Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Actual Computer Skills Results
The results of Phase II of the study, the Actual Skills Assessment, are shown in Tables
8 through 12. Each participant was evaluated using a commercial assessment tool, McGraw-
Hill's SimNet XPert, for their actual ability using Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Windows.
The students' computer concepts competencies were assessed using a representative
sample of multiple-choice questions used in the college's introductory computer course. The
following ratings were assigned to each student based on the percentage of correct answers
they received for each of the five areas: Beginner (0 to 30%), Some Skill (>30 to 65%),
Intermediate (>65 to 80%), Advanced (>80 to 90%), Expert (>90%). These ranges were based
on the nature of the specific skills assessed.
The results of the students' test of computer concepts were surprisingly low with 95.3%
of all students testing at the “Beginner” and “Some Skill” levels. This ran contrary to our belief
that students entering the business school today are fairly knowledgeable regarding
computer concepts. Interestingly, only 51.7% of the students rated their self-assessment of
their computer concepts skills at no (Not at all) or little (Not very well) knowledge in this area,
indicating that 43.6% of the students rated themselves more skilled than they actually
demonstrated on the exam.
The results of the actual test of the students' Excel skills yielded 84.9% at the “Beginner”
or the “Some Skill” categories. In their self-assessment of Excel skills, only 39.6% of the
students estimated their Excel skills to be at the lowest levels (Not at all or Not very well)
relative to the Excel tasks they were later asked to perform on the actual skills test. Again, there
was a large gap between the students' perceptions of their skills and the students'
demonstrated actual skills.
The results of the actual test of the students' Access skills yielded 82.1% at the
“Beginner” or the “Some Skill” categories. In their self-assessment of Access skills, 63.2%
of the students estimated their Access skills to be at the lowest levels (Not at all or Not very
well) relative to the Access tasks they later attempted on the actual skills test. While still lower
than their actual skill results, the students' perception of their Access database skills shows
movement in the direction of an accurate prediction.
Table 8. Actual skills score — Computer Concepts
Concepts
Pre-Test Actual Skills
Score
Rating
count
%
Average
39.1%
Expert
0
0.0%
Standard
Deviation
13.7%
Advanced
0
0.0%
23
4.7%
Minimum
6.9%
Intermediate
347
70.5%
Maximum
79.3%
Some Skill
122
24.8%
Beginner
Count
492 100.0%
