The new version of the test, called the Core Level, is the first to be given to high school seniors as well as first- and second-year students at colleges and universities, ETS said in a statement.

'ETS has been studying this whole different aspect of how students use technology, not just the technical skills but how they solve information problems, and think through information issues in a technological environment,' said Terry Egan, ETS's ICT project manager. 'It measures the skills students have to have at a higher education level to be successful in the academic arena and beyond....'

The skills involve how students use technology to access information, integrate information from a number of sources, manage data coming from multiple sources, evaluate sources of information and communicate that information, she said.

Egan said students are expected to have these types of skills when they enter the workforce, which makes it important that they be integrated across all areas of the curriculum.

'Students need to be learning these skills very early on in their academic experience,' she said. 'What we've heard from many of our customers at the higher ed level is that students were arriving with technology skills like instant messaging each other, and downloading MP3 files but they really don't know how to use technology to its full potential.'