Hi. My name is Jan Hagston and I’m a literacy educator.
This video explains what’s required in the digital literacy test in the Victoria Police entrance examination and gives advice about how to answer the questions.
The examples of digital literacy questions we’ll be looking at are referred to in the Candidate Information Booklet. You’ll find this video more helpful if you read the questions beforehand. The candidate information booklet is available at vpol.acer.org.
This section of the exam measures your digital literacy skills. It tests your ability to use digital technologies including operating digital devices, software, and applications.
It also tests your ability to search and navigate, create, communicate and collaborate, think critically, analyse information, and address security, safety and wellbeing issues when using digital technology.
In policing, digital literacy skills are important. You need to be able to use a range digital technology, find information on the internet and follow safety and security procedures.
You will be asked to answer 20 questions in 20 minutes. You may find a range of different types of questions. These could include multiple choice, text entry, true and false and interactive questions.
Digital literacy covers a wide range of skills.
The question topics might include - finding, evaluating and understanding information on the internet, using digital technology to complete a task, using devices, software and the internet safely, and communicating effectively with digital technology. We’ll look at examples of each of these question topics.
The first question we’ll look at is about finding information on the internet.
This question asks you to identify which approaches will get the best results when entering words into a search engine. You can find information by using a search engine like Google. When you use a search engine there are some techniques you can use to get better results. You can add specific key words that describe the topic. For example ‘rivers Wangaratta flooding’. Using specific words helps to improve the quality of the search by providing you with the results that are more related to your topic.
If you want to exclude certain words in your search, you can use the minus sign. For example ‘rivers Wangaratta -store’. This will help to exclude search results which contain the Rivers clothing store you can use quotes for an exact match for a phrase. For example you could find a specific document called ‘local flood guide Wangaratta’ by putting the title in quotes.
If you are looking for a certain file type like a Microsoft Word document or an Adobe pdf you can limit your search by adding filetype colon followed by the type of file like doc or pdf. There are lots of other ways of maximising your search efficiency and it’s worth investigating this further.
After you search, you also need to be able to evaluate the reliability of your search results.
Think about - is the website one you can trust? Websites with .gov and .edu at the end are government and education sites and are considered more trustworthy. Websites with .com at the end are commercial sites and may be promoting a product.
Is the organisation that owns the website reputable. For example, is it an established news site? Is the website from Australia or another country. Websites ending in .au are Australian sites. How old is the website and has it been updated recently?
The information may be out of date. In this question, you are required to answer Yes or No for each of the statements. Look at the options - using keywords will improve the search. So we should click ‘yes’ for the first option. Using quotation marks will also help improve the search. So we should click ‘yes’ for the second option. Capital letters will not change the search.
We will get the same result if we use capital or lower case letters. So for the third option, we need to click on ‘no’. The next question is about using digital technology to complete tasks. It asks you to put a series of actions in order. You need to think about what you should do to save a file on to your computer.
Read the different task actions and think about what order you would do them. To save a file - first you need to click on ‘File’. Then click on ‘Save As’. Then select the folder to save the file into. Then click on ‘Save’.
So your answer should look like this. This question is another example of what you need to know about using digital technology.
Questions about using digital technology might test your knowledge of common software. This question is a multiple-choice question. With multiple choice questions you need to be able to select the most suitable answer. Sometimes you may need to choose more than one correct answer. In this question, you’re asked to choose just one answer - which software is the most suitable for a task.
Here’s a summary of some common software packages and their uses.
The best software package for working with data and statistics is Microsoft Excel because it allows you to use spreadsheets and graphs and to manage and analyse data. So the correct answer is ‘d’.
This question is testing your knowledge of word processing software. It uses a True and False format where you need to click on True or False for each statement.
Looking at the first part of the question, the format painter helps you to copy the information from some text or a graphic. Using this will help you maintain a consistent formatting throughout a document. So the answer is true.
The options under the review tab are about modifying the content of the document. They are not about the formatting and look of the document. So this answer is false. Styles are used to quickly give parts of a document specific formatting. For example, you can select formatting for different types of titles, headings and body text. This can help to keep the look of the document consistent. So the answer is true. This question tests your knowledge of how to use digital technology securely and safely.
You need to know how to use devices safely, identify and manage risks, share information on the internet safely and take measures to protect your privacy. When online shopping, you can tell that a website is secure if there is a padlock symbol next to the website address. You should also look to see that the site has https before the website address. The ‘s’ stands for secure and shows that the website has a certificate to prove its identity. So the correct answer to this question is ‘c’. The last question we will look at tests your knowledge of how to communicate effectively with digital technology.
Communication may involve emails, text messages, video conferencing, group chats, social media, or discussion forums. You need to be able to communicate appropriately and use netiquette or online manners.
This is a multiple-choice question, but it is asking what you should not include when writing an email to a customer.
- When you are writing an email to a customer, you should include - a concise subject line.
- A greeting at the beginning of the email. Your contact details such as your job title, company name, work number and email address.
- You should also use formal language although this may differ depending on the type of client.
- The formatting in your email should be consistent.
- You should use the same font throughout.
- You should not use different fonts for different ideas.
So ‘d’ is the correct answer – it’s what you should NOT include when writing an email to a customer.
I hope this has helped you to understand some of the questions you will find in the digital literacy section of the Victoria Police entrance exam.
You can improve your digital literacy skills by using desktop computers, laptops, smart phones and tablets to search the internet, complete everyday tasks and communicate with others. You should also develop your awareness of how to protect your privacy and security.
As you do these tasks, think about what you are doing, the order of your actions and why you are doing them. You can also read the chapter in Practise Now! Victoria Police Entrance Examination on digital literacy skills.
It goes over the points we have been talking about. Read over the explanations and have a go at the practice questions.
Practise Now! is produced by ACER. It describes a range of the types of question you’re likely to find in the exam and provides detailed explanations of how correct answers may be reached. It’s available from ACER bookshop and commercial booksellers.
There are also practice tests on the Victoria Police Entrance Exam webpage where you will find digital literacy questions.
Good luck with your exam preparation.
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