Bratislava, April 26 (TASR) – The IT Fitness Test, aimed at testing the digital skills of pupils, students, teachers and the broader public in Slovakia, started on Tuesday and will last until July 31, Mario Lelovsky, vice-president of Slovakia’s IT Association and chairman of the Digital Coalition, told a news conference on the same day.
The most extensive testing of digital skills is expanding abroad in its 11th year. Students in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, i.e. the other Visegrad Four (V4) countries, will have an opportunity to test themselves as well, said Lelovsky.
In addition to the Slovak language, the test will also be available for the first time in Czech, Hungarian, Polish and English. Another new feature is the creation of a special testing interface for state and public institutions, private firms and educational institutions. The test can be used for internal staff education, and the results for individual institutions won’t be published.
The test tasks have been divided into five areas: the internet; security and computer systems; collaborative tools and social networks; office tools; and comprehensive tasks. A test version containing 20 questions has been prepared for students of primary schools. Another test version contains 25 tasks and was created for students aged 15 and over.
“Digital skills and digital literacy are a must in the 21st century. We want students and teachers to be digitally literate, able to work with technologies and the internet and be prepared for the pitfalls of the internet in the form of hoaxes or disinformation. We therefore support the development of digital literacy as part of a reform of educational content,” said Education Minister Branislav Groehling (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS). He’s called on schools and teachers to join the testing and is pleased that they’ll be able to compare themselves with their counterparts in other V4 countries in this activity.
IT Fitness is the largest free testing of information and communication technologies in Slovakia. Last year, a record number of more than 50,000 people took part, bringing the total over ten years up to 300,000.