Purpose, significance of research and theoretical frame work
In the last decades we encountered rapid developments in information and communication
technologies. The inclusion of the worldwide web into daily life brought new and important
implications also for education. Most of the schools and educational systems started providing
extensive computer networks for their students and these are increasingly becoming main
components of the teaching and learning environment, but so far little is known about the
effectiveness and use of these technologies (Fraillon et al. 2014). Conclusions from research
carried out in the field are partly contradictory. Many authors who examined computer use and
student achievement found they were positively related (e.g., Becker 1994; Hativa 1994; Kozma
1991; Kulik and Kulik 1987; Liao 1992; Osunade 2003; Ryan 1991; Van Dusen and Worthren
1994; James and Lamb 2000; Attewell and Battle 1999; Sivin-Kachala 1998; Weaver 2000;
Weller 1996; Wenglinsky 1998). Wen et al. (2002) suggest that there is a positive relationship
between the number of computers available at school and students’ science achievement.
Alspaugh (1999) reports that computer use has no effect on students’ achievement in reading,
mathematics, science or social studies. There is also a number of studies that identified negative
relationships between computer use and student achievement (Ravitz et al. 2002; Papanastasiou
2002, 2003). Papanastasiou (2002) who analysed the results of TIMSS, found a negative
relationship between computer use and achievement in a number of countries such as Cyprus,
Hong Kong and United States of America. According to this study, students who use computers
most frequently in the classroom were lowest achievers in TIMSS in 1995. Papanastasiou (2003)
and Papanastasiou et al. (2005) found that computer use does not have a positive nor negative
effect on students’ science achievement based on PISA results, but the way of computer use
affects science achievement.
Most of the international studies focused so far on the relation of ICT use and students’
competencies in reading, science and mathematics. The amount of research dedicated on
computer and information literacy is very limited and most studies examine mainly internet
access and online use (Olafsson et al. 2014). In the computer and information literacy (CIL) area,
the first cross-national study is ICILS (Fraillon et al. 2014). It assesses the extent to which
students know about, understand, and are able to use information and communication technology
(ICT). The main purpose of ICILS is to determine how well students are prepared for study,
work and life in the digital age. With the information age the term “digital natives” was coined
for the generation born in the early 1980s, also referred to as the first members of the millennial
generation (Prensky 2001). In his article, Prensky claimed that “the arrival and rapid
dissemination of digital technology in the last decade of the twentieth century” had changed the
way students think and process information, making it difficult for them to excel academically
being exposed to outdated teaching methods. However, according to the ICILS results, although
students have had an increased amount of exposure to technology, it does not necessarily imply
that they are digital natives. In all the participating countries, on average 17 % of the students did
not even achieve the lowest level of CIL determined by the study. On average, only 2 % of the
students achieved the highest level with a maximum of 5 % in Korea (Fraillon et al. 2014).Footnote 1
This finding raises the question how so called digital natives use twenty first century technology
in daily life. It is known from the literature that age plays a significant role in the usage of
computers and internet. As shown in Fig. 1 (Zichuhr and Madden 2012), and Fig. 2 (TurkStat
2014) below, there was a steady increase in internet use across all age groups in Turkey and the
US. In the beginning of the current century, however, the younger age groups use internet more
often compared to the older age groups in both countries.