Pilot Testing of It Skills of Preschool and Elementary Education Students by the It Fitness Test

Abstract

Abstract The present paper reports on the testing of digital skills of students of the Faculty of Education, Univerity of Presov within their undergraduate training with the aim to estimate the level of digital skills in five defined domains. The IT Fitness test 2015 consisting of 25 items was used as the measure of the target skills. The sample comprised 532 students in bachelor and master study programs. The paper provides an interpretation of the selected research findings (mean total scores, mean scores for the given domains, discrimination power of items and domains). The results of digital skills testing point at the overall overestimation of Digital Natives Skills. With respect to the challenges brought by the educational practice itself by means of the implementation of digital technologies into pre-primary and primary education, it is necessary to modify the curricula of math- and iT-oriented subjects and include further activities allowing for the development of the lacking “Digital Skills”, since these are needed not only for students′ own study but also due to increasing demands related to the use of digital technologies in primary and pre-primary education.