IT Fitness Test Shows Improvement in Students’ Digital Skills

Students’ digital skills are evolving, but there is still room for improvement, especially in solving complex tasks that require algorithmic thinking, according to the results of the IT Fitness Test, a large-scale online digital skills survey of young people in the countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) and Ukraine.

Around 184,000 final year students (first and secondary school) completed the test last year, said the company responsible for the examination in Hungary, the Association for a Digital Hungary (IVSZ). They noted that students scored best in the Internet category. Interestingly, while tasks related to security and computer systems were the second and third most successful categories in the primary school test, older respondents in most countries scored lower in this area.

Although the survey shows that students do not excel in the use of office equipment, Hungarian and Slovak respondents had the best scores in this area.

Many students did not perform as well in complex tasks requiring higher cognitive skills and algorithmic thinking, and also lack skills and competences for further education and the skills expected by employers.

Among primary school pupils, Slovak students scored the highest among the participating countries, followed by Hungarians, with the Czech Republic in third place, and Poland in fourth. Slovakia was also the best performer among secondary school students, followed by the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, said the IVSZ.

This year, for the first time, the IT Fitness Test included tasks focusing on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools: the results show that secondary school students know and understand how to use AI in an intuitive way, but there is still room for further learning about these tools and for finding a place for them in education, they said.

The test also showed that, compared to the requirements expected by employers, secondary school students’ skills with office tools remain inadequate in both word processing and spreadsheet management. Secondary school students also scored poorly on the data backup task, but there were even more significant weaknesses in their understanding of security alerts.

Secondary school students in the region seem to perform well in activities they encounter more frequently and also perform better in tasks with lower cognitive demands,”

they noted.

The first IT Fitness Test was organized in Slovakia 13 years ago by the European Commission, and over the past 12 years the project has been extended to the V4 countries and then to Ukraine. The test allowed for the assessment of skills that focus on more practical, advanced knowledge, skills and competences in IT literacy. The survey not only provides participants with a realistic picture of their online skills, but the results can provide useful guidance for educators and policy makers as well.

Via MTI; Featured picture: Pexels