013). Research suggests that schools must have certain conditions in place if they are to support effective pedagogical use of ICT in their classrooms. These conditions include not only sufficient ICT infrastructure and a positive and collaborative atmosphere where teachers receive training in how to best use ICT but also a minimum or preferably none of the obstacles that can limit teachers’ ability to use ICT in their teaching (Law, Pelgrum, & Plomp, 2008).

This chapter focuses not only on the extent to which the teachers who participated in ICILS 2013 were using information and communication technology (ICT) in their classrooms but also on the classroom contexts for acquisition of computer and information literacy (CIL). The chapter’s content pertains to ICILS Research Question 2:

In previous chapters, we described several associations between students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) and selected variables such as gender and home background. Our aim in this chapter is to investigate the combined influence of a number of variables on variations in CIL, including individual (student-level) as well as contextual (school-level) variables. The ICILS research questions that we address in this chapter are the following:

The International Computer and Information Literacy Study 2013 (ICILS 2013) investigated the ways in which young people have developed the computer and information literacy (CIL) that enables them to participate fully in the digital age. This study, the first in international research to investigate students’ acquisition of CIL, has been groundbreaking in two ways. The first is its establishment of a crossnationally agreed definition and explication of CIL in terms of its component knowledge, skills, and understandings. The second is its operationalization of CIL as a crossnationally comparable measurement tool and marker of digital literacy.