Patterns of students’ computer use and relations to their computer and information literacy: results of a latent class analysis and implications for teaching and learning

Background In the international report from the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS) 2013, the analyses showed a positive relationship between the use of computers and computer and information literacy (CIL) for some purposes of computer use and some countries, but not for all countries (Fraillon et al. 2014, p. 234ff.). In this paper we use Latent Class Analysis to look further into the students’ recreational and school-related computer use in order to identify patterns of students’ use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Furthermore, we investigate differences in the relation between recreational and school-related computer use patterns. To do so, Abstract Background: Previous studies have shown that there is a complex relationship between students’ computer and information literacy (CIL) and their use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for both recreational and school use. Methods: This study seeks to dig deeper into these complex relations by identifying different patterns of students’ school-related and recreational computer use in the 21 countries participating in the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS 2013). Results: Latent class analysis (LCA) of the student questionnaire and performance data from the ICILS 2013 study, revealed different patterns of use of ICT; these patterns could be related to differences in students’ CIL scores. These analyses support the conclusions of previous studies, which found, in many cases, a ‘hill shape’ in the data, suggesting that both low and extended use of computers may be correlated with lower scores on the CIL scale, while intermediate use is correlated with higher scores. Conclusions: The study identifies interesting differences between countries, and, in addition to the hill shape, both a ‘plateau shape’ and a ‘hill-valley shape’ were apparent in the data, raising important questions about differences in contexts.