The rise of digital information and communication technologies (ICT) has made the acquisition of computer and information literacy (CIL) a leading factor in creating an engaged, informed, and employable citizenry. However, are young people, often described as "digital natives" or the "net generation," developing the necessary…

This work comprises studies on the effects of broadband Internet in schools at three different levels: student performance, household Internet adoption, and individual computer and Internet use patterns and skill acquisition. I focus in the case of Portugal, where by 2006 the Portuguese government had completed a major initiative that upgraded the…

A pretest-posttest control group experimental design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of EnvisionIT, a 10-unit web-based curriculum designed to teach secondary students information technology (IT) skills in the context of transition-planning activities. Fifteen high schools were stratified by socioeconomic status and randomly assigned to the…