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ICT use and familiarity in Australia A newly published ACER research monograph describes Australian students’ access to and use of computers raising serious equity issues in the process. PISA 2003 Australia: ICT use and familiarity at school and home uses results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 to examine how extensive access to ICT is in schools, homes and other places, how familiar students nearing the end of compulsory education are with ICT and how well they feel they use the technologies that are available. These characteristics are then compared to how well students performed in mathematics in PISA 2003. The monograph complements the 2005 OECD report Are students ready for a technology-rich world?: What PISA studies tell us, which provided a profile of ICT use for the 32 OECD and partner countries that participated in the ICT Literacy option in PISA 2003. The 2005 OECD report found that Australian students are among the world’s leading users of computers in education both at school and in the home. Specific findings included: All Australian students have access to a computer at school. Access to computers in Australia is among the highest in the OECD with 94 per cent of Australian students reporting that they have access to a computer at home for school work compared to the OECD average of 79 per cent. Australian students were the highest users of computers for word processing with 70 per cent of Australians reporting that they use a computer frequently for this purpose compared to an OECD average of 48 per cent. In contrast just 10 per cent of Australian students reported frequent use of educational software such as a mathematics program, just below the OECD average of 13 per cent. Australian students were also among the most frequent users of the Internet. Seventy-four per cent report frequent use of the Internet to look up information about people, things or ideas. The OECD average was 55 per cent. The new ACER research monograph complements this earlier OECD report by presenting Australian findings by state, gender, Indigenous background, socioeconomic background and geographic location. It also looks at aspects of the so called ‘digital divide’, examining access and use of ICT in Australia. The findings raise issues of equity in Australian education that the authors argue need to be addressed. According to information provided through a questionnaire all Australian students have access to a computer at school and most also have access to a computer at home. However, fewer Indigenous students and fewer students from the lowest level of socioeconomic background have access to a computer at home. The evidence shows that the minority of students who still lack access to computers are more likely to under perform at school. The data also show that these students are not randomly scattered within the population, but are more likely to belong to particular subgroups of the population. This raises equity issues that need to be addressed. Access to a home computer can be a reflection of socioeconomic background, although less so in Australia now than previously with home computers now more affordable to a larger cross-section of the population. Within Australia there was a difference in performance in mathematics between students with access to a computer at home and students without such access. Students with access to computers at home scored, on average, 79 score points higher than those without such access. Even after accounting for socioeconomic background, the performance difference in Australia was still 35 score points or around half a proficiency level. After accounting for socioeconomic background, the performance advantage of having a computer at home is statistically significant in four of the eight states and territories. In the ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, the performance advantage of having a computer at home is not significant. The monograph notes that reporting the association between computer access and usage with performance cannot provide evidence of the impact of computers on learning, since the PISA data do not demonstrate causation. The relationship between student performance and access to computers is ambiguous, and continued research would be needed to investigate how computer use actually impacts on student performance. PISA 2003 Australia: ICT use and familiarity at school and home by Sue Thomson and Lisa De Bortoli is published as ACER Research Monograph 62. The publication can be downloaded from the ACER website. Print copies can be purchased online from ACER Press. « Back to eNews
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A newly published ACER research monograph describes Australian students’ access to and use of computers raising serious equity issues in the process.

PISA 2003 Australia: ICT use and familiarity at school and home uses results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 to examine how extensive access to ICT is in schools, homes and other places, how familiar students nearing the end of compulsory education are with ICT and how well they feel they use the technologies that are available. These characteristics are then compared to how well students performed in mathematics in PISA 2003.

The monograph complements the 2005 OECD report Are students ready for a technology-rich world?: What PISA studies tell us, which provided a profile of ICT use for the 32 OECD and partner countries that participated in the ICT Literacy option in PISA 2003.

The 2005 OECD report found that Australian students are among the world’s leading users of computers in education both at school and in the home. Specific findings included:

All Australian students have access to a computer at school.
Access to computers in Australia is among the highest in the OECD with 94 per cent of Australian students reporting that they have access to a computer at home for school work compared to the OECD average of 79 per cent.
Australian students were the highest users of computers for word processing with 70 per cent of Australians reporting that they use a computer frequently for this purpose compared to an OECD average of 48 per cent.
In contrast just 10 per cent of Australian students reported frequent use of educational software such as a mathematics program, just below the OECD average of 13 per cent.
Australian students were also among the most frequent users of the Internet. Seventy-four per cent report frequent use of the Internet to look up information about people, things or ideas. The OECD average was 55 per cent.

The new ACER research monograph complements this earlier OECD report by presenting Australian findings by state, gender, Indigenous background, socioeconomic background and geographic location.

It also looks at aspects of the so called ‘digital divide’, examining access and use of ICT in Australia. The findings raise issues of equity in Australian education that the authors argue need to be addressed.

According to information provided through a questionnaire all Australian students have access to a computer at school and most also have access to a computer at home. However, fewer Indigenous students and fewer students from the lowest level of socioeconomic background have access to a computer at home.

The evidence shows that the minority of students who still lack access to computers are more likely to under perform at school. The data also show that these students are not randomly scattered within the population, but are more likely to belong to particular subgroups of the population. This raises equity issues that need to be addressed.

Access to a home computer can be a reflection of socioeconomic background, although less so in Australia now than previously with home computers now more affordable to a larger cross-section of the population.

Within Australia there was a difference in performance in mathematics between students with access to a computer at home and students without such access. Students with access to computers at home scored, on average, 79 score points higher than those without such access. Even after accounting for socioeconomic background, the performance difference in Australia was still 35 score points or around half a proficiency level.

After accounting for socioeconomic background, the performance advantage of having a computer at home is statistically significant in four of the eight states and territories. In the ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, the performance advantage of having a computer at home is not significant.

The monograph notes that reporting the association between computer access and usage with performance cannot provide evidence of the impact of computers on learning, since the PISA data do not demonstrate causation.

The relationship between student performance and access to computers is ambiguous, and continued research would be needed to investigate how computer use actually impacts on student performance.

PISA 2003 Australia: ICT use and familiarity at school and home by Sue Thomson and Lisa De Bortoli is published as ACER Research Monograph 62. The publication can be downloaded from the ACER website. Print copies can be purchased online from ACER Press.

ICT use and familiarity in Australia