ICT Utilization and Problem Solving Skills: Based on the Analysis of PIAAC Data

Abstract

Information, Communication and Technology(ICT) has changed every aspect of our life and ways we produce, analyze, utilize, and share information across all industries and occupations. This study analyzed the published data from the Survey of Adult Skills of OECD in order to find out the degree of adult ICT Received (February 10, 2016), Review Result (February 24, 2016) Accepted (March 3, 2016), Published (April 30, 2016) 06639 Dept. Elementary Education, Seoul National University of Education, 1650 Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, Korea email: sylee@snue.ac.kr * 이 논문은 (사) 인문사회과학기술융합학회 2015년 추계학술대회 발표문을 수정·보완한 논문임. ICT Utilization and Problem Solving Skills : Based on the Analysis of PIAAC Data Copyright c 2016 HSST 240 skills of Koreans. OECD measured the levels of information processing skills of adults from 24 countries, and compared the levels of the competencies across participating countries through the Programme for International Assessment for Adult(PIAAC) survey. This study focused on the problem-solving in technology-rich environments(PSTRE) skills among other measured competencies(i.e., literacy and numeracy). The distributions of PSTRE levels by country, age, education and skill level are examined. In addition, the levels of ICT utilization at home and at work are compared by country and age. The percentage of Korean adults whose PSTRE score was higher than Level 2 was 30.4%, which was the lower end of the chart. The degree of ICT utilization of Koreans at work was about the average of all participating countries, while that of ICT utilization at home was the second lowest. The competencies measured in PIAAC survey indicate not only the competitiveness of current human resources in a country but also the potential competitiveness of the future human resources. To this end, the results provide implications for education, life-long learning and work-place training system and related policies.