Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 17. Self-assessment versus actual skills - Windows
Windows
Self-assessment versus Actual Skill
Assessment
Index
Score
count
%
Average
0.1
4
0
0.0%
Standard
Deviation
9
1.8%
0.9
3
Minimum
-3.0
2
25
5.1%
68
13.8%
Maximum
3.0
1
0
312
63.4%
-1
66
13.4%
-2
11
2.2%
1
0.2%
-3
-4
0
0.0%
Count
100.0%
492
It was found that 15.3% of the students rated their Access capabilities at least two skill
categories higher than they actually demonstrated. Interestingly, 6.1% of the students, the
largest for any application, underrated their abilities in Access by two categories or more.
And, 30.7% of the students accurately assessed their skill level.
The students self-perceptions were most inflated for PowerPoint; 34.9% of the students
rated their capabilities at least two categories higher than their actual skill. Additionally, only
25.6% of the students, the lowest for any of the areas, accurately assessed their skill.
Students were most accurate in assessing their Windows capabilities. Only 6.9% of the
students rated their capabilities two or more levels higher than their actual skills. Additionally,
63.4% had an Assessment Index of 0, indicating that they accurately assessed their skill level.
Overall Self-Assessment
In Phase I, Part 1, the students were asked several general questions about their overall
proficiency with computers and specific applications. Table 18 presents the results of those
questions. It appears that our students' self-assessments of their overall computing
proficiency (68.2% at Expert, Advanced, or Intermediate) are heavily influenced by their email
(82.1% at Expert, Advanced, or Intermediate), WWW (79.1% at Expert, Advanced, or
Intermediate), and word processing (83.1% at Expert, Advanced, or Intermediate) ratings.
Overall Perceptions Versus Reality
Table 19 reflects the three dimensions of our study (the students' self-assessment of
their overall proficiency; the students' more detailed self-assessment for specific basic skills;
and the students' actual assessment results) for the three primary software applications we
cover in our introductory course. Table 19 summarizes the percentage of students who either
rated (self-assessment) or tested (actual performance) in the top three skill categories (Expert,
Advanced, or Intermediate).
